MWUN directs members to shut down ports over unpaid wages

THE Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has directed its members to shut down the nation’s ports over alleged nine months unpaid wages to over 3,000 tally clerks and onboard security men.

The union also vowed not to resume to work until the money was paid and other pending issues adequately addressed.
But, in a swift reaction, the management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) pledged to effect payment as from Wednesday next week, blaming the delay on the ongoing implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA).

The workers had on October 12, issued a seven-day ultimatum to the management of NPA to stop all midstream discharge of vessels in Bonny Rivers, Lagos and other port formations without using registered dockworkers as required by law.

President-General of MWUN, Tony Emmanuel Nted, explained that the issue of unpaid wages to dockworkers especially tally clerks and on-board security men had been dragged for so long despites several agreements.

Nted recalled that the last agreement reached with stakeholders including NPA, and Association of Stevedoring Companies (ASC), was on July 9, 2015, at a meeting called by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, expired since July 30, “without any payment to the affected workers.”

He claimed that since then, several interventions had been made by Ministries of Labour, Transport and even the leadership of the union to NPA to pay the workers to no avail.

He said: “After an exhaustive deliberation on the demand for immediate payment of wage arrears to tally clerks and on-board security gangway men and stoppage of use of cargo surveyors in the nation’s seaports by MWUN, it was resolved that the tally clerks and on-board security gangway men should be paid arrears of their salaries and wages, that the Federal Ministry of Transport should on or before July 13, 2015 direct in writing, in furtherance of the letter Reference No. T.160/S160/T.214 dated June 4, 2015 the Nigeria Ports Authority to pay the arrears of salaries due the tally clerks and on-board security gangway men and that Nigerian Ports Authority on receiving the letter should meet with the stevedores and the MWUN to work out modalities for the commencement of the payment before July 30, 2015.

He added: “As we speak, the agreement has not be respected by NPA .The union has no other choice to shut the ports nationwide because we have come to realise that the only language NPA understands is industrial unrest.
“These workers have been suffering for a long time. These workers have not been able to meet their responsibilities to their dependants. In fact, most of them have turned to beggars.”

An NPA source who spoke with The Guardian yesterday, blamed the delay on the ongoing implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA), adding that “We (NPA workers) are still waiting for our salary”.