As a result of the five week old intractable industrial crisis, Daewoo Engineering and Construction Nigeria Limited (DECN) has shut down its Train 7 project site and ordered its workers to vacate all work locations under its purview.  

In a notice issued on Sunday, October 9, 2022 and signed by its Project Manager, Sung Lee, DECN said it could no longer guarantee the safety of workers and equipment sequel to an incident, which it said occurred on Friday, October 7, 2022.

The Notice reads in part:

“SITE SHUT DOWN

AS A RESULT OF THE WORK DISRUPTION OF 7TH OCTOBER 2022 AT DECN T7 WORK SITE LEADING TO SEVERE DAMAGES TO COMPANY PROPERTIES AND IMPACTING ON THE SAFETY OF THE WORKFORCE, THE MANAGMENT HAS DECIDED TO TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS:

1. MANAGEMENT CAN NO LONGER GUARNATEE THE SAFETY OF THE WORKERS AND EQUIPMENT.

2. CONSIQUENTLY THE MANAGEMENT HAS DECIDED TO SHUTDOWN THE WORK SITE EFFECTIVE MONDAY, 10TH OCTOBER 2022 SINCE IT CAN NO LONGER GURANTEE THE SAFETY OF BOTH PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT.

3. THEREFORE ALL DECN OWN PORTION WORKERS ARE HEREBY DIRECTED TO VACATE THE WORK LOCATIONS.

4. AS A RESULT OF THIS, SITE ACTIVITIES IS NOT SURE TO COMMENCE ANY TIME SOON. THEREFORE, ALL WORKERS ARE HEREBY PUT ON STANDBY.

5. ALL WORKERS RESIDENT IN WORKERS VILLAGE ARE STRICTLY ADVICED TO VACATE THEIR ROOMS IMMEDIATEDLY.

6. ALL WORKERS ON STANDBY WILL BE PAID STANDBY ALLOWANCE (Basic Pay) STANDBY ALLOWANCE WILL BE COMPUTED ACCORDINGLY AND PAID TO ALL EMPLOYEES BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS.

7. MANAGEMENT WILL ANOUNCE THE RESUMPTION OF SITE OPERATIONS WHEN THE ISSUES ARE RESOLVED AND THE SAFETY OF EMPLOYEES AND EQUIPMENT CAN BE GUARANTEED.”

The South Korean construction firm has been in the trenches with its workers, who are protesting a breach of their rights to identify with a trade union of their choice, illegal deductions of check off dues from their salaries and arbitrary dismissal of 24 of their colleagues.

The protest was done under the aegis of the National Association of Plant Operators (NAPO) led by its President General, Harold Benstowe, who accused the management of DECN of insincerity in dealing with the issues under review.

The DECN has asserted that it would not engage in any discussions with NAPO owing to the fact that it was not a registered trade union as such lacks the locus to discuss issues related to workers welfare.

It was yet unclear what is the next move on the part of DECN or the workers in the wake of this decision. A labour consultant, who preferred anonymity, described the situation as a clear demonstration of a lack of crisis management industrial relations skills on the part of the management of Daewoo E&C Nigeria Limited, urging them to exit that management team and compose a new one comprising experts in crisis management, negotiation and industrial relations.