The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) on
Tuesday night called off its three-day warning strike after a meeting with the
Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC), Andrew Yakubu.
Announcing the suspension of the strike during a news conference, the NUPENG
President, Achese Igwe said the decision to end the industrial action was for
the interest of the public and the intervention of Mr Yakubu.
Mr Igwe listed the major issues which had led to the warning strike to
include the high level of insecurity in Nigeria, bad state of the roads, rising
oil theft in the Niger Delta, non-adherence to guidelines on contract
staffing/casualisation in the sector and abuse of expatriate quota.
NUPENG on Monday directed all its members at the depots to stop loading
petroleum products for the next three days to protest the alleged inhuman
treatment of its members by the management of Chevron, Shell Petroleum
Development Company (SPDC) and Agip Oil Company.
The strike was also called to protest the refusal of Nigerian Association of
Road Transport Owners (NARTO) to implement the signed collective bargaining
agreement with petroleum tanker drivers.
Mr Igwe said if these issues are not quickly resolved, the union will not
give further notice to the government before embarking on an indefinite strike.
The NNPC boss pleaded with the management of the three oil companies to
rectify the employment status of casual tanker drivers in their organisations.
Source: ChannelsTV
