THE alleged unprocedural sack of members by Chevron Nigeria Limited and its service contractors on Wednesday did not go down without controversy.
Now, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has issued a seven-day nationwide strike notice in solidarity for the sacked workers.
The union in a statement said that no fewer than 175 members working in YKISH Integrated Services for the offsite/onsite maintenance services with Chevron Nigeria Limited, Delog Nigeria Ltd and EUROFLOW Services, (all service contractors to Chevron Nigeria Ltd), were sacked through WhatsApp messages to their respective mobile telephones.
In the statement by its President and General Secretary, Prince Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, respectively, the union demanded their immediate reinstatement within seven days, failing which members will down tools and begin a nationwide strike.
The statement said NUPENG was disturbed and pained over alleged flagrant disrespect for the extant labour laws by Chevron Nigeria Ltd and its contractors to the extent that the employment of these workers were terminated via WhatsApp messages.
Among others, the statement read in part “We wish to emphasize that this lack of respect and sensitivity to Nigerian extant labour law, international conventions and global best practices is gradually becoming the stock in trade for Chevron Nigeria Limited and its various contractors as there are still several other lingering infractions and issues against workers yet to be addressed by Chevron Nigeria Limited and its contractor even after several regulatory institutions like Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Department of Petroleum Resources and NAPIMS had severally ruled on these matters.
“Consequently, we are calling on the general public, the media and all concerned authorities in country and the industry including Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, National Assembly, law enforcement agents and the Embassy of the United States of America to call Chevron and its service contractor(s) to order on these matters to avert avoidable industrial action from the Union.
The sacked Contract workers must be recalled back to work immediately, status quo maintained. In the interest of industrial peace and harmony, our demand must be met within the next seven days (7 days) otherwise we may be forced to call out all our members on a nationwide industrial action.” the statement reads.
