30th June, 2013
With accusations that multinational oil companies are engaged in unfair labour practices, to the disadvantage of Nigerians, the workers union, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) said it would begin a warning strike from Monday.
NUPENG’s General-Secretary, Mr Isaac Aberare, in a statement on Sunday in Lagos said: “The strike is also to protest the refusal of NARTO to implement the signed collective bargaining agreement with the petroleum tanker drivers.
“We are also unhappy over the bad state of roads across the nation, ‘’ the statement said.
When NUPENG served notice about a strike three weeks ago, Nigeria’s Labour Minister, Emeka Wogu, dissuaded the union against it promising to look into the workers grievances.
The start of the strike will bring back long queues at petrol stations, as the supply chain will be broken, analysts said.
In Sunday’s statement, NUPENG said all efforts by the Federal Ministry of Labour to intervene in the issue had failed, just like the call for a stakeholders meeting in the oil and gas sector to address a number of issues.
NUPENG has directed all members at the various depots to stop loading petroleum products for the next three days.
Members in all the branches in the country must also follow suit,’’ the statement said.
It said that if after the three-day strike, nothing was done to address the situation, NUPENG would be forced to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike.