By Victor Ahiuma-Young

THERE are indications that Nigerians will be in for hard times from Monday following threat by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, to embark on a three-day warning strike over dispute with Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC.

Leaders of NUPENG are aggrieved over alleged unfair labour practices by SPDC especially casulaisation of workers and sale of oil blocs without involving stakeholders.

Comrade Elijah Okougbo, General Secreal Secretary, Achese Igwe, President and Eddy Ossai, Deputy President of NUPENG, at a briefing in Lagos.

NUPENG leaders had on June 22, issued a 14-day strike to government and demanded among others, “the new Minister of Petroleum Resources be compelled by the President Goodluck Jonathan to look deep into the transactions for the transfer and sale of oil blocs by SPDC and other companies.

Like in the past, a stakeholders committee involving NUPENG and PENGASSAN should be set up to review the transfers and sales of oil blocs etc as a drive towards transparency in the extractive industry.

The NNPC, SPDC and others involved in the sales and buyout should establish a negotiating committee like at Eleme Petrochemicals involving NUPENG and PENGASSAN to determine the future roles of the workers in production and industrial relations.

Mean-time, a halt should be placed on the transfers and sales pending when our prayers are positively considered”

The strike notice was contained in a petition to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources and copied to Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, National security Adviser, NSA, Director General of the State Security Service, SSS, Permanent Secretary – Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Group Managing Director of NNPC, Chairman of Senate Committee on Petroleum, Chairman of House of Representative Committee on Petroleum,  President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, President General of Trade Union Congress, TUC, among others.

Briefing journalists, President of NUPENG, Comrade Achese Igwe, said, “We condemn and frown at the sale of oil blocs by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to the highest bidders, Nest oil, Con oil etc without following the due process.

It is common knowledge that, NUPENG and other secondary groups operating in the Company, (SPDC) were not carried along and taken into confidence about the future existence of workers and official roles of the Union in those companies that bought over SPDC assets.

Even with fait-accompli SPDC management did not consider it necessary to consult with the leadership of the union and the workers whose destiny has been traded away in the auction game.

From the historical perspective, when Ashland oil was sold to a new employer Addax Petroleum, NUPENG leadership and the in-house unions were consulted andwe all contributed our ideas to the bargain.”

“Similarly, when Eleme-Petrochemicals Company Limited was privatized to Indo Rama in August 2006, NUPENG and PENGASSAN were consulted and invited to the negotiating table to deliberate on the future of the workers vis-a-vis the role of the unions.

The workers are still working in the company and the union negotiates the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) when it expires. problem now is that any transaction for such oil blocs needs the intervention of our union and the consequent negotiation and approval of the majority shareholder – the NNPC.

We state that the union was deliberately sidetracked and kept in the dark to prevent members of the public, that is Nigerians from knowing anything about this stratagem foisted with deals and transacti9ns which lack transparency in its totality.

We suspect foul play for SPDC and others to have hurriedly sold those blocs without considering the fate of the workforce, and as such we assume that a volume of water has passed under the bridge.

“We call on the Minister of Petroleum Resources to take a cursory look at the transactions for the transfer and sale of oil blocs by SPDC and other companies. We also want a stakeholders committee involving NUPENG and PENGASSAN, to review the transfers and sales of oil blocs; etc, as a drive towards transparency in the extractive industry.

The NNPC, SPDC and others involved in the sales and buyout should establish a negotiating’ committee like at Eleme Petrochemicals involving NUPENG and PENGASSAN to determine the future roles of the workers in production and industrial relations.

We’ call for a halt on the transfers and sales pending when our prayers are positively considered and if our prayers are not considered, the oil and gas industry will be visited with a nation-wide industrial action to drive home our demands.”

Casualisation of workers Continuing, Comrade Igwe lamented that “casualisation still remains a major cankerworm in the industry. It is modern day slavery and we are battle ready to fight against it.

The SPDC is the guiltiest in the casualisation of workers in the industry. It has spearheaded this canker worm by contracting very large portion of its workforce to labour contractors to provide support services to the company.

SPDC does this notwithstanding that the jobs are continuous, routine and permanent in nature and pay the contractors service handling charges or commission.

The most worrisome aspect is wicked conversion of labour/manpower contracts to service contracts and their fragmentation to very little tenures, which are reduced to short tenures to make the unionisation drive Possible.”

“These workers have no conditions of service or severance benefits and the contractors pay whatever they like and most times owed salaries for upward of six months.

All efforts to make service contractors and Shell management see reason to negotiate a terminal benefit for the workers since 2008 have failed to yield positive results.

As a result of these challenges, a committee was set up by the Minister of labour, Chief Emeka Wogu and some guidelines have been issued waiting for implementation by all parties.”