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Tag: NUPENG

  • NUPENG protests sack of 1,500 workers by Shell

    NUPENG protests sack of 1,500 workers by Shell

    Activities at the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Warri, Delta State were disrupted yesterday following a massive protest by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).

    The oil workers said they were protesting the sack of 1,500 members by the oil giant which they accused of policies that target members and interests of the union. The National Deputy President of NUPENG, Comrade Eddy Ossai, who led hundreds of union members to the company office about 8 am, said they were prepared to cripple the company’s operations.

    He said: “We are not going to accept what Shell has just done to our members. Shell must not be allowed to get away with this.”

    Also, National Treasurer of NUPENG, Comrade Williams Akporeha, lamented that “Shell has told the whole world that NUPENG is no longer important and if we allow that to exist others like Chevron, Mobil etc will follow suit. Shell today sacked 1,500 of our members. Not because they do not have any reason to do so, but they did that without consulting the Union.”

    The protest led to a shut down of the busy Airport-Ajamogha-Ogunu roads axis of the oil city. A resultant traffic gridlock kept motorists on a spot for2 several hours.

    The protesters were undeterred by the deployment of fierce-looking dogs and heavy presence at the Shell gate located directly opposite the Federal Government College, as well as the company’s contractors’gate on the NPA Expressway link road.

    But Shell’s Corporate Media Relations Manager, Mr Tony Okonedo,who confirmed the protest, denied the union’s allegation of anti-union policy. He said the protest did not affect the company’s operations.

    He said: “The company has no disagreement with NUPENG members in its employment. Allegations of interference and intimidation of union officials made in some media reports against SPDC by some members of the union outside its employment are false and baseless.

    “The fact is that SPDC is divesting from a number of its assets in Western Niger Delta as agreed by joint venture partners and approved by the Federal Government. This is part of a portfolio realignment exercise that will also help to grow indigenous capacity in the oil and gas industry.

    Okonedo, whose reaction was contained in an email to our reporter, said staff and unions have been briefed on the exercise, including the implications for the structure of the business in Western operations. He added that affected staff were being compensated in line with company policies.

    “We are also aware that there is a dispute between national NUPENG and the Shell Branch of the union which is the subject of a court case. The current court order is for all parties to maintain the status quo and SPDC is complying with that order,” added.

  • NUPENG threatens strike over sack in Shell

    • We’re divesting from some assets, says oil giant

     

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called for the reinstatement of its members sacked by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

    In a statement signed by the union’s Deputy President, Comrade John Eddy Ossai and Acting General Secretary, Comrade Isaac Aberare, the union condemned the “victimisation and severance of its officials in the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)”

    The call for the recall of the workers was made in view of the on-going dialogue by the Labour Minister, Chief Emeka Wogu and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to resolve the matter.

    SPDC, however, denied the accusations of anti-union policies targeted at NUPENG members in its fold.

    The union officials warned that “if the SPDC management does not reinstate the union officials as it is a clear case of intimidation, harassment and victimisation, the industrial action that will follow by the union will be serious, as an injury to one, is an injury to all.”

    The statement reads in part: “The Union reiterates that the NUPENG SPDC caretaker committee Chairman, Comrade Enomate Kingsley and 16 other

    Union members affected by the severance should immediately be reinstated in the interest of industrial peace and harmony.

    “NUPENG  states that it dissolved the executive committee of Shell Branch of NUPENG for anti-union activities and set up a care-taker committee to run the affairs of the union in the interim.

    “It adds that the management of SPDC refused to recognise the care-taker committee and have since been planning to victimise the union officials.

    “The union stresses that SPDC planned to outsource the fire department where majority of the workers are based notwithstanding the union’s vehement opposition to the plan.

    ‘’To actualise their plan, the SPDC management transferred the former Chairman, Comrade Fidelis Okandeji, expelled by the union for anti-union activities and his loyalists out of the department leaving members of the caretaker committee vulnerable while hiding under the guise of divestment and management business decision to severe the union officials.”

    The statement further said NUPENG leadership was taken aback when on October, 22, 2012, the SPDC management carried out their threat and distributed severance letters to the Union officials including the Chairman of the caretaker Committee, Comrade Enomate Kingsley.

    NUPENG described this as a case of victimisation for Union activities and vowed to resist it.

    The union noted that contract workers in SPDC will also be affected. It said: “The management has refused to enter negotiation on collective bargaining agreement with the union and that means contract workers who served ten years and above will go with nothing.”

    In its statement, signed by the company’s spokesman, Mr Precious Okolobo, SPDC said it has no disagreement with NUPENG members.

    Okolobo said allegations of interference and intimidation of union officials made in some media reports against SPDC by some members of the union outside its employment, were false and baseless.

    “The fact is that SPDC is divesting from a number of its assets in Western Niger Delta as agreed by joint venture partners and approved by the Federal Government. This is part of a portfolio realignment that will also help to grow indigenous capacity in the oil and gas industry.

    “Staff and unions have been briefed on the exercise, including the implications for the structure of the business in Western operations. Affected staff are being compensated in line with company policies.

    ”We are also aware that there is a dispute between national NUPENG and the Shell Branch of the union, which is the subject of a court case. The court order is for all parties to maintain the status quo and SPDC is complying with that order,” he said.

  • NUPENG seeks govt’s assistance for flood victims

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called on the Federal Government to quickly come to the aid of victims affected by the floods ravaging parts of the country.

    In a statement signed by the Acting General Secretary, Comrade Isaac O. Aberare, the union advised that a state of emergency should be declared in the affected communities, while relief materials and temporary abode be made available to them.

    The union added that a supplementary budget to assist the flood victims should be sent to the National Assembly for approval to provide succour for the affected people and their communities.

    The union commiserated with the families of those who lost lives in the floods. It also warned that state governments should desist from allocating and allowing buildings to be erected in flood-prone areas; especially around the river banks.

    It called on the Federal and state governments to, as a matter of urgency dispatch medical teams to the areas to avert epidemic and diseases from ravaging the communities.

    NUPENG re-iterated that the three tiers of government must begin to enlighten the populace on global warming or climate change, which is partly responsible for the upsurge. The union added that agencies of government, such as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), responsible for providing assistance to the affected people, should be alive to their responsibilities.

    NUPENG stated that adequate forecast should be made available as to the extent of such damages when waters are released from dams to make people move before they are trapped as it is done in advanced countries.

    Towards ameliorating the sufferings of the affected people, the union called on the Federal Government to assist the affected states with funds.

    It called for better ways to channel excess water from dams and to collaborate through a joint commission with the Republic of Cameroun where the excess water was first released.

     

  • NUPENG decries persistent fuel scarcity

    NUPENG decries persistent fuel scarcity

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (NUPENG), has called on the Federal government and its agencies, to live up to their responsibilities and stop the persistent fuel scarcity in the country now.

    In a statement signed by the Ag. General-Secretary, Comrade Isaac Aberare, the union said that the reserve the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it has could last for 45 days is a ruse and called on the government to do the right thing and stop the current fuel scarcity. NUPENG, said its members, especially the Petroleum Tanker Drivers were at work, but have no sufficient products to load at the depots for distribution.

    It condemned the non-challant approach of government in addressing the shortage, and hoped it was not another strategy to introduce deregulation of petroleum products through the back door.

    The union said the government should be held responsible for the current shortage, as repairs have not been effected at the vandalised pipes at Arepo village in Ogun State.

    It called on the security agencies to recover the bodies of those slained and fish out the killers immediately so they could be brought to book, adding that government should pay verified oil marketers’ subsidies on products supplied, so that they can import fuel and pay monies owed to banks.

    NUPENG said Nigerians should not be allowed to suffer and pay more for petroleum products, because the appropriate agencies and government are not proactive enough, stressing that the persistent fuel scarcity must not be allowed to go into the Sallah and Christmas festive periods, as hoarding may become the order of the day.

    It called on the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to monitor product sales and sanction filling stations that sell above the approved rate.

    The union urged the federal government to take the Turn-Around-Maintenance of the nation’s four refineries seriously to avoid a national embarrassment, stating that “these issues have been the standpoint of the union over time, but it seemed the government is bent on deregulation of the petroleum products when the economy is in tatters,” it added.