IndustriALL – Shell Workers in Nigeria are Just Working to Die

AutoInformed.com on IndustriALL Campaign Against Shell Oil Labor PracticesIndustriALL reports that its mission to Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in September this year saw Shell workers living in shocking conditions and “found that Shell workers were falling ill and dying as a result of inadequate healthcare insurance.”

Contract workers outnumber permanent workers 2:1 at Shell and do the most dangerous jobs. Workers also said that if they asked for better wages or wanted to join a union, they would be threatened with dismissal.

“Our health insurance as it is, we are not doing well. If you are sick and go to the clinic, they don’t treat you well because the money that they pay to the HMOs is a meagre amount of money, so based on that, we don’t get it right at all. We are just working to die,” said one worker.

IndustriALL is campaigning to make Shell engage with unions on a global level. Unions want Shell to “limit precarious work at the company and ensure that the same high-level standards are applied at Shell operations, everywhere, including its suppliers.”

“While Shell says it wants to #makethefuture, it’s clear Shell contract workers in Nigeria have #gotnofuture, with no job security, poverty wages and zero prospects,” said IndustriALL in a press release.

About Ken Zino

Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
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