Amid increasing fuel queues in Abuja, a nationwide fuel scarcity looms as the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) has issued a two-week strike notice to the federal government.
NUPENG, citing the need to attend to oil workers’ welfare, said the strike will commence at the expiration of the notice.
In a statement signed by NUPENG President, Williams Akhoreha, and General Secretary, Olawale Afolabi, the union said the notice of strike was one of the decisions reached at its special national delegates conference last week.
It listed non-payment of workers’ salaries, title benefits, among others, as reasons for its resolution.
One of the issues, NUPENG said, was the outstanding short payment of terminal benefits to its members that were declared redundant in 2012 by the management of Chevron Nigeria limited.
The union accused the management of Chevron for terminating the employment of contract workers because the employees consented to join the union, despite the fact that the workers had put in between 10 to 20 years in continuous employment and that their jobs were terminated without payment of terminal benefits.
It added that contract workers working in Oil Mining Lease 42 of the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, a subsidiary of NNPC, were being continuously owed salaries and allowances for upwards of eight to 10 months.
NUPENG said efforts to make the management of the NPDC and the contractors do the needful on the pitiable plights of the hapless workers had yet to receive any meaningful attention and actions.
