Local field workers at the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) in Unity State have gone on strike, accusing the company management of ignoring their complaints.

The strike, involving national staff at Unity oilfields, started on Monday.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, several field workers accused the management of the company of ignoring their demands for leave after four months of continuous work, life insurance and compensation for their work without leave.

Philip Mahmoud, a representative of the field workers said that the strike would continue until Wednesday. "We were supposed to go on leave after 28 working days, but we now have four months and the company does not currently have any move to change us with other workers," he explained.

Mahmoud claimed local workers at the company have been working for over nine years without life insurance, yet most oil companies in South Sudan have applied the life insurance policy.

Radio Tamazuj could not reach the oil company for comment.

GPOC is an oil consortium owned by China's National Petroleum Corporation, Malaysia's Petronas and India's ONGC Videsh.