Breaking:  Congestion looms as  maritime workers are directed to shut down port operations from 6pm today

This has therefore raised concerns over imminent port congestion.

The President General (PG) of the Union, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju said this while addressing members of the four branches of the union in Lagos, today.

He maintained that the IOCs are taking the union for granted over failure of the IOCs to pay the wages of stevedoring contractors.

The union said it issued a two -week ultimatum to the multinationals and even sent a reminder over the issue but was ignored.

Comrade Adeyanju reiterated that the union would not go back on its proposed action except the International Oil Companies (IOCs) engage the union immediately before the 6pm deadline.

The PG said, “Enough is enough because the IOCs need to respect the laws of the land because these people are denying us our rights by failing to pay our wages”.

He commended the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) over efforts made to engage the IOCs operating offshore and onshore in the nation’s territorial water but maintained that the union could not fold its hand when things were not done the right way.

According to him, some of the workers have allegedly died due to failure on the part of the IOCs non-payment of the wages.

The presidents of the four branches including NPA, Shipping, Seafarer and Dockworkers also said they were in support of the move even as they said they would mobilise their members to join in the strike action.

According to them, the union had not taken such action in the past four years because of its belief in dialogue but stated that the IOCs seem to defy the option.

They said an injury to one person is an injury to all hence the necessity to join the fray