President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, has described shipping companies as the worst employers of labour in the Nigerian maritime sector with a vow to tackle their excesses.
While acknowledging that the novel COVID-19 pandemic has affected businesses and employees, Adeyanju said in Lagos that the shipping companies had long been engaging in anti-labour activities.
Adeyanju said that the union would confront the companies in line with laid down rules and procedures of engagement in ensuring that employees of the shipping companies were not shortchanged under the guise of the pandemic.
He disclosed that his union was still pursuing promotion of shipping employees that were stagnated for many years with poor remuneration and would resume negotiations fully in
August.
“We are still pursuing our members welfare. We’ve written to them and they replied us that because of this pandemic that is ravaging the whole world there is no how they are going to meet with us now.
“So we have stepped down our actions temporarily, so that maybe before August we are going to meet with them again to look into the issues.
“Over the years the world believed that the shipping companies were the best employer of labour, paying their workers very well, but what I met here was nothing to write home about.
“They are the worst employer of labour. They have no regard for the workers, they don’t have regard for their staff. They so much believe in outsourcing the job that a responsible worker can do. They will give it out to somebody among themselves in the management .
“We are trying to address these issues and make sure that what belongs to the shipping staff will be given to them as soon as the pandemic is put aside,” he said.
He added that the union has succeeded in getting International Oil Companies (IOC) using the services of dockworkers to follow laid down rules by engaging them through their employers.
Adeyanju commended the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for lending her voice in achieving the IOCs compliance.
He added that the union has not attained hundred percent compliance but the IOCs are in the process of working with stevedoring companies to recruit dockworkers.
On plans by some terminal operators to lay off employees due to Covid19 pandemic, the President General affirmed that no maritime worker will be unfairly treated under his watch as efforts will be in top gear to achieve protection of maritime workers interest at all times.
