Reverend Sunny Oginin, Lagos zonal Chairman of PENGASSAN

There are strong indications that organised labour in the nation’s Petroleum industry is not taking the the alleged refusal of Depot and Jetty owners in Lagos to allow their workers to join the union as enshrined in the Section 40 of the Nigeria’s constitution and International Labour Organisation, ILO, conventions 87 and 98 among others, may soon lead to confrontation between labour and the owners of these companies.

In an interview with Labour Vanguard, Chairman of the Lagos Zone of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, Reverend Sunny Oginin, gives insight into the looming confrontation.

Excerpts

There are reports that organized labour in the oil industry is having some issues with Depot and Jetty Owners. What are the problems?

You know there are lot of depots in Lagos, especially in Apapa area. We have MRS, Integrated Oil , Zeno Oil, Capital Oil, Global Fleet and so on. The problem we have with them is that they have been frustrating labour from thriving in their companies. We have information that some of them in order to ensure union does not take root in the companies, one of the conditions some of them have is that, before a new staff is employed, such a staff must take an oath of allegiance that he or she will not join any union, neither the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, nor PENGASSAN. This is the challenge us, both NUPENG and PENGASSAN. If we do not address the issue now, it will go out of hand in the nearest future.

How has organised labour been handling it?

We have been sensitizing and making the Depot and jetty owners to know that we are social partners. Their fear is that when labour comes in, labour will be dictating to them how much they would pay their staff; labour will be dictating to them what are the rights and what are not the rights of workers. What we have told is that what is good for the geese is good for the gander.

The unfortunate thing about this is that many of these owners and managements grew through the ranks and enjoyed the benefits of labour and now that some of them are owners of some of these depots and jetties, they have become anti-labour. In the case of MRS, before MRS bought over ChevronTexacco, the workers were unionised. After the acquisition, our members from the old Texacco migrated to what is now as MRS Oil. There was an MRS before this acquisition.

The problem we have in MRS now is that, there are some workers that are in the union while some others are not in the union. We have been talking to those who are owners of these companies and letting them know that it pays them better to have workers that are unionized. It is easier to sort out issues with unionise workers than non-unionise workers because from the secretariat we can easily get things sorted out. There are numerous advantages that a unionized environment have over non-unionised one. We hope the owners of these Depots and Jetties see reasons and do the right things because this is an issue that will definitely throw the entire sector into serious unrest any moment from now.

What has been their response?

Well, as you know, change is always resisted and their fear is that union leaders are troublesome, they are people who may want to challenge me (employer) and I may not have the authority I had before. So, the response has been slow, except one or two that allow us to come in and unionise their workers. They know that the examples that we are setting in all these places, other will want to join and follow suit. Like I said earlier of management who insist that refusal to join union is a pre-condition for employment, what we have discovered that people have taken a sort of oath of allegiance. But many of the workers who have realise the benefits of union have been coming to us. The union is not in any competition with the owners of these companies over their authorities or powers as owners.

Knowing that freedom of association is a fundamental right guaranteed by constitution, International Labour Organisation, ILO, etc, have you made representation to government on this challenge and recalcitrant Depot/Jetty owners?

I want to use this opportunity to commend the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu. The first meeting we had with him when he came in as Minster, without labour’s prompting, he spoke extensively on the issue of unionization. He told us that he is aware about the challenge of organising and unionising workers in the industry. He told us that as far as government is concerned, government will not want a situation where labour rights or individual rights are infringed upon by an employer.

He has taken some measures on the issue but because of the general elections and you know it has not been long he came in, this has slowed down things. We believe that when the new federal executive council is reconstituted, if somebody like him comes in, as Minister of Labour , it is our hope that in this area, we are going to work with him to address the issue.

Labour ensure that there is Collective Bargaining Agreement, CBA. When the CBA is on ground, the entitlements such sucs terminal benefits, gratuity, retrenchment, severance benefits and other things are guaranteed for workers who are union members. All these things as well as other conditions of service would be discussed probably on two yearly basis or periodically and all included. It is bad that we have Nigerians in leadership positions that are enslaving Nigerians.

If the managements remain recalcitrant, what will you do?

We are already sensitizing members, we prayed that the general elections would be success and they were successful. Thank God that President Goodluck Jonathan has been re-elected and you are aware of the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, we hope that the Bill will become law. With PIB, we want to ensure that no oil company, no matter who register that company, no matter who is the owner of that company, in the next dispensation, will be allowed to frustrate workers from being unionized.

Many of these workers who were told reject union for them to be employed, have been coming to us for assistance for them to join the union. Nevertheless, in my tenure as the Chairman of this zone, not less than nine companies have been unionized. Companies like Sinopec, Petro Gas, Star Petrol, ConocoPhilips and others. I can tell you that we are not relenting, we are going ahead