Glimmer of Hope for Lower Oil Prices - Nigerian Oil Workers Call Off Strike

The indefinite strike by oil workers of Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), the Nigerian affiliate of the US oil giant ExxonMobil, has been called off on Thursday following a four-day negotiations brokered by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) between the MPN and the oil workers union, PENGASSAN.

The workers were agitating for a pay rise, integrity of facilities, pension scheme, expatriate quota, safety at work environment and casual/contract staffing.

The one-week strike and facility shut-down resulted in the loss of about 860,000 of crude oil barrels per day from MPN’s export terminal in Eket in Akwa Ibom state, south-eastern Nigeria.

“We have communicated the agreement to our members and asked them to go back to work. As we speak, they have started re-opening the facilities shut down a week ago,” Mr Olusola George-Olumoroti, Chairman of the PENGASSAN branch of MPN, told journalists in Abuja.

He added that they were pleased with the agreement. “It is a win-win situation. We are returning as friends,” he said while expressing optimism that no worker would be victimized.

“That was why we said that management should put the matter on the negotiation table,” George-Olumoroti noted.

The chairman declined to state the concessions made by the MPN management before the workers backed down.

He said that both parties took the decision out of patriotism and in the interest of the Nigerian economy.

In a remark, the new National President of PENGASSAN, Mr Babatunde Ogun, described the reconciliation as both beautiful and purposeful.

On his part, Mr Peter Odjoji, Manager (Employee Relations) of the NNPC, said that both parties exhibited maturity and understanding during the talks.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher