he Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has threatened to go on strike if the management of Chevron Nigeria Limited did not recall its 175 sacked contract workers within seven days.
NUPENG National President, Mr Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Mr Olawale Afolabi, gave the warning in a statement on Thursday in Lagos.
The association described the action of the company and its service contractors as lacking respect and sensitivity to Nigerian extant labour laws, international conventions and global best practices.
It therefore, called on concerned authorities including the Minister of State for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, and the Embassy of the U.S. to call Chevron and its service contractor(s) to order on these matters to avert avoidable industrial action.
“The sacked contract workers must be recalled back to work immediately, status quo maintained, while Chevron Nigeria Limited and its Contractors properly engage the leadership of the union on all these matters raised for firm and final resolutions.
“ln the interest of industrial peace and harmony, our demands must be met within the next seven days otherwise we may be forced to call out all our members on a nationwide industrial action, ” the statement said.
According to NUPENG, the workers were sacked for identifying with the union, and their employments and according to them, the employments were terminated via WhatApp messages.
“lt was such an appalling, callous and very heart rendering approach to industrial relations practice at this age and time.
“The psychological and emotional trauma experienced by the sacked workers due to the callous manners Chevron Nigeria Limited, through its contractors sacked these workers is horrendous and deeply tortuous as the method made them feel less-human and utterly depressed.”
The service Contractors to Chevron Nigeria Limited from which the workers were sacked include YKISH Integrated Services for the offsite/onsite maintenance services with Chevron Nigeria Limited, Delog Nigeria Ltd and EUROFLOW Services.
