Ejiofor Alike
Total Nigeria Plc will today resume normal operations after its loading activities were yesterday halted by oil workers under the aegis of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) in protest against plan by the company to sack unionised workers.
The South-west Zonal Chairman of NUPENG, Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, had ordered the suspension of loading activities at the company’s depot in Lagos, following what he called the resistant of the company to the unionisation of its workers in Lagos, Kaduna and Koko in Delta State blending plants, who are under the company’s contract employment.
Korodo told THISDAY that Total introduced three-month contract employment, whereby staff who had worked for the company for five to six years, were made to reapply for three-month contract, instead of regularising their appointments after three-month probation.
He said the introduction of the three-month contract employment instead of the normal three-month probation, amounted to slave labour.
“Those who have worked for five to six years are made to re-apply for three-month contract, which is alien to the labour laws. The management has also penciled down all the unionised workers for sack,” he alleged.
Korodo accused the company of resisting the unionisation of workers under its contract employment.
According to him, the company has moved to terminate those workers who had joined the union in spite of the union.
“In view of this, the union has directed all workers in Total downstream to stop work until the management allows workers to unionise and slave labour introduced are cancelled,” he added.
But after a meeting that lasted for four hours in Lagos between the management of the company and officials of NUPENG, Korodo stated that all the contentious issues had been resolved.
The meeting was summoned at the instance of Total after the union shut down the activities of the company.
Speaking to THISDAY after the meeting, Korodo confirmed that Total has agreed to halt the plan to terminate the appointment of those workers who had joined the union.
“We have resolved all the issues and everybody has been asked to maintain the status quo. No more three-month contract staff and there will be no victimisation of workers. Our members have been asked to resume work effective from tomorrow (today) and everybody is ready to comply. The union, the contractors and Total have signed an agreement,” he explained.
