Protesting members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), on Wednesday paralysed the operations of the head office of Addax Petroleum in Victoria Island, Lagos, over what they described as the oil company’s anti-labour practices.
The workers were protesting against the management of the oil company with regards to the protracted negotiation of their welfare package that has lasted for over eight months.
The workers, who barricaded the entrance of the company’s premises as early as 6a.m., accused the management of the international oil company of being insensitive to the health and safety of workers in its operational areas.
The workers insisted that management must address all health and safety concerns as well as issues relating to promotion, failing which the picketing exercise would continue.
PENGASSAN branch Chairman in Addax Petroleum, Kingsley Onoyom, who spoke on behalf of the workers accused the management of high handedness on issues relating to the health and safety of the workers.
He explained that the union had made correspondences to management concerning the offshore transportation system and feeding at the Izombe Flow Station, adding that management had failed to do anything to fix the problem.
He alleged that many of the members had not been promoted in the last eight years, while some are on the same job without promotion for 15 years.
“We have done everything to ensure that the management close out the negotiation of our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that was started since November last year but instead management continued to delay the CBA and this is affecting our morale and productivity.
“When our national secretariat tried to mediate and ensure that the negotiation continued and closed out early, the management embarrassed our national officers by denying them entry,” he said.
Lagos Zonal Chairman of PENGASSAN, Abel Agarin, said the picketing would not be suspended until management fix a meeting for the conclusion of the prolonged CBA negotiation stressing that “There must be a commitment from the management to meet all the demands of the workers before suspending the picketing.
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