NUPENG Tackles MRS Oil Over Disposed Members

…Threatens nationwide strike.
The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has threatened a showdown with the management of the MRS oil and gas limited over some of its members that were allegedly retrenched.
Shipping Position Weekly confirmed from sources at the MRS office that more than 2500 members of NUPENG working with the downstream oil company were affected during the take-over of Texaco oil and gas by the management of MRS oil and gas. Our source however claimed that the affected workers were properly taken care of at that time.
The union has however demanded from the management of MRS that the sacked workers be reinstated and made to continue their job even as it alleged that they were sacked without due process. The union also threatened that failure to meet this demand including others which it has made to this federal government will cause the tanker drivers to embark on a nationwide strike.
According to the president of the PTD branch, Mr. Timothy Ogbu who gave the warning last week, the union has given the federal government a seven – day ultimatum (which expires this week) to direct MRS to accede to its demands and that federal government should also pay a compensation of N50Million to the family of one of its member who was reportedly short dead by some military personnel while on duty.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
He lamented the continual harassment of tanker drivers by members of the military personnel saying that it is an occurrence too many. “We have suffered all manners of harassment and humiliation in the hands of the military and security personnel, all efforts in the past to get the authorities to help bring the culprits to justice had yielded no efforts” he lamented
According to the union, the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the killing of its 42 years old member Saidu Mohammed, who works was an employee of Himmah merchant Nigeria limited and was driving an Iveco truck loaded with 33,000 liters of low pour fuel oil on the day of the incident.
The union demands that the alleged killer of his member must be brought to justice and that the Iveco truck which has since been taken to Bori camp in Port Harcourt where the incident occurred including other trucks which has been seized from his members by military men should be released immediately.
Meanwhile some of the non-executive tanker drivers who spoke to our correspondent denied knowledge of the development saying that they are yet to get the directive to go on the purported strike and that until then there is no need for a nationwide panic.