The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) on Thursday issued notice of nationwide strike over the sack of some of its members by Chevron Nigeria Limited.
NUPENG warned that it will commence a nationwide strike in seven days.
Chevron and its service contractors had, on Wednesday, sacked some petroleum workers but NUPENG, in the strike notice, said the dismissals did not follow laid down procedures.
According to the union, about 175 petroleum workers in YKISH Integrated Services, which operates offsite/onsite maintenance services with Chevron Nigeria Limited, Delog Nigeria Ltd and EUROFLOW Services, all service contractors to Chevron, were sacked through WhatsApp messages.
NUPENG, in a statement by its President and General Secretary, Prince Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, respectively, demanded the reinstatement of the sacked workers within seven days, failing which its members will commence a nationwide strike.
Parts of the statement read, “We wish to emphasize that this lack of respect and sensitivity to Nigerian extant labour law, international conventions and global best practices is gradually becoming the stock in trade for Chevron Nigeria Limited and its various contractors as there are still several other lingering infractions and issues against workers yet to be addressed by Chevron Nigeria Limited and its contractor even after several regulatory institutions like Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Department of Petroleum Resources and NAPIMS had severally ruled on these matters.
“Consequently, we are calling on the general public, the media and all concerned authorities in country and the industry including Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, National Assembly, law enforcement agents and the Embassy of the United States of America to call Chevron and its service contractor(s) to order on these matters to avert avoidable industrial action from the Union.
“The sacked Contract workers must be recalled back to work immediately, status quo maintained. In the interest of industrial peace and harmony, our demand must be met within the next seven days (7 days) otherwise we may be forced to call out all our members on a nationwide industrial action.”
The Daily Tracker is the home of factual, informative and developmental journalism. We go beyond the regular to keep our readers well informed at all times. Our focus is on the people, institutions, the society and ideas. We aspire to provoke and inspire. Welcome to our World
