Fear as sea workers face threat

        
                                                              
Lives of Dockworkers who  offload goods on arrival from ships in the Nigerian ports are presently under heavy threat as they work without the relevant life security equipment usually needed in volatile port operating areas.

Investigations reavealed that the dockworkers now work with fear of getting injured while at work because of lack of the basic security equipment used for the protection of the lives of the port workers who work day and night in a predictably dangerous environment.

The Dockworkers branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) had raised an alarm that some stevedoring companies operating inside Nigeria’s seaports subjected dockworkers to slavery by denying the poor workers of their fundamental rights to protection of life.

"Most of the Stevedoring companies operating under various Teminal Operators in the ports don’t have safety facilities like safety-boots, safety wears, ambulance and other safety equipment", said a source who would not want his name mentioned for safety of his job.

Confirming this damning treatment, President of the Dockworkers branch of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju told our correspondent that the labour union would soon be picketing some stevedoring firms that lack up to date safety equipment inside the seaports.

According to him, “some service providers who work under the terminal operators at the seaports don’t have up to date safety equipment. Some don’t even have ambulance, rainboots, safety wears  and we are going to picket some of them very soon.

“Like some stevedoring contractors under the terminal operators which I will not like to mention their names now, their ambulance is not up to standard. We are talking about the third parties in the job chain at the seaports, the stevedoring contractors; they are the ones who are responsible for the welfare of the workers under them. Some dockworkers work with them, yet their ambulance is nothing to write home about.“We have noticed some of the ambulances are sub-standard and we will be going about to inspect this safety equipment.  When we go around, we will then make public the names of the stevedoring contractors who operate with sub-standard equipment at the seaport.”

On the implementation of payment to tally clerks recently agreed with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), he explained that some of their members are yet to get paid.“As I am talking to you now, the tally clerks salaries have not been paid. We had earlier issued out a fourteen day ultimatum which has elapsed, but due to the promise of the NPA management and the involvement of the Ministry of Transport then, that was why we shelved our strike.

“There was a communiqué which we signed with them on the payment, and that is almost a month ago, yet they have not started making payment. We are still keeping our arms crossed and will react when our patience elapses,” he stated.