The Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Issa Aremu, says the warning strike by NUPENG/PENGASSAN is long overdue, as the union had given series of notices to the Federal Government.
He said that at the moment in the sector, there are no standard jobs. “There is high level of casualisation and petroleum jobs are not protected.”
Commending NUPENG/PENGASSAN, he said the union had tried in protecting the jobs of their fellow workers and had spoken to the government over their sacked colleagues.
Speaking as a guest on Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Mr Aremu noted that there were outstanding issues which should not be left untreated; like the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
He explained that there were pains behind strikes, especially the problems that are faced because of the strikes but stated that the ongoing strike by the petroleum workers had drawn the attention of the government.
He blamed the government for not adhering to the call of the workers for over three weeks before the strike commenced.
Mr Aremu said that the only language that the government understood was a threat to withdraw service. “When employees threaten to withdraw their services, the government respond,” he said, urging the Federal Government and the National Assembly to pass the PIB which would addresses all issues including Labour and job opportunities (casual and permanent).
He, therefore, advise the Federal Government to learn to negotiate and also respect workers’ rights.
