Oil workers under the Petroleum and Natural
Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria
(PENGASSAN) and the National Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Worker (NUPENG)
have called off their four-day long industrial
action.
The National Executive Councils of the two
unions agreed to suspend the strike after a
long meeting on Thursday with federal
government representatives.
The meeting lasted till the early hours of
Friday.
Though details of the resolution were yet to
be released, a senior national official of
PENGASSAN in Abuja told PREMIUM TIMES
that the unions were able to extract “firm”
commitments from the government with
regards to their grievances.
The meeting, convened by the Ministry of
Labour and Productivity, was attended by
representatives of the Ministry of Petroleum
Resources.
Some of the demands of the workers included
the immediate reinstatement of one of
PENGASSAN zonal official in Rivers state, Elo
Victor, sacked by the management of Total Oil
Nigeria and the suspension of plans by
government to sell the refineries.
The workers were also protesting against the
delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry
Bill (PIB), which has been pending at the
National Assembly for about six years.
The PENGASSAN official, who pleaded that he
should not be named as he was authorized to
speak on the issue, said a formal joint
statement calling off the action would be
issued by the NEC of the union later on
Friday.
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