*Jeopardise safety on Chevron rig
11 July 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos — In a shocking move aimed at intimidating the PENGASSAN branch of Ciscon Nigeria Limited, the Managing Director, Mr. Shawley Coker, has ordered that 66 union members of staff be sacked based on the advice of his HR Manager, Chioma Ken-Oshionya without being paid an overdue three months salary.
The letters signed by the HR Manager were sent via email and DHL to staff members who were not allowed into the office. Four of the sacked staff received their termination letters via email from the HR Manager while working on the rig floor.
The technical staff members while working for Ciscon on a Chevron rig, received a mail on their phones and were shocked to see a termination letter that was backdated, extremely crude and lacked basic courtesy.
The sacked technical staff expected another crew would be sent in immediately to take over from them but as the hours dragged on, it became apparent that management expected them to continue working even with termination letters in their pockets.
The terminated staff showed their letter to the Chevron representative on site, who was shocked to learn termination letters had been sent by mail to staff members in such a high-risk environment.
Chevron sent for the Ciscon general manager of that unit, Dr. Joe Ejedawe, to explain the rationale behind sacking staff on the rig but he was unable to provide any explanation.
