Disgruntled staff petition IPBC

EMPLOYEES of the dismantled National Petroleum Co PNG last Friday started petitioning IPBC board members for an early settlement of their outstanding redundancy payout.
The petition, signed by about 40 of its former employers, called for the payout to be settled by Friday or they would resort to court action.
NPCP, set up in 2010 at cost of K60 million to manage the state’s interest in the PNG LNG project, was the first public enterprise to be axed last November by Public Enterprises Minister Sir Mekere Morauta.
The NEC made available K14 million to restructure the NPCP – making entire staff redundant, splitting its functions between IPBC and the Department of Petroleum and Energy and keeping NPCP as a shell company.
The staff petition centres on IPBC – Independent Public Business Corp  – management’s failure to settle the remaining 40% payout as promised by Jan 16 and making adjustments to it, contrary to what was agreed to and signed between management and individual officers.
In part, their petition read:
“We are professionals who, by merit, earned our right to be employed by NPCP to be part of a dynamic team of professional Papua New Guineans.
“We have served our employer and country with professionalism, pride, loyalty and passion.
The IPBC is now proposing to reduce the payout by excluding from the calculation amounts representing the salary sacrifices staff had made with respect to housing, school fees and transport.