The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if some industrial issues especially anti-labour practices by some employers in the oil and gas industry are not addressed within 21 days.
According to a statement signed by the PENGASSAN National Public Relations Officer, Comrade Fortune Obi, the 21-day ultimatum to stakeholders in the oil and gas industry was necessary due to persistent anti-labour practices by the management of some companies in the sector.
The association therefore called on the relevant stakeholders to address issues of concern affecting its members within the stipulated days to avert the consequences of its next line of action.
“PENGASSAN, in the last three years, has not only been excessively stretched, but equally unnecessarily over-burdened and is fast running out of patience over the loss of will by various management to attend to industrial/welfare issues.
“Particularly frustrating is the sustained, deliberate and indiscriminate redundancies, sack, casualization, ill-treatment, adverse work conditions, incessant disagreement to collective bargain resolutions and other anti-labour practices against our members by these management without recourse to extant labour laws,” Obi said.
PENGASSAN cited the provocative stance of managements of the Fugro, Sterling Global, Indorama Petrochemical Company, Baker Hughes/General Electric, Universal Energy, Frontier Energy, Vam Onne, Neconde Energy and ObiJackson Group, SDF, Ciscon, Tecon, Obax, Pan Ocean, NNPC Retail Limited, Exxon-Mobil, Petrobras , among others as examples.
