…as NIMASA, STOAN, MWUN, others sign agreement
The National Joint Industrial Council has signed the collective bargaining agreement for the increment of dock workers’ wages. NJIC is the body responsible for negotiating and reviewing of minimum standards for dock labour. The agreement was reached at the inaugural meeting of the NJIC at the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency headquarters in Lagos.
The meeting was presided over by the Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, NIMASA, Mr. Gambo Ahmed, who is also the chairman of the council. He noted that the dock workers had improved in their capacity as he reinstated the agency’s commitment to the welfare of dock workers in the maritime industry.
He added that the welfare of the dock workers would impact a lot on the ports industry and the entire economy.
Speaking also at the signing of the CBA, the President General of the Nigerian Maritime Workers Union, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, said with the agreement, dock workers had all the reason to smile home at the end of the month.
“With this agreement, there is a structure put in place by the stakeholders here today. So, if the dockworker is going home now, he knows he is going home with something better. Unlike in the past where dock workers are just picked on the roads and given whatever pay, with this structure put in place, I think the dock workers have every reason to smile home,” he
said.
The Chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria, Dr. Princess Vicky Haastrupp, said the collective bargaining agreement would spur the dockworkers to perform better as their welfare was well catered for in the agreement.
“This agreement, I believe, will spur the dockworkers to perform better than they have always done, because this agreement actually takes care of the wages and the condition of service of dockworkers in Nigeria adequately. The port in Nigeria was concessioned in year 2006 and the average income of dock workers then was N5,000, which I find ridiculous, because N5,000 will not pay their transport fare, not to talk about paying for their everyday expenses.
“And since the port in Nigeria was concessioned, the terminal operators have, as a matter of duty, increased the salary and condition of service of dock workers every two years,” she said.
