The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has expressed readiness to join industrial action against Dangote Petroleum Refinery over its dispute with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
The Kano State Chairman of TUC, Comrade Mubarak Buba Yarima, told Daily Post, the congress will join the strike against Dangote if there is no amicable resolution of their dispute today.
Recall that the federal government, PENGASSAN, and Dangote Refinery are currently meeting in Abuja to resolve a crisis that arose from the sack of 800 staff by Dangote.
Yarima said the TUC would not sit idly by while the rights of workers would be trampled upon by the refinery.
PENGASSAN had accused the refinery of dismissing hundreds of staff after they joined the association.
The association claimed that the company replaced some of the staff with expatriates, describing the action as victimisation.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Maigari Dingyadi, waded in and called a meeting that is believed to be ongoing as this report is being filed.
The spokesperson of the ministry, Patience Onuobia, said the minister appealed to PENGASSAN to reconsider its strike because of the toll it would take on the economy.
Yarima said TUC was not denying that Dangote had invested heavily, creating jobs for many Nigerians. However, he said this did not excuse dismissing workers for joining a union.
“Total, Shell, and others have been here for decades, and they all have unions—so why is this different?” he queried.
The TUC chairman said the congress was not asking for anything extraordinary, nor were they begging for money.
He said they just wanted him to do the right thing and give the sacked workers back their jobs.
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