By Gavel International
There seems to be no end to the labour crisis at Exxonmobil Nigeria, the American international oil corporation as it regards its Nigerian operations. While the corporation is hell bent on sacking more than 150 of its workers, the labour unions insists that disengagement should be voluntary. This has set the two sides on a collision course and only time can tell how it ends.
While the corporation insists that those penciled down for sack must go, the labour union, particularly PENGASSAN accused the management of bad faith and racism, insisting that the oil giant is replacing sacked Nigerians with Americans and Europeans and paying them 500 percent more than what the sacked Nigerian earns. Labour therefore sees no justification in sacking Nigerians only to be replaced with foreigners in their own land.
The trouble started on December 12, 2016 when both parties met to sort out issues of “involuntary separation exercise”, in the parlance of the company. According to the rules of the company, workers are given the right to decide whether to stay or leave the company at their own time. If a worker leaves, the company makes a reward that is more than the expected severance package. This was the situation that exists and it was followed until December 2015 when the last exercise was carried out. More than 150 workers were “voluntarily impacted”.
However in December 12,2016, the management led by the Managing Director, Nolan A. O’Neal, and Director of Human Resources, Udom Inoyo stormed out of the meeting with labour and insisting the company will go ahead with its decision “compulsory separation”. Two days later, precisely on December 14, 2016, management distributed letters of sack to 150 workers. 80 of these workers are members of PENGASSAN which means that they are senior members of staff. The rest are contractual workers.
The union reacted immediately by shutting down all operations of the corporation in all its platforms, including the Mobil House Headquarters in Lagos. Impasse, then the mudslinging. The management published that it made provision of N350 million each for those affected by the sack. This was widely published. PENGASSAN reacted immediately that it was a lie but its reaction came too late. The son of a senior staff was kidnapped in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, and the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N350 million from the father!
The workers alleged that company officials called some affected employee on their sick bed and informed him of his termination of employment. One of them, his medical condition degenerated into a stroke. For some, their spouses were called and informed of their husbands were sack. The aim is to convince the spouses to put pressure on their husbands to take the severance package. Some staff on leave for Christmas were being called and gleefully informed of their sack.
PENGASSAN reacted: “The information is simply a cheap blackmail and an attempt to deceive the Nigerian populace.. It is disheartening that facts were distorted up to brandishing a whooping figure of N350 million as a payout to separated employees. The intent of that publication was to distract Nigerians from the real issues which bother on mismanagement, capital flight, jobs functionalization (transfer of Nigerian jobs to abroad on Nigerian budget, and violation of expatriate quota through Technical Services Manpower Agreement (TSMA)- a channel the company uses to sabotage the Nigerian Content Development (NCD) Act on expatriate utilization and frequent sack of Nigerians”.
PENGASSAN claimed that the of the 150 people sacked by the company through what it called a “Special Separation Programme” in 2015, over 50 expatriates were brought into the country as a replacement for those Nigerians at a huge cost to the Joint Venture. Most of the jobs were packaged as service contract to foreign companies that are more expensive than retaining Nigerians thereby rubbishing management’s claim to cost cutting.
On December 20, 2016, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu waded in to resolve the impasse. Kachikwu was an Executive Director with Exxonmobil before his appointment in 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari. A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting stated that management is free to implement the sack of Non-union employees included in the sack list. Nonunion here refers to management staff. However, the remaining staff, about 80, referred to as “impacted staff” should continue to remain in the company’s payroll until the minister’s final determination of the issue. Based on this agreement, the company paid the December salaries of the affected staff. It however reneged on the agreement as their salaries were not paid as at January 31, 2017.
GAVEL INTERNATIONAL investigations however reveal that Exxonmobil dealings with her Nigerian workers are not the same as those of other countries where it operates. Also the claim of PENGASSAN that jobs taken away from Nigerian were given to expatriates, particularly, Americans, may not be wrong.
Recently, General Manager, Security, Mr Ayobami Olubiyi was replaced by Travis Cummings, an American in a way that humiliated the Nigerian worker. A claim of theft was reported in his department. Although it did not involve him, he was placed on suspension by the management. The union forced management to constitute an investigative panel to look into the theft. At the end, Olubiyi was exonerated. However before the report came out, Cummings was brought to take over as GM Security. Olubiyi was left hanging. The same thing happened at the Department of Logistics where Emeka Awobokun was replaced by Betay Fieaster as general manager.
Out of the 68 Formation Evaluation Specialists that ExxonMobil employed all over the world, four are in Nigeria. The four comprises of three Nigerians and an American. All the three Nigerians have been sacked while the America, Bryan Schwartz, is the only one retained. The company has shifted its Geotechnical Analysis Department back to its Headquarters in Houston, United States of America.
The case of three Nigerian Geoscientists that were onboard the rig that drilled and confirmed one Billion bbl Owowo field in September 2016 is even more pathetic. Abba Chiroma (Formation Evaluation) Abduganyu Salako (Operation Geologist) and Nsidibe Akata (Operation Geologist) were on Owowo Rig: They supervised all the work on the Rig that led to 1 Billion barrel and together with office based Geos (Idang Danison and Folasade Babatunde) also presented Technical Papers that went on to win the 1st and 3rd place price in 2016 NAPE. Their reward by the company in December 2016 is “Involuntary Separation”.
Nsidibe Akata represented the Company some years back for first prize in South Africa in Geosciences convention. Their accomplishments include safe surveillance and called drilling TD, Successful acquisition of 90 metres of core; acquisition of 4 logging runs including 42 pressure tests and 16 samples that confirmed Owowo fluid type before announcement; supervised walk above and walkaway check shots; Delivered all data including core to vendor laboratory for ongoing analysis in preparation for development.
It is thus not that the Nigerians are not doing their jobs right, it is just that their jobs must give way for Americans to have jobs to do.
Even the production capacity proved that Nigerians are working like slaves in their own country. In the USA, Exxonmobil produces 457,000 barrels of crude oil per day with 30,400 workers. In Nigeria, the same company produces 297,000 barrels per day with 1,900 workers. It therefore means that an employee in Nigeria produces 156 barrels per day to 16 daily barrels produced by his American counterpart. Exxonmobil data on its website states that in 2015, it produced 2,345,000 while it has 73,500 work forces across the world.
“In 2015, our total workforce was approximately 73,500, slightly lower than the total workforce in 2014. The largest concentration of ExxonMobil employees is in the United States with 30,400, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific with 15,300 and 13,300, respectively. Africa and Middle East had 3,900, Canada 7000, while Latin America has 3,600 workers. Our global reach directly contributes to the diversity of our workforce and the success of our business”, Exxonmobil website confirmed.
An insider in the company said: “We see an influx of expatriates on a daily basis and gradual “whitening” of management positions formerly manned by Nigerians. All manner of things are happening. We have a situation where a Nigerian employee on naira equivalent of $1,000 a month salary is being replaced by an expatriate on $65,000 a month! Certain top technical and management positions are perennially earmarked to be staffed by expatriates”.
The workers believe that rather than sacking workers, Exxonmobil ought to be shipping jobs to Nigeria. “So with Nigeria being a lower wage country why isn’t Exxon shipping jobs from the US to Nigeria? Why is the jobs traffic going the opposite direction? It is because we Nigerians and our Government have unwittingly given the IOCs absolute free hand. This is not the case in Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Angola. It is important to note that even in the United States there is a strong trend and direction towards protecting jobs of citizens as evidenced by the rise and election of Donald Trump as President”.
Asked to react to the allegations of the workers against the company, the Media Relations Manager, Oge Udeagha responded thus:
“Thank you for reaching out to us. Our response to your inquiry is as follows: ExxonMobil has been present in Nigeria for more than 100 years and remains committed to developing the country’s oil and gas resources for the benefit of all stakeholders;
ExxonMobil regularly evaluates its operations as part of a disciplined management process and continually strives to operate its business in as safe and efficient a manner as possible.
We invest for the long term and are focused on maintaining a stable, well-developed workforce and are committed to treating our employees with respect and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.
We work to ensure that our operations are sized and structured to meet the needs of our business plans and objectives in any price environment, and we continuously evaluate those needs. We base this decision on such evaluation”.
However, displayed on its website is the company’s International Operations Policy. It stated: “It is the policy of Exxon Mobil Corporation to comply with all governmental laws, rules, and regulations applicable to its operations outside the United States and to conduct those operations to the highest ethical standards;
Laws that apply to operations outside the United States include those of the countries where the operations occur, and may also include certain United States laws which govern international operations of United States companies and United States persons, broadly defined. Accordingly, directors, officers, and employees of the Corporation who are involved with the Corporation’s operations outside the United States should consult with the Law Department for advice on applicable United States laws, especially laws regarding boycotts, trade sanctions, export controls, and foreign corrupt practices, and are expected to comply with those laws”.
Also, the equal employment opportunity policy also state thus: “It is the policy of Exxon Mobil Corporation to provide equal employment opportunity in conformance with all applicable laws and regulations to individuals who are qualified to perform job requirements. The Corporation administers its personnel policies, programs, and practices in a nondiscriminatory manner in all aspects of the employment relationship, including recruitment, hiring, work assignment, promotion, transfer, termination, wage and salary administration, and selection for training. Managers and supervisors are responsible for implementing and administering this policy, for maintaining a work environment free from unlawful discrimination, and for promptly identifying and resolving any problem area regarding equality.
The company also expressed part of its ethics policy is to “foster a work environment free from sexual, racial, or other harassment”. It remains to be seen if the company have adhered to its own rules as it concern her Nigerian employees and also the laws of Nigeria as a host country.
One thing that is clear is that Exxonmobil is more interested in promoting her business than the laws and people of Nigeria as host country. Unlike companies like Shell and NLNG who have fully Nigerianized their operations, including having indigenous Chief Executives and board, Exxonmobil, despite having been in Nigeria for over a hundred years, does not believe that a Nigerian could be its chief executive, but it still takes jobs meant for Nigerians for fellow US citizens.
Nigeria is the loser as jobs and employment positions are now manned by foreigners in and outside our shores. Tax receipts reduce as the income tax base of many states like Akwa Ibom and Lagos, the two states that accommodate the company loses revenue.
It also has a negative impact on Nigeria’s GDP as there is a multiplier effect: One Nigerian employee in the Oil and Gas sector supports well over 20 dependents directly. The impact from loss of one Nigerian job position in the Petroleum sector is enormous.
Nigeria loses precious foreign exchange and ends up being cheated as more jobs are shipped to US and higher wage countries. Exxonmobil therefore uses funds that rightfully belong to Nigeria to satisfy her home country. It is like enslaving a people in their own land and exploiting their resources for the benefit of the slave master. It is passing through slavery a second time.
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