GPOC workers resume work after days of strike

The local oil workers have resumed work after five days of strike over push for salary raise.

The unlocking of the deadlock to get the workers back to their duty stations came about after a Thursday meeting between the representative of the striking oil workers and the management of the GPOC.

The ministry of petroleum mediated between the two sides. 

The staff initially downed their tools demanding Great Pioneer Operating Company’s (GPOC) management to implement the new approved Human Resource Manual they term ‘‘long overdue’’.

 “We had a meeting [on Thursday] with the Minister of Petroleum then we called off the strike today [Friday],” Secretary-General of the oil worker trade union, Ater Yout Riak, told The City Review on Friday morning.

Mr. Riak said the strike call-off was pledge-based duty resumption through the ministry of petroleum’s intervention while the stakeholders continue to negotiate to ensure they resolve the matter.

“There are promises [which] they will work on because the Minister of Petroleum and other stakeholders are also working hard to solve the issue especially the issues of allowances and other related benefits for the national workers in the oil industry in South Sudan,” he said. 

Down tools

On Monday this week, the staff of GPOC went on strike due to the lack of implementation of the contents of the government-approved new human resource manual for the oil company operating in the country.

The policy, which obliges oil companies to harmonise salaries between the nationals and expatriates, and paying allowances to all the workers regardless of nationality, did not materialise.

The nationals also demanded the oil company to pay all the outstanding arrears starting from the date of the new policy approved by the cabinet in August 2020 as well as to reduce to 28 days of fieldwork from the 70 days.

On Wednesday, a South Sudanese working with GPOC told The City Review that the oil companies were hesitant to implement the policy through the minister of Petroleum ordered its implementation in August this year.

“They [management] keep saying they are still negotiating with the authorities and [but they] do not want to implement the order. We will go to the office on [Friday, October 15, 2021] to see what they will tell us again. If no positive response is given to us, next week on Monday, we will not go for work until the administration implements the government’s directive,” the oil worker who preferred anonymity said on Wednesday. 

This has become the latest in series of off-and-on strikes by the consortium oil workers demanding equal treatment without tangible solutions.

On June 17, 2021, GPOC employees called off a strike after the company promised to provide the solution to their demand without fulfilling it.

In July 2021, the Minister of Petroleum Puot Kang Chuol ordered oil exploration companies in South Sudan to implement the approved new policy and content of the regulation of 2019. 

However, the policy which was supposed to be effective from December 2020 was yet to be implemented by GPOC, DPOC, SPOC, and the state-owned Nile Petroleum Limited (NilePet). 

“We want them to pay all our arrears as from December 2020 as approved the government if not we will continue to strike,” another oil worker said without mentioning his name on Wednesday. 

The workers said the highest salary of national’s salary ranges from $700 to $3,000 while expatriates’ salary holding the same position with their national counterparts earn between $25 000 to $74, 000. 

The Governance Cluster meeting shared by the First Vice President Dr Riek Machar on Wednesday also had directed the Minister for Petroleum and Puot Kang Chuol to implement the Resolutions of the Council of Ministers on the improvement of the oil sector.

The resolutions include the Unified Human Resources Management Policy Manual 2020, Cost Audit Recovery, Local Content Regulations 2019 and the Environmental Audit. 

The meeting passed the Unified Resources Management Policy which mandated South Sudanese in the oil production sector to proper or equal pay to the international partners.