BelemaOil has come under heat from members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria following the alleged three months unpaid enumeration and maltreatment of staffs.

PENSSaGAN said their action was in solidarity with the workers who gathered at the entrance of the company at about 9am displaying several placards to deliver their demands.

Some of the inscriptions on the awards read, “Belema Oil: No salary structure, ‘No bonus, No Field Allowance’, BPL: release our condition of service, right years enslavement, ‘BPL: Stop using one man salary to pay ten persons among others.

Ese Okusi, the National Auditor 2 of PENGASSAN, stated that the association had been discussing with the company with a view to addressing the issues and concerns of the workers but no concrete agreement had been reached.

He urged the company’s management to addressed the concerns of the workers to forestall what he termed the mother of all protest by PENGASSAN.

Okusi stated, “We are here in solidarity, to see to the plight of our members in BelamaOil Producing Limited.

“The management of the company has been reneging in reaching necessary agreement they are supposed to reach.

“Since the unionisation of this branch, and bringing BelemaOil to the table, CBA negotiation has been on and on, when they come, they renege on agreement that have been reached.

“Even to the extent of paying them salary now has become an issue. They are reneging to pay our members the little token they are supposed to pay them in this branch.

“That is why the national body of PENGASSAN took it up through Port Harcourt zone of our union that this place should be picketed today.’

“Continuing, he said, “The position of PENGASSAN is that BelemaOil must come to the table and we are not going to leave this place until we get everything that our members are supposed to get.

“Let me also sound it to the company that if nothing is done urgently, members of PENGASSAN from other branches will come down here to enforce it and even take it to the locations.

“So, the earlier the management come out to put pen on paper and release funds for those agreements we have reached, the better for the company.”

Also speaking, Dan Opusingi, the Chairman, PENGASSAN BelamaOil Branch added that the workers since inception of work in 2016, have been working without spell out conditions, saying the workers have been denied their rights.

He also expressed sadness that even when an agreement is reached the company will neither honour it nor implement same, describing it as unfortunate.

Opusingi, “Today we are here because we have been maltreated since we started working from 2016 till now. We don’t have CBA, a working document that has to do with conditions of service.

“We have engaged our management severally but no result, we are just working like slaves.

“There is somebody in this system who has been enslaving every body. He is an Israeli and we are demanding that he must go, else we will not allow operation of the company.

“Right now, we have already shut down, if they refuse to allow him go, that means they are not ready to go back to operation.

“We know that few of our locations have been down, and we have been working with the Zonal executive council to make sure that we go back to operation. But but till now, we haven’t heard from the management.

“So, we want to tell the world that, if BelemaOil is ready, let them go back to operation, Idama and Omokiri should go back to production. But our CBA should be signed.

“They should pay us our three months salaries, they should pay us our COVID-19 allowances, among others.

“For eight years now that we have been working, our four years pension and three years for some persons, have not been remitted, casualization have been taking place and nothing is happening.

“Our members and workers have been in the field for over 50 days without treatment, no light, no water and if you talk or complain about our welfare, you are sacked. Its like they are in the prison.”

He also announced that they would continue to occupy the premises until their demands are met.

“Today, we are saying that since they are not ready to do the needful, we are going to continue with our picketing until they do the needful, “ Opusingi, added.