(Adds Halliburton reaction, background)
LAGOS, May 26 (Reuters) - Nigeria's main oil union has shutdown the local operations of U.S. oilfield services providerHalliburton Co in protest against job cuts, the tradebody said on Tuesday.
Tokunbo Korodo, Lagos chairman for the National Union ofPetroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), told Reuters thegroup halted operations on Monday saying it was opposed toHalliburton's decision to sack 46 local staff members.
The union accused Halliburton of not following due process.
Halliburton's staff cuts in Nigeria are part of acompany-wide jobs cull announced earlier this year to counter asharp downturn in global oil prices since last summer that hasshrunk profits.
In April, the company, which provides drilling services toRoyal Dutch Shell PLC and Chevron Corp inAfrica's top oil producer, said it had cut 9,000 jobs, or about10 percent of the global workforce, and that more were planned.
"Halliburton is in conversations with the union to resolvethe pending issues," a company spokeswoman said via email. "Wewill continue to monitor the business environment and will makeadditional adjustments...as needed," she said.
She declined to comment on how many jobs had been cut orwhat operations were impacted.
The shutdown was confirmed by another oil industry tradeunion - Petroleum and Natural Gas Association of Nigeria(PENGASSAN) - which said the U.S. company sacked trade unionexecutives in an attempt to weaken the bodies representingworkers' rights, Emmanuel Ojugbana spokesman for PENGASSAN said. (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha and Tife Owolabi in Lagos andEdward McAllister in New York; Editing by Alexis Akwagyiram,James Macharia and Marguerita Choy)
