Protesting support staff of the Warri Refining & Petrochemical Company in Delta State have embarked on an indefinite strike, shutting down the facility over what they have termed “Poor Condition of Service” by the management of the company.
The staff, who gathered in large numbers, blocked the entrance to the company, chanting solidarity songs while bearing placards with various inscriptions.
They also demanded an adjustment to their welfare, which they described as “workplace slavery”.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the leader of the support staff, Dafe Ighomiteso, mentioned that they have been protesting since 2015. He added that the support staff make up 80% of the entire workforce of Warri Refinery.
According to Ighomiteso, “We’ve been agitating for a single item (good condition of service).”
“For the support staff, the engineers, the technicians, and every technocrat here, only recently, we started receiving ninety thousand naira (#90,000), and the highest is #165,000″.
“We don’t have insurance coverage. None of us here have medical allowance. We are not pensionable. We don’t have transport allowance, we don’t have housing allowance. We don’t have meal allowance, and we are saying here that we are not slaves.”
Ighomiteso added that some of the support staff have been working there for about eighteen (18) years. also mentioned the protesters refused an appeal by the Acting Managing Director and his team to shelve the protest.
The workers had warned about a fortnight ago that there would be a total shutdown of activities at the company, if the management failed to attend to their demands
