MWUN ANNOUNCES 70% COMPLIANCE AS IOCs COMMENCE ENGAGEMENT OF INDIGENOUS DOCKWORKERS
By Mcanthony Onuoha
The International Oil Companies (IOCs) have at last, started to engage indigenous Stevedoring Companies as well as employment of Nigerian dockworkers thereby meeting a long time demand of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN).
The new development was disclosed by the President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria- MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, during a press conference at the Union’s Secretariat in Lagos recently.
For the past four years, there has been a protracted battle between the IOCs and the Union over the former’s allegation against Nigeria on non-compliance to Stevedoring Regulations.
The President General of the Union, during the briefing on Tuesday confirmed that the IOCs have started to comply with the Union’s demands but frowned at some defiant companies who have continued to decline the signing of the Agreement with indigenous Stevedoring Companies.
Earlier on, the Union, backed by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), had threatened to totally shutdown maritime operations in Nigeria at the end of a two week ultimatum which was issued on the 1st of March 2022.
According to Adeyanju, ” we have signed a communique with the IOC and OPTS, and we gave them two weeks for implementation which l think has been commenced by the IOCs.”
“The two weeks expired yesterday but we backdated it anticipating implementation. We are still going to reconvene another meeting, we have to know those companies that have complied and the ones that are still playing pranks, we need to know them. The NPA in their wisdom have said that they can picket these non-compliant ones.”
” To me, 60-70 percent have started complying, we are now signing contract agreement here and there”, the PG stated.
To assuage a visible trepidation over envisaged futuristic failure to sustain the agreement, the PG said that the union only suspended the strike, saying it can be reviewed at anytime. “Some of the companies are very funny and stubborn”, he said.
It was disclosed at the briefing that Total, Chevron and Agip are among the companies that are already complying with the agreement.
The President General of MWUN applauded stakeholders that strongly intervened in the face-off in the past four years.
