Oscarline Onwuemenyi
18 July 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has warned employers in the oil sector to desist from the unlawful dismissal of its members.
The association, in a statement made available to journalists yesterday, also pledged to collaborate with the government and other industry players to curb disengagement of workers in the oil and gas industry.
PENGASSAN President, Comrade Olabode Johnson, said, “We demand that the government should stem the wave of redundancies in the oil and gas industry, especially by the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and other service companies.
“And for this issue to be properly addressed, we demand that the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) puts in place a clear policy to address this unfortunate trend. We have resolved to resist the growing redundancies in the industry under any guise.
“No process of redundancy shall be undertaken by any management without the involvement of the national secretariat of the association.”
To maintain the prevailing industrial peace and guarantee smooth exit of workers, Johnson urged operators to put in place robust Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs).
Johnson also urged the management of the oil firms to respect duly signed CBAs and ensure that where there was no CBA in place, the association would ensure an atmosphere that would ensure that a CBA was put in place to reduce friction in the sector.
Johnson expressed the union’s support for the efforts at attracting investors to revamp the country’s ailing refineries.
He urged the government to carry along the union in the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between it and investors in the three refineries.
“We also seek that the union should be carried along at all stages of the process to ensure that labour-related issues and job security are guaranteed,” he added.
Johnson reiterated that security of members’ jobs would form the fulcrum of his tenure.
He urged employers to refocus its attention to matters that affect the welfare of workers in the country, stressing that the trend of labour and employee relations in the country was at variance with what exists in other parts of the world.
He said: “We have serious challenges because technology is almost taking over man-to-man engagement in labour and due to the global economic trend which we are part of.”
