Addax mgt, worker’s negotiation deadlocks

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

EFFORTS to resolve the lingering industrial dispute between the management of Addax Petroleum Nigeria Limited and its workers over severance benefits after the company was bought over  by a Chinese company, Sinopec, appears not to be yielding results as two days of meetings between the parties in Abuja have ended in deadlock.

Leadership of the workers under the umbrella of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), is threatening to order members in Addax Petroleum Nigeria Limited to shut down the company’s crude production any moment from now over alleged refusal of management to negotiate workers’ severance benefits.

Vanguard gathered that both the national leadership of PENGASSAN and the management of Nigeria National Petroleum Corpora-tion (NNPC), tried in vain between Wednesday and yesterday to get the issue resolved.

Vanguard investigation revealed, however, that another meeting has is been  scheduled between the two parties today under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour and Productivity.

There are fears that should today’s meeting fail to settle the issue, the crisis could degenerate to the level of shutting down the company’s crude production.