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| National President of the MWUN, Mr Tony Nted |
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| President, Dockworkers Union of MWUN, Mr Adewale Adeyanju and other union members during the 2014 strike action in Apapa port |
Members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) have threatened to shut the nation’s ports over unpaid salary arrears.
The workers, mainly dockworkers gave a 14-day ultimatum to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) within which to pay the eight months arrears or face withdrawal of services by members of the union.
President of MWUN, Mr Anthony Nted, told newsmen in Lagos that the ultimatum which started Monday would expire on July 20.
Nted disclosed that the contractors started owing salaries after the NPA created another body known as Cargo Surveyors, to carry out jobs at the ports.
He said, “ Payment of dockworkers salaries in the past was done promptly until some officials of the NPA created the cargo surveyors to take over the jobs of tally clerks and onboard security men.”
He said that while the NPA has paid cargo surveyors millions of Naira, the dockworkers doing the job were neglected.
The Union President that no good result has come out of the several meetings held with the management of NPA, Ministries of Transport and Labour on the issue.
He said that this was despite the Memorandum of Understanding reached on the issue between both parties, adding that the NPA has failed to keep its promises.
Nted added, “The NPA management told us to wait that they had exhausted their budget. Later they claimed that stevedoring contractors do not have documents to show that dockworkers received salary.
“We threatened to go to court to show that the workers were being paid with documents before now.
“However, we have decided to stop all port operations if the workers are not paid after the ultimatum expires.”
It would be recalled that members of the union had embarked on a strike action late in 2014 over the lingering issues of Cargo Surveyors taking over their jobs and non-payment of salary.