By Ebinum Samuel
Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, yesterday, described allegation of collections at the depots as a blackmail calculated to tarnish the good image of the union and bias public opinion against them.
The union, which is smarting from disagreement with Dangote Refineries over unionization stated unequivocally that there are lots of blackmail going on on social media against them as well as distortions of facts and misinformation.
They stated: “They are pained by our victory over Unionization battles against them, and they are out for revenge by attacking our reputation and activities .
“Please don’t be depressed by all these negative things they are writing because social media is full of ignorant people who have access to phones and data to post anything the most recent include the lies that we are aiding smuggling, collecting N1.00 on every litre of products brought into Nigeria and that we are part of the cabal that destroyed and make all government refineries not to work.
“Some are just throwing figures all over about the collections at the various depots. You should know that the employees in the downstream sector are purely in the informal sector, they don’t have structured jobs/ employment. These employees include Tanker Drivers, Depot workers, Employees of Marketers stationed at various depots. “There are also associations at the various depots as well, these include, Truck Owners association, the Independent Marketers Association, Major Marketers Association, all these are the Trade Unions that are collecting dues from their members in the value chain but they are not seen but only PTD- NUPENG members are seen and heard. Why?
“Nigerians do not share empathy with any other person and because they feel highly inconvenient by the power and impact of our strike, notwithstanding the reasons for the industrial action, they want us out of the way at all costs. ASUU, NASU, NMA,etc can go to strike for years, Nigerians don’t care as long as it doesn’t affect their businesses, movements and income.
“Employers too hate to deal with us and everything must be thrown at us. There are many Trade Unions/ Associations at the Petroleum depots and each one of them has their roles and responsibilities to be there and they depend on our representatives at the depots to assist them to collect their dues from members who usually never wiling to pay.
“We actually command lots of influence and respect which infuriates many others. It should also be noted that PTD- NUPENG is a trade Union and the members are employees of the owners of trucks. “They pay union dues to NUPENG . The dues and levies being paid are being used for:
Trainings on safety on the wheels, which are done quarterly in every Zone with FRSC, Police, Fire service men, State VIO, and other Traffic Enforcement agencies in each zone,all these cost fortune
“No employer provides health insurance for tanker drivers and they travel for hours with inflammable materials and we believe a sick truck driver is an accident in- waiting, so we set up Health Insurance with LEADWAY Health Insurance for each of those Petroleum Truck Driver on the wheels
” Further more, we have dedicated funds for Security on the highways because we have to always mobilize these security agencies on the highways against truck hijackers, kidnappers and community areas criminals, nobody does that for free.
d- Union dues itself .
“The Association of Truck owners also collect fees from their members who are Owners of the trucks whenever they load at the depots. Marketers, which is IPMAN for Independent Marketers also have their employees belonging to NUPENG. These employees pay dues to the Union, and the members of IPMAN also pay dues to their association.
“Major Marketers Association has employees who are members of NUPENG and they also have members of the association. All these are collected at a single point at the depots on behalf of every stakeholder by PTD- NUPENG and the money is paid by truck owners and the Marketers.
In this struggle, major marketers, Independent Marketers and Truck Owners, are interested parties as well waiting to be liberated from the imminent takeover by DANGOTE. They cannot do anything about it but are excited that NUPENG is taking up the fight.
“The issue of collections at the depots is a blackmail being thrown at us, and there is no way we can defend them against an already biased public opinion.” They stated.
