Bimbola Oyesola
The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) yesterday suspended the 15-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Government over unresolved labour issues.
The President of the union, Igwe Achese, said the suspension was as a result of the timely intervention of the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS).
“The suspension of the ultimatum, which should have expired on Thursday, February 15, 2018 was due to the understanding reached after a meeting with Director General of DSS on Tuesday,” he said.
He said the DSS resolved to host a meeting between the Managing Director of AMCON and NUPENG leadership yesterday to find a lasting solution to the lingering crisis of non-payment of terminal benefits and backlog of salaries to Seawolf Drilling Company workers that were laid-off over six years ago.
“The DSS also resolved to convene a stakeholders meeting between the union and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) over unresolved labour issues,” he added.
The NUPENG President noted that based on the agreement reached at the meeting with DSS, the union then resolved, after an emergency meeting of the National Administrative Council (NAC) in Abuja, to suspend the 15-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Government in order to pave way for social dialogue to settle the nagging problems.
The union recalled that the issues have remained unresolved despite its persistent calls on authorities to intervene and resolve them before they degenerate into unavoidable crisis situation.
According to NUPENG, the unresolved labour issues include non-payment of severance benefits to workers in Seawolf Drilling Company by AMCON, Universal Energy Resources Lmited and Tecon Oil Services Limited.
Other unresolved labour issues are with Chevron and their labour contractors, Shell, Nigeria AGIP Company, Exxonmobil Producing Nigeria unlimited and termination of labour contract workers and others.
