U.S. oil giant, ExxonMobil Corporation, will pay up to N350 million each to some of the sacked Nigerian employees as severance payments, driven by years of service and additional redundancy gratuities, THISDAY has learnt.
It was also learnt that of about six per cent of the workforce affected by the right sizing carried out by the firm, the average payment per person hovers around N140 million, including redundancy pay of about 36 months basic salary.
This is coming as the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has invited the protesting oil workers under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) for a meeting tomorrow to resolve the labour crisis.
The aggrieved oil workers of the company on Thursday shut down the company’s corporate head office in Lagos indefinitely in protest over the attempt by the company to sack over 150 workers.
The protesting workers had accused the company of flagrant violation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) Act by deploying expatriates to take over jobs for which there is local capacity.
The workers had also insisted that the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Nolan O’Neal, must be relieved of his duties.
But top officials of the company who spoke off the record, told THISDAY at the weekend that 2016 was a challenging year for Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), a Nigerian affiliate of ExxonMobil, with the profitability of the affiliate being the worst in recent history.
According to one of the officials, while costs are down, revenue is down by almost three quarter, even as the company has spent more than its earnings to ensure that its contractors and employees were paid.
“Some of the resultant effects on the business have included scaled down operations, reduced personnel, uplift project deferments, and contract renegotiations. Against this backdrop, any responsible company would take steps to ensure survival,” he said.
He described the company’s ongoing redundancy programme, which he said was targeted at lower performing employees, as one of the steps taken by the company towards survival.
Another official of the company further revealed that the employees impacted accounted for only about six per cent of the workforce that were offered an enhanced benefits package in excess of the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed with the in-house union.
He added that post-employment support programmes to support their transition period from the company were also included in the package.
“The severance payments driven by years of service and additional redundancy gratuities are in some cases up to N350 million for an employee.
For the total population affected, average payment per person hovers around N140 million.
“The pay package covered redundancy pay of about 36 months basic salary, Settling-in allowance of up to two months basic salary, additional pay to address economic realities of up to three months basic salary, and notice pay of three months basic salary,” he explained.
On the allegations of non-compliance with the extant laws and agreements levelled against the company, the official argued that neither the Nigerian labour law nor the CBA with the union requires alignment between the company and the union in the event of redundancy actions.
According to him, the CBA (Clause 23b) states that “whenever redundancy actions are contemplated, the company shall inform the association of the intended action and the association may bring to the company’s attention any problems that it believes are involved”.
He added that the Nigerian Labour Act (Clause 20a) also states that “in the event of redundancy, the employer shall inform the trade union or workers’ representative concerned of the reasons for and the extent of the anticipated redundancy”.
The official revealed that the union disagreed with the company’s notification, and also abandoned the provisions of the CBA, which specifically states in Clause 13b that “if a dispute arises during the subsistence of the agreement, either party shall comply with the current law governing Trade Disputes in Nigeria and neither party shall resort to arbitrary strike action or lockout”.