Daily Independent Online.
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Wednesday, July 07, 2004.
NUPENG, PENGASSAN accuse oil firms of anti-workers policies
By Victor Ebimomi
Reporter, Lagos
The two major unions in the oil sector, the
National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and
Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) have accused four
players in the sector of anti-worker policies warning that they would soon
incur the wrath of the unions if they failed to make amends.
The firms whose names are given as Belbop,
Conoil, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Schlumberger were
accused of various practices ranging from denial of the right to unionism,
attempt to downsize and victimisation.
In a communique issued at the end of the
joint emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the two workers
bodies and exclusively made available to Daily Independent, the unions said
despite the interventions of the Federal Ministry of Labour and the National
Assembly to resolve the contentious issues, the firms seemed hell-bent to
continue with their anti- Labour practices.
Specifically, the unions alleged that
Belbop and Conoil were guilty of non-integration of union members who were
placed on standby into the mainstream of the company and denial some others of
their right to unionism contrary to the country’s Labour law.
