The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) recently issued a strong protest over the non-payment of nine months’ salaries owed to its members employed by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). The alarming situation has prompted the union to call on the Federal Government to intervene and ensure payment of the salary arrears without further delay, to avert an impending industrial crisis.
In an official statement, the Deputy General Secretary of the union, Oniha Erazua, on behalf of the General Secretary, Felix Akingboye, stressed: “MWUN wishes to bring to the attention of the general public the continued non-payment of nine months’ salaries owed to our members by the management of CRFFN.”
The union has taken various steps to reach an amicable resolution to the dispute, including issuing several ultimatums, all of which have gone unanswered by the Acting Registrar of CRFFN. Despite this, the CRFFN management persists in its refusal to abide by the resolutions reached at several mediation meetings, including the one held in Abuja on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, and continues to violate the rights of our members to the payment of their salaries.
It is imperative to emphasize that the non-payment of salaries is a serious violation of workers’ rights, in contradiction with the official resolution which states that staff salaries should be the first priority and that available funds should be used for this purpose, without diverting funds to other expenditures until salaries are paid.
The lack of consideration by the CRFFN management, which recently conducted training for some staff members while leaving a significant amount of unpaid salaries outstanding, is not only worrying but also unacceptable. Despite the collaborative efforts of the MWUN, the CRFFN leadership continues to act in a casual manner, jeopardizing the welfare and well-being of its members, while trampling on their legitimate rights to remuneration for their work.
In the face of this umpteenth provocation, the MWUN has clearly warned that if the CRFFN persists in withholding the nine months of salary arrears of its members, the union will be forced to take drastic measures, including the total withdrawal of services from its members across the port authorities, port workforce, shipping agencies and oil and gas platforms across the country. All concerned authorities are therefore alerted to this critical situation.
It is of the utmost importance that the Federal Government take immediate steps to resolve this impending crisis and ensure that workers’ rights are respected, in order to avoid further harm to workers in the maritime sectorThe impunity shown by the CRFFN management must be denounced and condemned, and concrete measures must be taken to ensure that such violations of workers’ rights do not happen again in the future.