Some Nigerian staff of Dresser-Rand, a subsidiary of Siemens Nigeria Limited, a multinational telecoms company, on Wednesday staged a protest in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, apparently to forestall a planned sack of 70 percent of all its Nigerian workforce.
The aggrieved workers organised the protest at the entrance of Novotel Hotel, along Stadium Road, by the Nigerian Airforce Bus stop on Aba Road, Port Harcourt, where two expatriate staff of the human resources department of Dresser-Rand, who are Angolan indigenes, were lodged.
Doudou Sar and Lemuedo Neto were drafted from the human resources department of the Angolan office of Dresser-Rand to have an interface with each Nigerian staff employed by the company, to finalise their termination from Siemens global group.
The protest was staged under the auspices of Dresser-Rand Workers Association and the Coalition for the Protection of Workers in Niger Delta. They carried placards with many inscriptions, some of which read: “We say no to workers’ discrimination.” “Racism is a crime against humanity.” “Save us from white slavery.” We need 100 percent entitlements for workers in Dresser-Rand,” among many others.
The management of Dresser-Rand had barred its Nigerian staff from participating in union activities, thereby restraining them from enlisting as members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
An energy and maritime lawyer, Soalabo West, counsel to the aggrieved workers told journalists, during the workers protest that: “It is unlawful to disengage, through the backdoor, in a hotel room, workers who had worked conscientiously for Dresser-Rand for the past years.”
West said: “We find it unjustifiable for Dresser-Rand to invite its workers to a hotel room to discuss their termination from the company; rather than have a worthwhile discussion with them at its corporate office at Kilometre 16, along Port Harcourt-Aba Road.”
He declared that: “We have a case against Dresser-Rand at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. But we were surprised when we were informed on Friday, April 15, 2016, that one Daniel Taylor, had directed that staff should ‘remove all their personal belongings from the premises of the company, ostensibly in preparation for their disengagement and forced eviction from the premises.’”
The energy and maritime lawyer alleged that the two Angolans drafted to coordinate the sack of the Nigerian workers in Dresser-Rand have no work permits authorising them to work in Nigeria. “And we find this action totally indefensible,” he stated.
On his part, Godspower Egbule, a lawyer with the Metropolitan Partners law firm in Port Harcourt, where West is the principal partner, stated in a letter which he addressed to the managing director of Dresser-Rand, on Tuesday, April 19 that: “Please take under Nigeria Law the planned sack action is illegal and in contempt of court, as our courts do not condone the attitude of a party who, having been sought to be restrained deliberately proceeds with the action intended to be restrained by an order of injunction, after such party became aware of the pendency of an application before a competent court.”
He said the company’s proposed action would therefore, be in futility, as it is liable to be returned by the court. He urged the company to: “stay all action on the purported mass disengagement of your staff pending the determination of the suit or a negotiated settlement with our clients.”
The letter was copied to the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, the NUPENG workers and Siemens AG.
The regional director of Dresser-Rand of Siemens AG, Seun Suleiman, picked up his phone call; but when asked to comment on the proposed sack of over 70 percent of Dresser-Rand, Siemens AG Nigerian workforce, he requested that a text be sent to his cell phone. However, he did not respond to the text message, which asked him to officially comment on the impending mass sack at the company.
He also did not take further calls.
