Dangote Refinery: NUPENG carpets Oshiomole over ‘anti-labour comment’

The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has lambasted former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, over his recent stance on the feud between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and the management of Dangote Refinery.

DAILY POST reports that Oshiomhole last Friday on Arise TV, the former NLC President, had picked holes in the industrial action embarked on by PENGASSAN in its disagreement with the Dangote Refinery, which resulted in a nationwide shutdown of oil facilities.

The lawmaker described the move as hasty and unfair to other workers.

Oshiomhole noted that while unions have the right to defend workers, they must do so in ways that do not create wider economic hardship.

But in a statement signed by Comrades Williams Akporeha and Afolabi Olawale, the president and the general secretary, respectively, of NUPENG, they expressed disappointment in Senator Oshiomhole’s remarks, which they described as a betrayal of labour principles and a distortion of established laws.

“We witness with utter disappointment a former labour leader now transformed into a vocal advocate for corporate oppression, actively campaigning against the very rights he once championed.

“His attempts to rationalise the victimisation of workers for exercising their fundamental rights of association and peaceful action are not only nauseating but also represent a flagrant misrepresentation of Nigerian labour law and the International Labour Organisation.

“Adams Oshiomhole’s criticism of PENGASSAN’s strike is an act of profound historical revisionism and political amnesia.

“Section 31 of the Trade Unions Act, Cap T14, LFN 2004 legally recognises trade disputes, including industrial actions undertaken by workers in sympathy with another group.

“PENGASSAN’s solidarity action with their members in Dangote Refinery is, therefore, a protected legal action.

“The principle that “an injury to one is an injury to all” is the foundational ethic of trade unionism globally,” the union stated.

This comes after Dangote Refinery on Monday commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others for intervening in the suspension of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria’s strike.

DRL said it is Nigeria’s largest private employer of labour and largest contributor to Nigeria’s tax revenues.

Recall that PENGASSAN declared a strike against Dangote Refinery over the mass sacking of Nigerian workers.

The strike lasted for two days following the intervention of the Federal Government, with both PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery reaching a truce.