MWUN Intervention Quells Truck Owners Proposed Withdrawal Of Service

Barring any last minute change,the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), has called on truck owners  to embrace trade dispute resolution instead of embarking on a proposed  withdrawal of service from the Lagos  seaports.

A combined group of haulage operators at a meeting held in Lagos ,had agreed to embark on a strike action over alleged extortion by the security taskforce deployed to the port corridors.

The truck owners led by the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO),Comrade Aloga Ogbogo ,President of Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO),Chief Remi Ogungbemi and  other top members from RTEAN and Corporate Fleet  Truck Owners engaged the union for the purpose of brainstorming to ameliorate the suffering of stakeholders in the maritime sector.

But the timely intervention of the President General of MWUN ,Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, changed the mind of the aggrieved haulage operators.

Speaking while addressing the truckers at the meeting as against the backdrop of the proposed strike on Wednesday, President General of the union,Comrade   Adeyanju  appealed to the truck owners to embrace trade dispute resolution adding that MWUN will not support any form of  service withdrawal  without proper  “itemisation of the issues on ground.”

Comrade Adeyanju who doubles as a Trustee of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), reiterated that the union as a responsible institution , will not play any part in the proposed withdrawal of service noting that the issuance of ultimatum to government agencies and relevant stakeholders would be the only solution achieving a common goal.

Apparently dissatisfied with the alleged truckers insincerity among themselves,the union’s boss threatened to withdraw members of the MWUN from the collaboration, pointing out that  such industrial action will not yield positive result without due process.

He said ” We are already tired of a marriage that is not yielding positive result. We are just a back up to this struggle but the fact still remains that we are not being sincere with ourselves.

According to him, the truckers should embrace sincerity of purpose in achieving a common goal,otherwise the marriage between all the various haulage groups involved in the struggle may end up a waste of time and resources.

In his observations ,he maintained: ” I will continue to repeat myself that I  am a  career unionist to the core and we must look at the security implications as a factor, then the welfare of my people and finally,sincerity of purpose.

“If we are collaborating and there is no sincerity of purpose , then you cannot succeed and that is what is about to happen with what you want too embark on.

“For me ,withdrawal of service is not the best option for now. If you ask me to withdraw the service of dockworkers from the ports then we are not sincere with ourselves because this meeting does not warrant me telling my members to withdraw their service from the ports,”he affirmed.

He further advised the truckers ,saying” You should  go  back to the drawing board and ensure that we understand ourselves by bringing other relevant stakeholders and with that I don’t think we will get ourselves involved with issues of security agencies extorting truckers?

Earlier at the meeting the truck owners had agreed for a possible withdrawal of service from the ports in Lagos over alleged extortion by  security agencies .