The Federal Government has brokered a truce between the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
This was contained in a communiqué issued on Wednesday in Abuja and signed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Muhammad Maigari-Dingyadi, at the end of a two-day conciliation meeting.
The meeting, which held on Monday and Tuesday, was attended by the National Security Adviser, Ministers of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, and State for Petroleum (Gas), as well as representatives of the DSS, NIA, NNPCL, NMDPRA, NUPRC, and labour leaders.
The conciliation was convened after PENGASSAN directed its members to stop gas supply and withdraw services from the refinery, alleging that the company had terminated the employment of more than 800 of its members.
Dangote Refinery, however, maintained that the disengagement was part of an ongoing restructuring exercise.
According to the communiqué, the meeting resolved that unionisation is a fundamental right of workers under Nigerian law and must be respected by the company.
It was further agreed that the management of Dangote Group should immediately redeploy the affected workers into other subsidiaries within the group without any loss of pay.
The communiqué also stated that no worker would be victimised for participating in the dispute.
In return, PENGASSAN agreed to begin the process of calling off its strike, while both parties pledged to implement the resolutions in good faith.
