The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria(PENGASSAN), has launched a nationwide strike against Dangote Refinery, and the Nigeria Labour Congress, or NLC, has instructed its members to mobilise in support of the strike.
Comrade Joe Ajaero signed a circular issued by the NLC in Abuja on Monday, which contained the directive.
The congress called on its members and affiliates nationwide to mobilise right now for what it called a “full-scale, decisive engagement” against the conglomerate’s purported anti-worker policies.
“You are requested to commence, with immediate effect, preparation for a vigorous and comprehensive unionisation of all workers within every Dangote Group facility falling under your jurisdiction,” the memo read.
According to the NLC, PENGASSAN and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, or NUPENG, are only signs of a larger illness that characterises the group’s industrial relations strategy: a capitalist pathology of worker enslavement, union-busting, and egregious impunity.
It claimed that the Dangote Refinery is an exploitative plantation where employees’ dignity is violated rather than a place of employment.
The union further claimed that Dangote Refinery is “a state within a state,” claiming that the firm has consistently disregarded national labour regulations with “utter disdain,” violated Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, and disregarded the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98.
“Their facilities are not workplaces but plantations of exploitation, where the dignity of the worker is systematically crushed to maximise profit for the few,” it added.
The announcement coincides with continuing negotiations to end the strike between PENGASSAN and Dangote Refinery.
PENGASSAN announced industrial action over the weekend, ordering its members to stop supplying the refinery with petrol and crude oil.
On Monday, however, the Minister of Labour and Employment stated that the refinery, the union, and Nigerians all need to find a solution to the conflict.
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