Labour
Exxonmobil Staff Cry out Over Benefits, 10 Years Sack
About 70 members of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) on Monday, bemoaned the nonpayment of their severance package 10 years after they were sacked by Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) subsidiary of US firm- ExxonMobil.
They said that they were disengaged in 2009 before the expiration of their employment contracts at the Qua Iboe Oil Export Terminal operated by Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) and were denied their entitlement of N600 million.
According to the oil workers, it took the management of MPN nine years to authourize payment of their terminal benefits in 2018 but said that the amount fell short of the computed benefits by over N600 million.
Mr Peter Akpenka, a former Chairman of Contract Workers branch of PENGASSAN in MPN said in an interview in Yenagoa that more than five of the workers owed had died in frustration.
Akpenka said the plight of the workers were worsened by the insensitive posture of MPN and nonchalant attitude of the PENGASSAN officials who allegedly connived to work against the collective interest of the disengaged workers.
“Even more worrisome is the role being played by members of our union who generated an obnoxious document and donated same to MPN management to justify the release of over N600 million due to our members.
“We have asked why PENGASSAN will donate the salaries and terminal benefits of its members to Mobil and got no answers, we have forwarded our cases but the union has not acted.
“We were locked out while our employment contract was still running and under our labour laws, when there is such a breach of existing contract, the terminal benefits reflect and compensate for the breach.
“It took them nine years to pay part of the benefits in 2018 and they are still holding on to the balance, and we are at a loss as to why our own union is working against us.
“Rather than use the subsisting Collecting Bargaining Agreement as at the time of our disengagement in August 2009 to compute our benefits they connived and used an old discarded template and hence the shortfall.
“We have communicated them several times in writing, written reminders while this matter lingered over the years and they have taken no action.
“Our position is that MPN, an affiliate of Exxonmobil should not accept the donation of our benefits and declare same as profit, We urge MPN management to correct the anomaly and ensure their labour contractors pay us,” Akpenka said.
A letter dated Nov 15, 2017 signed by Mr Rotimi Olubeko, MPN’s Area Procurement Manager addressed to Managing Director; Sigmund Engineering Works confirmed that the contracts of the oil workers were terminated in 2009.
MPN in the letter authourised the labour contractor to pay the severance package which the aggrieved workers said fell short of the subsisting Collective Bargaining Agreements as at the time of their disengagement in 2009.
Mr Mathew Oloche of Sigmund, one of the labour contractors retained by MPN at the Qua Iboe Oil Export Terminal said that Sigmund was merely an intermediary between MPN and its contract staff.
“We have just one case of the 2009 disengagement and his entitlements were worked out in line with MPN Human Resources Policy and he was paid and it is well documented.
“We in Sigmund are not owing him a kobo, if however the case he is making for additional payment materializes and MPN agrees to pay, we shall not stand in the way,” Oloche said..
Another labour contractor who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the labour contractors were not involved in computation of terminal benefits as they were only mandated to pay what MPN authorized.
According to the source MPN management and PENGASSAN set up a verification committee to determine amount payable to the disengaged workers adding that the committee should be held responsible for any shortfall.
Reacting to the allegations by aggrieved members, Mr Lumumba Okugbawa, General Secretary of PENGASSAN said that the union did its best under the prevailing circumstances and denied that the union abandoned its members.
“It is not true that we abandoned our best, their sack in 2009 was a major challenge to the union and across the industry, the development even affected the willingness of other operators to allow contract staff to join the union.
“We tried our best in getting the issue resolved and that was a long time ago some 11 years down the line, we did what we could under the prevailing situations and circumstances.
“At one hand we wanted contract staffers to be unionized as a basis of stemming casualisation in the oil sector but the Contract Workers branch of PENGASSAN got diverted when they demanded parity with permanent staff.
“They are our members and rather than critisise the union openly they should exhaust internal mechanisms to resolve the conflict by going back to their local branches of PENGASSAN, the union is still there,” Okugbawa said.
Labour
FG Approves Pay Rise for Civil Servants
By Tony Obiechina Abuja
The Federal Government has approved 25% and 35% salary increase for civil servants across various consolidated salary structures.
In a statement by the Head of Press, National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission, Emmanuel Njoku, the increases takes effect on January 1, 2024.
The statement added that the augmentation applies to the six remaining consolidated salary structures, namely the Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure, Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure, Consolidated Police Salary Structure, Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure, Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure, and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure.
Also approved for augmentation is the pension of retirees enrolled in the Defined Benefits Scheme within the aforementioned consolidated salary structures.
Labour
Tribute to Chief Frank Kokori
By Joe Ajaero
We at the Nigeria Labour Congress are deeply saddened by the passing away of Chief Frank Kokori at 80. Our hearts are with his biological family and the NUPENG family where he was General Secretary. To them and other associates, we offer our condolences.
Chief Frank Kokori was Executive Secretary of OMPADEC which later metamorphosed into NDDC among other national appointments held by him.
He was announced as Chairman of the board of NSITF but denied that role by some of the powers that be. He instead chaired the board of Michael Imoudou National Institute of Labour Studies (MINILS) where he made his impact. This was his last national assignment.Chief Frank Kokori will be remembered for many things but top on that list was being among the Labour leaders that gave their all in order for our country to have democracy.
For his stoic and heroic struggle for the enthronement of democracy, he was arrested and detained by the military alongside other Labour leaders for spells of time under inhumane conditions.
Before his arrest and detention by the Abacha -government, Kokori was in the vanguard of Labour leaders who fashioned an alliance with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on the understanding that then Congress President, Comrade Pascal Bafyau (now of blessed memory) would be vice president to Chief Abiola. Although Chief Abiola (due to circumstances) beyond his control) did not keep that part of the bargain, organised labour gave him their generous and unflinching support. This, coupled with Chief Abiola’ s own credentials gave him coast to coast victory at the polls in the freest election in the history of the country.
Nigeria Labour Congress was similarly in the vanguard of national resistance when the military scuttled Chief Abiola’ s election or victory. It was in execution of that resistance that Chief Kokori among other Labour leaders was arrested and incarcerated while others were hounded out of the country. The “lucky” ones were only put on the security watch list and were routinely harassed at their homes, airports and at public functions considered by the State to be subversive. At the risk of sounding immodest, among those arrested and incarcerated at such functions at Ilorin were Comrades Joe Ajaero and Chris Uyot, Deputy General of Congress. There were several others who suffered differing indignities for fighting for democracy.
Even while some of its leaders were in detention with Chief Abiola, Labour leaders did not give up on their struggle for enthronement of popular democracy.
For their “obduracy”, the organised labour paid a heavy price. The Nigeria Labour Congress and NUPENG for instance, were illegally dissolved by the military and their assets seized. Sole Administrators were appointed to oversee their affairs until 1999!
It is in light of this that we find it a big irony that those who collaborated with the military yesterday while Labour was in the trenches would have the audacity to say today that Labour has no business in politics. It is a shame they are allowed to eat their cake and have it because quite a number of them through the roof or the back door are in government or positions of influence. And clearly, the dilemmna in which we have found ourselves as a people and as a nation cannot be divorced from this syndrome of opportunism and messiah complex…same faces, same cases, same places ( Akinola Aguda).
Chief Kokori, a dogged and fearless fighter has played his role and gone, history has the next chapter.
Meanwhile, while the wheel of history turns, we urge the federal government and the Government of Delta State to immortalise him, for what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Comrade Joe Ajaero is President, Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC)
President
Aviation
Passengers Stranded as NLC Locks Down Abuja Airport
By Idris Umar Feta Abuja
Many air travellers were left stranded following the closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday.
A combined team of NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) blocked both the entry and exit ways of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
The protest was part of the series of actions that the two labour unions say they would zero in on Imo, following the attack on the NLC president, Joe Ajaero.
The NLC and TUC had on Tuesday, declared a nationwide strike, which will commence on Tuesday, November 14, due to the face-off with the Imo State Government.