By Ken Chiwendu
Following the ongoing dispute between the Dangote Refinery and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria PENGAASSAN ,over sacked workers, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed its affiliate unions to begin mobilisation for a nationwide strike
In a memo signed on Monday, NLC President Joe Ajaero accused the refinery of flouting Nigeria’s labour laws, the constitution, and International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions by dismissing employees for joining the association.
The NLC president described Dangote Group facilities as “plantations of exploitation” where workers’ dignity is sacrificed for profit.
Describing the sacking of workers as “a symptom of a deeper sickness — a capitalist pathology of union-busting, worker enslavement, and gross impunity that defines the Group’s industrial relations strategy.”Ajaero
ordered affiliate unions to place members on full alert and immediately step up unionisation campaigns within all Dangote facilities nationwide.
“The impunity of the Dangote Group must be met with resistance,” he stressed, noting that unity of purpose has become “non-negotiable.”
PENGASSAN had called for the reinstatement of over 800 workers who it claimed were sacked by the Dangote group for unionizing but Dangote dismissed the claim saying the company merely reorganized and only a few Nigerian workers were affected.
Dangote group also accused PENGASSAN of attempting sabotage after the union directed its members to cut off crude and gas supplies to Dangote refinery
The Federal Government is said to be mediating between the trade union and the refinery to allay fears of a nation wide strike action.
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