Leadership (Abuja)
Betrand Nwankwo
7 October 2008
The deadline given by members of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) to Chevron Nigeria Plc will expire tomorrow.
The union has given Chevron management a 14-day ultimatum to address the workers' demand or face industrial action.
The deadline which expired Wednesday last week was extended by the union when they realised that it fell on a public holiday.
"The deadline was supposed to expire on Wednesday. But because of the public holidays and to give room for dialogue, we extended the deadline to next Wednesday," said Williams Akporeha, the head of NUPENG in Warri.
The NUPENG branch in Warri is demanding that casual staff working for Chevron be given permanent contracts so they can enjoy full employment benefits.
It has warned that it would launch a strike targeting production if the dispute is not resolved before the ultimatum expires.
"Progress is being made in the company's engagement with all parties to resolve the issues through dialogue and respect for rule of law," Chevron spokesman Scott Walker said.
Akporeha explained most of the contract staff were production staff at Escravos, where Chevron operates an export terminal and oilfields, and at deep off-shore facilities. Any strike would target those operations, he said.
"Management is trying to engage us in a discussion but they haven't called a meeting yet. We hope they will do so soon to avert a strike," Akporeha told Reuters. Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, began production at its Agbami offshore field in late July. It said then that production was due to be ramped up to around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) by early next year.
At normal rates of production, Escravos output is around 300,000 BPD.
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