President General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria(MWUN) Dr. Adewale Adeyanju sat with Ismail Aniemu and talked about the adverse effects of high exchange rate and low volume of trade on the maritime industry.
Comrade Adeyanju, who is also the Deputy President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) also spoke on the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) where workers are being owed for five months
Excerpts:
What is the union doing about unpaid salaries of employees of the CRFFN
Thank you. Firstly, let me start by saying the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria today does not porch into other Unions or canvas for membership inordinately and we are committed to promoting our members welfare at all times. In fact, we exist in the interest of out members including those in CRFFN
There is nothing bad in looking for membership that falls within the jurisdiction or scope of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria. So CRFFN workers are part of the maritime family.
The Council you mentioned is like a child of circumstances that has been crawling and yet to stand up to its feet. As a responsible trade union body, we have to study situations to know the background before taking action.
We are not happy that our members are being owed but it’s important we know where the council is coming from.
We have our rules and standards and we know what we normally do in terms of welfarism.We don’t joke with that ,so when I head the story of six months salary not paid through the press, I was a little bit disturbed and that was what gave me the privilege of knowing what is going on in that Council.
This is a Council that is fully established by law of this great country and there is no how you and I will run away from our responsibility to make the Council to function like any other agency that has been functioning.
I visited the Acting Registrar of the Council and she expressed her opinion on some issues that are bothering her Council.I don’t want to know what happened in the past.
PTML used to have close to 10,000 cars in 3 days but now the terminal looks like a football pitch
The past can be identified with the new one and all the workers that came in all the way from there know what we can do and that is why we have them as our members today.
When we were inaugurating them, my speech was very clear that they should tell us their area of challenges.Part of their area of challenges is what the press sent out through the workers that their salaries have not been paid for six months.
This Council has been enjoying the privileges of budgeting and suddenly, the government said budget will no longer be given to them because there are no results when they can sustain the council properly.Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria under the Blue Economy Ministry needs to make sure that the Council wakes up and identify all the grey area they are passing through that is affecting them
Vessels that used to come in with almost 400 to 500 Teu has reduced to 60.Look at the advantages and disadvantages, the probability and the other side of it which is imminent job loss to our members .
We are reaching out to all stakeholders associated with the council for very robust dialogue. For three days now, we have been sending messages to all the people and organisations concerned.
There is no how we will look for solutions without talking to people like Dr Aniebonam of NAGAFF, Chief Emenike of ANLCA and all the relevant Clearing and Forwarding Agents who can support us in finding solutions
We need to sit down with them .We are not here to shoot like it’s a warfare when we don’t need war.What we want is that all the parties should tell us where they have wronged themselves, seek for ideas to resolve the salary issue and make progress
In five star logistics, close to 250 workers have been placed on redundancy .It is as a result of vessel not coming, economy not moving forward. Investors are also discouraged and cannot invest under the present circumstances
Some people may be thinking the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria is looking for membership as it is now.Yes, we are looking for membership in line with our constitution and in line with the law of this country but I won’t be a President General of a Union where our members and workers in one department are being denied of their legitimate right.It will be suicidal if I didn’t stand up on time to make the corrections.
But before we do that, we need to study the environment that these people are coming from, before we can start rolling up our sleeves the way we normally behave and the way we always engage the government with open-mindedness and we engage stakeholders with due process playing by the rules guiding us especially with regards to the principle of collective bargaining agreement.
What is the solution apart from meeting critical stakeholders in Clearing and Forwarding.What short term, medium term and long term measures are you looking at to achieve payment of workers as a Union?
The payment of the workers is a different issue but what is important now is to identify the grey area that is affecting the Council itself because with the information we heard that the money that was supposed to be remitted to the Associations was not remitted by the Council.We don’t know how much they are collecting and those are the things we have asked them to tell us.
In fairness to the woman and workers from there they have opened up and told us what they have done and 80 percent of their problems is almost resolved.
Our findings have shown that the Council has N930,000,000 somewhere which they wanted to use to buy headquarters building two years ago.In the opinion of the Union, will you suggest that that money be used to pay workers?
The workers have worked for their pay. they deserve their remuneration.They must pay them for their sweat.I don’t know what they have in their purse , so it’s premature to speak on that. I can’t make comments on a money I don’t know anything about. So we are going to place all these issues on the table as we study the situation.
As an insider, they know what is happening in that Council because they are new babies in Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.If I have close to four wives and another one is coming, I need to know where she is coming from, her character and attitude.
It is not about me giving ultimatum without due process .I should still know the problem that my new wife is having.We need to study ourselves and we have started studying ourselves.We have known the areas that involve collaboration and meeting the stakeholders that are relevant in Clearing and Forwarding.
You won a case against Intels for payment of over 500 workers.Have they been paid?
I think justice delayed is justice denied.You can only have your way and use the judiciary to cripple or deny me of my legitimate right and one day, that justice must come.Yes, we won the case but with what is on ground now, we have written to Intels for them to meet with the Union so that we can negotiate the right of the workers but before we knew what was happening, Intels had gone to Court of Appeal and we have written to them and they are saying they are already in Appeal Court.
There is no how you can transfer the principle of CBA to judiciary.Our judiciary are not fools, they dispense justice and we are confident about our demands.They care for the welfare of the workers .
If the National Industrial Court (NIC) that happen to be the workers Court, have given us mandate and clean judgement saying Intels should go and negotiate with the Union.Have they not seen any judge that will say 559 and others should be denied of their legitimate rights or rule against that court judgment from NIC.It is workers Court that involves both the employees and the employers.
Talking about the Tinubu administration, Is the Maritime Workers Union having it’s fair share of benefits. Are things better for your members now than before?
This sector that I belong to is a peculiar and globally regulated one. It is a sector that involves international maritime business.We are not a local government or some community institution.We work in line with IMO standards.
I don’t want to make a statement out of sentiment concerning our expectations. Let’s move from one terminal to the other and see what is going on in those terminals.The expectation is low in terms of marine business.
When dollar has refused to align with dollar and vice versa, how do I make business? Some of the investors have shut down their operationsThose ones that are still working should be thanked. Go to TICT that used to have 200 to 300 containers daily.It has reduced to about 80 .Go to Port and Cargo,PTML, all is not well in the maritime sector.
I don’t want to blame anybody.We can’t blame the President but he needs to salvage this problem with his think tank. I believe in taking solutions more than looking for who to blame because blame game will never solve the problem
The investors that are in maritime sector today are all not happy with the situation of things in this country . These are some of the employers of our members. As their businesses face serious setbacks due to economic challenges, the job our members are also threatened.
Vessels that used to come in with almost 400 to 500 Teu has reduced to 60.Look at the advantages and disadvantages, the probability and the other side of it which is imminent job loss to our members .
In five star logistics, close to 250 workers have been placed on redundancy .It is as a result of vessel not coming, economy not moving forward. Investors are also discouraged and cannot invest under the present circumstances. The investors are not bringing out their money to invest any longer while Cotonou Port is booming and we are aware.
The President should do something about stabilising the exchange rate for duty payment following expert advise as a way out of this challenge
I can’t be satisfied when my membership has been reduced and sacked as a result of this economic situation we find ourselves.I want when a terminal will request for my members to offer jobs due to expanding business.
PTML used to have close to 10,000 cars in 3 days but now the terminal looks like a football pitch.The same rate used in clearing an old car is used for a new one.Customs are generating billions everyday and this money is generated from the consumers.
