Gabon Oil Workers Suspend Protest

By Emmanuel Tumanjong

Gabon's national petroleum-workers union (ONEP) has suspended a strike a day after the planned three-day action kicked off, ONEP Secretary-General Sylvain Mayabit Binet told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday.

The union had organized the action in front of the office of Gabonese Premier Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet to demonstrate against what it described as deplorable working conditions and to demand better social services.

Before calling of the demonstration, ONEP had blocked the facilities of oil producers and refiners including Addax Petroleum, Assala Energy, Sogara and Maurel & Prom.

Mr. Mayabit Binet said the strike was called off for Wednesday and Thursday. "Part of our goal was to call for the attention of the government to push our employers to improve our working conditions," he said, adding OPEC was certain the prime minister would consider the situation when he returned from a trip away from the capital.

This week's action was the third strike by Gabonese oil workers this year.

Earlier in the year, ONEP led a strike that hit crude oil output at Total Gabon for days. Workers at the French oil giant's local unit demanded additional wages and modification of their career profiles, as well as a reduction in the number of foreign workers at the company.

Write to Emmanuel Tumanjong at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 13, 2018 06:17 ET (11:17 GMT)

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