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29 May, 2006
ICEM Nigerian affiliate PENGASSAN agreed to a 27% wage increase at the weekend for upstream workers of Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc. The company, a subsidiary of US-based supermajor ExxonMobil, was under an extended strike deadline to tomorrow by the white-collar oil workers’ union and its 1,700 members employed by the company.
PENGASSAN had targeted ExxonMobil’s Nigerian operations because prior wage negotiations with other multinational oil companies had yielded higher pay increases. The union and company will meet again in December to discuss further increases.
Meanwhile, dialogue will continue between the two sides on the use of contract labour in offshore oil operations, as well as PENGASSAN’s demand that ExxonMobil comply with an expatriate quota and local content policies that are in effect in Nigeria. The union seeks more full-time employment for Nigerian workers in the oil and gas sector.
On 25 May, PENGASSAN’s National Executive Board met and elected Peter Esele as president. He had been serving as acting president since the tragic death of President Uche Okoro in an airline crash last December. Esele is a skilled negotiator and employed at Core Laboratories Nigeria Ltd. as a Health and Environment officer.