Strike by Major Oil Union To Cripple Nigeria's Crude Output and Export

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN)-one of Nigeria’s major oil unions has begun a nationwide strike today against laying off its workers. The union has started the indefinite strike after talks with government agencies failed to arrive at a consensus, said union officials. The strike is feared to badly impact Nigerian crude oil production and exports. Incidentally, crude oil exports account for nearly two-thirds of Nigeria’s revenue.

The dispute follows action by domestic oil and gas companies and marginal field operators, laying off union workers. The union had requested the government to persuade the management of those companies to recall all the sacked workers. The union claims that urgent action needs to be taken on ‘mass’ layoffs. However, the union officials did not disclose the number of workers affected by layoffs. Consequently, the impact of layoff could not be gauged. However, the strike is expected to impact upstream oil industry operations. A similar strike action by the union against ExxonMobil last year had impacted crude production and exports in a big way.

Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment had requested the union to reconsider its decision, in order to save the country from further hardships during the festive season. The Federal Government also noted that the strike has been called without adequate notice period. All the contentious issues will be discussed and sorted out during the meeting scheduled during the second week of January 2018, he promised. Ngige appealed to the Central Working Committee of PENGASSAN to call of the strike action in the better interest of the nation.