17 August 2016, Sweetcrude, Lagos – The Kaduna Zone of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, says its workshop, holding August 16 to 8 in Minna, Niger State, will tackle challenges confronting the oil and gas sector.
According to the senior staff trade union, despite major advancements in labour and management relations in Nigeria during the past decades, there still persisted considerable distrust and antagonism among parties involved in industrial relations.
Chairman of the Kaduna Zone of PENGASSAN, Comrade Abubakar Yusuff, revealed that the workshop would be aiming to come out with measures to reduce the frictions and distrust among the parties.
Yusuff said the workshop will bring all stakeholders together to examine the global trend in the oil and gas industry, security challenges in the sector and labour challenges of the post-Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, as well as identify challenges confronting unions and managements on issues of collective bargaining agreement. It will also address labour issues and legal challenges in corporate restructuring, outsourcing and causal/contract system of employment. he added.
According to him, with the ongoing reforms in the oil and gas sector, there was need to have a general overview on industrial relations system in the country so as to address labour welfare from employment till retirement.
At the end of the workshop, he said, participants would be able to come up with an acceptable equilibrium or template among the various stakeholders.