Our CBA with ship owners lingered for too long - seafarers.

Segun Oladipupo

The Nigerian seafarers under the aegis of Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water transport Senior Staff Association (NMNOWTSSA) has said the recently signed Collective Bargaining Agreement between it and shop owners lingered for too long before signing it.

The association added that the ship owners’ reluctance to come to round table with the seafarers was responsible for the delay.

Speaking with our correspondent in Lagos on Friday, the National President of the association, Engineer Alalade Matthew said the agreement was supposed to have been signed two years earlier.

He however commended the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for its regulatory role in the whole process that led to its fruition.

“The thing is that the CBA lingered for a long time for more than two years but we commend the regulatory authority for them to make it happen.

“It is a good thing because it will foster a good relationship between the seafarers and the ship owners.

“The next one will not take so long like this. It will be done when it is due like in other sector, that is, in fishing sector.

“The long duration it took before signing this one caused disaffection among the seafarers.

“The cause of the delay is that the ship owners were not coming up for us to round off the negotiation.

Alalade added that the agreement signed with its employers is far lower to the International Transport Federation (ITF) standard even as he hoped that the next CBA will meet up with the requirement of ITF.

He said, “In the next CBA, we should look up to meeting the OFF standard because the OFF standard is higher than the CBA we signed because the ITF is an international trade.”