MWUN Threatens CRFFN With Services Withdrawal Over Non-Payment Of Workers’ Salary Arrears

MWUN Threatens CRFFN With Services Withdrawal Over Non-Payment Of Workers’ Salary Arrears

By prince Benson Davies

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has threatened to strike if the management of the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) refuses to settle the nine-month salary arrears of its bona fide union members.
In a statement issued by NWUN, it explained that as a responsible union, it aims to educate members of the public that it has gone through and exhausted all necessary procedures of reaching amicable resolution of the matter, including issuing various ultimatums, which have been defiantly ignored by the Acting Registrar of CRFFN, disregarding all resolutions reached at several mediatory meetings.

“The last was the one held in Abuja on Wednesday, September 18, 2024 and a host of other infractions on the rights of our members to the payment of their wages.
The Union is more dismayed over CRFFN’s outright disregard of one of the resolutions reached, stating that going forward, payment of staff salaries should be of paramount attention, should funds be made available for the regulatory body and there should be no diversion of such available fund into any other expenditure.

“But CRFFN went ahead to organize a “Kangaroo” training for some select staffers, leaving behind a humongous cache of unpaid salaries.
“It is unfortunate that after NWUN extended a willingness to engage and collaborate with the management of CRFFN under the purview of the Acting Registrar, the CRFFN still acted contrary to the resolution reached with the union against the wellbeing of our members while trampling on the rights of our members to the enjoyment of their earned salaries,” the statement reads.
Therefore, the union resolved not to continue to watch with folded arms the impunity of CRFFN being put on public display; hence, it decided to bring this matter to public knowledge that should CRFFN continue to withhold the nine-month salary arrears owed its members who are CRFFN employees of CRFFN, NWUN will have no other option than to withdraw the services of its members in the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

The statement added that dock workers, shipping and freight forwarding agencies, and seamen in all the ports, jetties, terminals and oil and gas platforms will join the industrial action should the authorities fail to act swiftly to resolve the matter.