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12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 42/1998
US-based oil company Sun Inc. (Sunoco) must end its dependence on Nigerian oil imports now. That is the warning from American oil workers to the company's shareholders today.
The US is the main destination for Nigerian oil exports, and Sun is one of America's major importers of Nigerian crude.
"Sun Inc. should not be caught, in the interests of its shareholders and workers, with its pants down," say leaflets being handed to Sun shareholders as they go into their annual meeting today. "An alternative should be found now to the use of Nigerian crude oil," the leaflets insist. "An oil boycott and stronger sanctions are coming."
The leaflets are produced and distributed by the US oil, chemical and atomic workers' union OCAW. At the global level, the OCAW is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The ICEM is campaigning worldwide for the release of Nigerian oilworkers' leaders Milton Dabibi and Frank Kokori. They have been held without charge or trial in Nigerian jails since 1996 and 1994 respectively. The leaflets handed to Sun Inc.'s shareholders today focus on the cases of Dabibi and Kokori. The only way to secure their release, the release of other detainees and the restoration of democracy in Nigeria is an oil boycott, the leaflets say. "Buyers of Nigerian crude had their chance, but so-called constructive engagement didn't work."
Dabibi and Kokori are the General Secretaries of oil unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG, both of which are ICEM affiliates. Both men are in poor health and are being denied adequate medical treatment. They have no access to lawyers or to their unions, and access by their families is severely restricted. Dabibi and Kokori are recognised by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience. While they are in jail, their unions are being run by "sole administrators" imposed by the military regime of General Sani Abacha.
The international campaign to restore union rights in Nigeria has clearly got through to Abacha. In a panicky message broadcast nationwide this May Day, he warned Nigerian workers to "resist moves by local and foreign agents" who engage in "destabilising activities, negative political propaganda and incitement to civil strife." His government expected Nigerian workers to show "understanding, patience and renewed patriotic commitment."
To widespread derision inside and outside Nigeria, Abacha went on to claim that "Nigeria's labour law and practices remain one of the most liberal in the world" and that his administration "has neither detained nor convicted any labour unionists" for "trade union activity."
But Abacha's bluff is being called worldwide. "Now, it is clear that there will be no democratic elections in Nigeria," the OCAW leaflets note. The call for sanctions against the Abacha regime has therefore "turned into a roar - with editorials from the New York Times and the Washington Post supporting an oil boycott."
And they point to a precedent: "OCAW played a key role last year in getting the Clinton administration to impose economic sanctions on Burma's dictatorship - another repressive regime being kept afloat by oil companies. It was another whisper which quickly became a roar, resulting in economic sanctions preventing further investment there... Business ethics and sound business practices demand that Sun Inc. should cut off all relations with Nigeria's Abacha regime now and find an immediate alternative to Nigerian crude oil."
The US is the main destination for Nigerian oil exports, and Sun is one of America's major importers of Nigerian crude.
"Sun Inc. should not be caught, in the interests of its shareholders and workers, with its pants down," say leaflets being handed to Sun shareholders as they go into their annual meeting today. "An alternative should be found now to the use of Nigerian crude oil," the leaflets insist. "An oil boycott and stronger sanctions are coming."
The leaflets are produced and distributed by the US oil, chemical and atomic workers' union OCAW. At the global level, the OCAW is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The ICEM is campaigning worldwide for the release of Nigerian oilworkers' leaders Milton Dabibi and Frank Kokori. They have been held without charge or trial in Nigerian jails since 1996 and 1994 respectively. The leaflets handed to Sun Inc.'s shareholders today focus on the cases of Dabibi and Kokori. The only way to secure their release, the release of other detainees and the restoration of democracy in Nigeria is an oil boycott, the leaflets say. "Buyers of Nigerian crude had their chance, but so-called constructive engagement didn't work."
Dabibi and Kokori are the General Secretaries of oil unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG, both of which are ICEM affiliates. Both men are in poor health and are being denied adequate medical treatment. They have no access to lawyers or to their unions, and access by their families is severely restricted. Dabibi and Kokori are recognised by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience. While they are in jail, their unions are being run by "sole administrators" imposed by the military regime of General Sani Abacha.
The international campaign to restore union rights in Nigeria has clearly got through to Abacha. In a panicky message broadcast nationwide this May Day, he warned Nigerian workers to "resist moves by local and foreign agents" who engage in "destabilising activities, negative political propaganda and incitement to civil strife." His government expected Nigerian workers to show "understanding, patience and renewed patriotic commitment."
To widespread derision inside and outside Nigeria, Abacha went on to claim that "Nigeria's labour law and practices remain one of the most liberal in the world" and that his administration "has neither detained nor convicted any labour unionists" for "trade union activity."
But Abacha's bluff is being called worldwide. "Now, it is clear that there will be no democratic elections in Nigeria," the OCAW leaflets note. The call for sanctions against the Abacha regime has therefore "turned into a roar - with editorials from the New York Times and the Washington Post supporting an oil boycott."
And they point to a precedent: "OCAW played a key role last year in getting the Clinton administration to impose economic sanctions on Burma's dictatorship - another repressive regime being kept afloat by oil companies. It was another whisper which quickly became a roar, resulting in economic sanctions preventing further investment there... Business ethics and sound business practices demand that Sun Inc. should cut off all relations with Nigeria's Abacha regime now and find an immediate alternative to Nigerian crude oil."