The Shipping Branch of the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has raised alarm over what it described as a growing upsurge in the casualisation of workers by shipping companies and terminal operators across the country.
In a statement issued through the union’s head of media, John Ikemefuna, the president of the branch, Olufemi Abass, accused employers in the maritime sector of outsourcing workers to contractors who pay poor wages and engage them on temporary terms, in violation of labour laws.
Abass said shipping companies and terminal operators have continued to justify what he described as “cruel, vicious, and callous labour practices” by deliberately reducing the presence and influence of unions in the sector.
According to him, these practices have led to the steady erosion of permanent employment in the maritime industry, with companies prioritising profit over workers’ welfare.
“These companies have devised several strategies to achieve this ‘slave-drive’ ideology in the sector,” Abass said, adding that casualisation has become a tool for dehumanising workers while neglecting decent work policies provided for under local and international labourregulations.
“These unethical labour practices have led to the steady erosion of permanent employment in the sector. These perpetrators of unethical labourpractices believe the ideology is economical and cost-effective,” he added.
Abass said the union would not tolerate what it sees as industrial manipulation of workers and assured that the matter would be escalated to the top leadership of MWUN.
He added that the union would take “strict action” against companies engaged in unfair labour practices, with the aim of sanitising the maritime industry and ensuring improved working and living conditions for workers in the sector.
