OGDCL headquarter remains closed in protest

ISLAMABAD: The OGDCL Officers Association in collaboration with CBA Union on Monday closed the headquarter of the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL) in protest and declared that it will remain closed till the resolution of their demands.

Speaking on the occasion, OGDCL Officers Association head Ghulam Murtaza Lashari and President CBA Union Raja Muhammad Saleem said that the incumbent managing director (MD) has appointed blue eyed people from service companies on various important lucrative slots which is a conflict of interest because OGDCL is purely an Exploration & Production (E&P) company.

They said that the MD, in a tone deaf manner, has gone on a foreign a trip despite the protest call by OGDCL Officers Association and CBA Union.

The also lamented that OGDCL has earned record profit of around Rs250 billion this year; however, wages of officers and staff have not been increased. 

“This protest will continue till the resolution of our demands and if they are not heard then we will completely shut down field sites of the state-owned E&P company,” they warned.

They reiterated that the service companies’ employees inducted at all positions reflect conflict of interest for personal gains, and should immediately be removed as per Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules.  

It is relevant to note that there was no representative of the senior management was available to handle the situation when the OGDCL Officers Association and CBA Union were closing the headquarter.

The demands of OGDCL Officers Association and CBA Union include salary packages for all OGDCL employees, lifting of salary capping, immediate cancellation of oppressive open-ended contract policy along with appointment of contractual officers against company’s policy, rules on hefty salary packages without any limitation.     

While talking to Profit, Lashari said that they are forced to protest as they are being not heard by the senior management. He said OGDCL is earning hefty profits but officers and staff have been deprived of any raise in salary for a long time.

“We have repeatedly requested the senior management to revise staff salaries while keeping inflation rate in mind. The federal and all provincial governments have recently announced 15 to 30 percent raise in salaries of their employees, but have so far not taken any action in this regard,” he said, adding that they had last been given a raise in 2013.