The President-General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Adewale Adeyanju has accused the management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) of “unfair labour practices” by refusing to review the salary of its workers in 18 years despite its “jumbo earnings”.
Speaking at the union’s secretariat in Apapa, Lagos, the enraged union leader vowed to mobilise NPA workers to force the management to review the staff salary.
“From 2004 till date, there has been no salary increase and that is not acceptable. I never knew about this anomaly because your branch president was keeping this silent from me. This matter came to my notice on October 1st when some senior members of NPA came to my house to inform me.
“The truth is that all is not well in the NPA, the workers are not being treated well, their salaries are poor, there is stagnation in workers’ promotion, and we are ready to go all the way with NPA management. We have supported this management enough; it is now time for them to reward us back by paying our members properly. Enough is enough. We can’t close our eyes and allow somebody to put a stick in our eyes. We would even shut the ports if the management refuse to act,” he said.
The MWUN boss explained that the demand for an upward review of workers’ salaries is a right that must not be mortgaged by a few individuals.
Commenting, the Deputy President General of MWUN, Comrade Tonye Harry, said, “For over 16 years those of us in level 7 have remained in level 7. They said some of us have jammed bar, and there is no promotion and salary increment. There is also a shortage of junior staff and if NPA did not employ junior staff between now and February there will be no junior staff anymore in NPA.”
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