By Victor Ahiuma-Young
LAGOS— GENEVA-based IndustriALL Global Union has decried the upsurge of unfair labour practices by International Oil Companies, IOCs, against Nigerian workers, even as it commended National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG and its Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, counterpart for standing against the practices

The global unions with over 50 million members, including Nigerians, insisted that IOCs must obey international laws and extant labour laws in Nigeria.

In a statement by its Vice President, Mr. Issa Aremu, IndustriALL Global Union, commended NUPENG and PENGASSAN for calling off the three-day warning strike while advising the IOCs to ensure decent work by obeying Nigerian labour laws.

In the statement of solidarity and support for NUPENG and PENGASSAN, Aremu insisted that the increasing factories’ closures and arbitrary termination of the workforce in the petroleum sector and any other sectors of the economy amounted to gross violation of Nigerian labour laws which have provisions for dispute resolutions, including redundancies and closures.

He noted that the burden of economic recession could not be put on the shoulders of the working people while corporate managers carried on with business as usual to maximize profits.

IndustriAll Global Union also hailed the prompt intervention of the Minister of labour Dr. Chris  Ngige and urged the public to prevail on Shylock employers to respect workers’ rights if they must enjoy uninterrupted service and products supply.

“We often call on the trade unions to call off strikes, while the public hardly appreciate the fact that it is the working people in the oil sector under the most precarious conditions that have been making products available” he said.