Workers, shipping companies disagree on working conditions

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria has faulted the Association of Shipping Lines Agencies’ claim that it had been engaging with its members on improved working conditions.
The PRIMANEWS reports that the MWUN last week threatened to shut down the country’s shipping activities and terminals on Monday if the salaries and allowances of its members were not reviewed.
The union had issued a seven-day ultimatum to all foreign and multinational shipping companies operating in Nigeria to review the entitlement of its members or face the consequence of shutting down their operations.
Reacting to the planned strike, the Chairman of ASLA, Mrs Boma Alabi, in a press conference on Friday, said the shipping companies had repeatedly reminded the MWUN that ASLA members did not encompass the totality of employers in the maritime sector.
She added that members of ASLA had been engaging with MWUN on certain improvements to the terms and conditions for employees.
However, reacting to ASLA’s claim, the MWUN in a statement on Monday, signed by its Head of Media, John Ikemefuna, said that its 7-day ultimatum was issued after the expiration of the initial 14-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government on the issue of minimum standard condition of service, which was shelved due to the intervention of a former Minister of Transportation.
He said that the former minister constituted a technical committee comprising members from the MWUN, the shipping employers association, while the Nigeria Shippers Council was appointed to mediate over the protracted issue.
“It is very untrue having read that the shipping companies have been engaging the union on certain improvements on the terms and conditions for its employees. If this assertion as was raised by Mrs Boma was true, why did the union issue another 7-day warning notice in anticipation of an indefinite strike?” Ikemefuna queried.
He refuted the claim by ASLA that 15 meetings had been held with the NSC from April to September.
“This is another fabricated lie as the meeting billed for October 30 was a result of this recent ultimatum issued. It’s quite saddening that Mrs Boma was just dressing the MWUN in a borrowed robe when she stated again that the union is seeking to impose minimum standards of employment on its members,” Ikemefuna added.
He remarked that the lackadaisical attitude of the shipping lines was the reason the National Joint Industrial Council had not been able to achieve its mandate.
“If ASLA was not lackadaisical over the NJIC matter, why has it dragged this long even with the constituted committee led by the NSC? Up till now, it has not scaled through. The representatives of ASLA have no mandate to make decisive decisions each time the parties meet. This has been the major factor why we are still stagnated over the matter,” he said.
According to him, ASLA has been trying to avoid what will bring the NJIC matter to fruition.
“Hence, they keep sending their delegates without giving them a clear-cut mandate over this open-ended matter to bring it to a closure. As a union, we would not sit down with folded arms and watch our members enslaved over what is due for them in the industry, hence, the union’s call for strike action to make sure that this matter is resolved once and for all,” he concluded.