Abide by National Minimum Wage Act provisions -PENGASSAN

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has condemned and described as unacceptable attempt by some state governments to disregard the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act by refusing to pay the prescribed minimum wage.The union, therefore, enjoined all employers of labour in both public and private sectors to abide by the provisions of the Act.It also warned the state governors to abide by the provision of the ActIn a decision taken at the end of a 4-day Strategic Planning Synergy Workshop for its newly-elected Central Working Committee (CWC) members, and some national officers at the Conference Hotel, Ijebu-Ode, the union pledged the preparedness of PENGASSAN to join forces with other labour unions to ensure that the Act which was the product of all stakeholders' labour, the three tiers of government and the private sector, was obeyed to the letter.In a communiqu issued at the end of the synergy workshop it expressed dismay at the resurgence of kidnapping and disturbing signals of some unscrupulous security agents' collaboration with kidnappers.It decried the situation where kidnappers were hardly apprehended, prosecuted and convicted for kidnapping and advocated that kidnappers and their collaborators in the security services be punished in accordance with the extant laws to serve as deterrent to others.PENGASSAN further reaffirmed a standing NUPENGASSAN resolution that the kidnap of any member be dealt with using appropriate organs and mechanisms at their disposal.On the state of the nation, PENGASSAN condemned as barbaric and callous the spate of bombing in the country and the attendant loss of innocent lives.It called on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently arrest this descent to a state of anomie by ensuring collaboration amongst various security agencies and investing in intelligence gathering and modern technology in order to combat the threat of mass murder occasioned by these bombings.In a communiqu signed by the PENGASSAN President, Babatunde Ogun and the General Secretary, Bayo Olowoshile, it further prayed for the repose of the souls of the victims and condoled with their families.The union acknowledged that the amnesty programme had resulted in increased oil production but observed that merely throwing money at problems or sending former militants abroad for training will not, in itself, address the underlying causes of the Niger Delta agitation which remains lack of jobs and lack of social and physical infrastructure.
Click here to read full news..