Union says CBA has solved dockworkers problems by 60%
President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju last week said dockworkers problems has been solved by 60% following the recent signing of the Collective Bargaining Agreement by all relevant stakeholders.
Adeyanju however added that the union will keep an eye on the implementation of the agreement to ensure it was neither derailed nor sabotaged; noting that it took quite some load of efforts, persuasion and encouragement for the agreement to be signed. This is even as the union leader declared vote of no confidence on local shipping players and alerted the nation to an impending industrial action over shipping workers poor wage and welfare related issues.
In an exclusive chat with Pinnacle Time, Adeyanju lauded the sterling efforts put into the CBA by the leadership of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, as well as the chairperson of Ships Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria, STOAN.
He said, “It wasn’t bread and butter affairs, getting it signed was very, very rough. The terminal operators kicked and were at various points adamant. But with the support of the chairperson of STOAN, Madam Vicky Haastroop, we were able to sail through. She was excellent, she was a beacon of hope, and she stood for dockworkers and agreed it is the duty of terminal operators to cater for its workers.”
“The CBA has taken care of 60percent of our problems; problems of wages, terminal benefits, pensions etc. The Union will ensure that its implementation is not impeded in anyway; we will follow the contents of the agreement page by page. Not that we expect that anyone would renege but we don’t want to be taken unawares. So we are watching and we will shout anytime we notice any dubious movement”, adding:
“But we also have another arm which is shipping and the wage issue in that area is nothing to write home about. We have written several letters to the Shipping Association of Nigeria, SAN, they have failed to respond so far. This year we have written a reminder and the Union is considering declaring state of emergency in the shipping services.”
