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PENGASSAN pickets firm over alleged anti-labour practices

By Gloria Nwafor
15 October 2020   |   3:00 am
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) on Tuesday, picketed an oil and gas firm, BakerHughes Nigeria, over alleged anti-labour practices.   The union also exposed the firm’s disregard for Nigeria’s labour laws as it locked out about 64 employees of the organisation, including members of the union.   PENGASSAN, in a statement,…

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) on Tuesday, picketed an oil and gas firm, BakerHughes Nigeria, over alleged anti-labour practices.
 
The union also exposed the firm’s disregard for Nigeria’s labour laws as it locked out about 64 employees of the organisation, including members of the union.

 
PENGASSAN, in a statement, said the oil service company refused to align with the directives of the Ministry of Labour and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
 
The union alleged that the oil firm failed to pay employees what was due to them after the merger of BakerHughes and General Electric.
 
The oil workers also alleged that BakerHughes prevented employees from the legacy GE to freely associate with the in-house union after the merger of the two companies was consummated.
 
Among other things, PENGASSAN demanded that BakerHughes called its members back, respect labour laws and stop casualisation/job offshoring to pave way for meaningful negotiations.
 
Meanwhile, NUPENG has also raised the alarm over a move by Shell Petroleum Development Company and Valiant Energy Services to deny the workers of their terminal benefits.
 
President, NUPENG, Williams Akporeha, said it was another sinister plot by Shell and its contractor – Adolor Uwamu of Valiant Energy Services – to defraud workers of their entitlements.
 
He alleged that the contractor refused to pay the final entitlements of 39 workers it wrongly sacked since 2019.
 
He implored relevant authorities including the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigeria Police, and the Department of State Services (DSS) to live up to their responsibilities by compelling Uwamu to pay the terminal benefits of the affected workers.

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