Gridlock: FG to deploy 200 security personnel to Tin Can, Apapa Ports
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By Dirisu Yakubu
THE Federal Government, yesterday, promised to deploy 200 security personnel to clear the gridlock at the Tin Can Island and Apapa area of Lagos, and also enforce compliance on heavy-duty trucks not to park on the roads.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed this during a meeting with Maritime stakeholders and Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria, MWUN, in Lagos.
The union had threatened to go on strike if the government failed to address the gridlock on the route.
The minister, however, noted that a steering committee, headed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Magdalene Ajani, would meet monthly, until the challenges were overcome.
The National President of Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association (NMNOWTSSA), Comrade Bob Yousou, has lamented abandonment, repatriation, insecurity, unpaid wages and poor remuneration as challenges facing the Nigerian seafarers.
Yousou, who disclosed this at the commissioning of its newly acquired national secretariat in Apapa Lagos, said the hazardous nature of seafaring is worth appreciating, but the nation’s seafarers are maltreated and poorly remunerated by employers due to lack of Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and sense of belonging to the right union. x
“I want to urge the seafarers’ employers to always look at the plight of Nigerian seafarers by not owing them their wages, but pay as at when due. The hazardous nature of seafaring is worth appreciating. We shall no longer tolerate slavery wages for our seafarers. The International Labour Organisation standard in terms of decent working c
Posted: Dec 23, 2020 5:49 AM PT | Last Updated: December 23, 2020
Women have to walk through the men s locker room to access toilets where they can change privately.(Submitted by Adrienne Smith)
Female engineers at BC Ferries have filed a human rights complaint over a lack of private spaces to change in and out of their work clothing on the lower decks of ferries.
The lawsuit, filed with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal on behalf of 16 women, alleges that the lack of proper facilities contributes to a climate of harassment and bullying of women at BC Ferries. There have been women working in engineering for the last 30 years, and they still don t have safe and private places to change into their coveralls or use the bathroom, explained Adrienne Smith, a Vancouver-based lawyer representing the employees.
“The agreement negotiated between the parties has been accepted by our membership,” union president Graeme Johnston said in a statement. “Our Union acknowledges we are in difficult times, and we are hopeful our commitment to helping the ferry system weather these difficult times will be recognized in better times come the wage reopeners.” About 4,000 employees are covered by the collective agreement, which marks 22 years of labour stability at B.C. Ferries, said Mark Collins, the corporation’s president and CEO. Collins said in a statement that the agreement provides for “fair and modest” wage and benefit increases. He thanked the B.C. Ferry & Marine Workers’ Union for a “collaborative and professional process.”