Members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) have shut down the Tin-can Island Port, Apapa, Lagos State, in compliance with the nationwide strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress.
The strike is coming on the instructions of the NLC after its national executive council meeting held on Monday, directing all affiliates of the Congress to strictly comply.
The NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) had taken the decision after their joint meeting in Abuja, prompted by alleged infractions and encroachments of the rights of workers, the assault on the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero and the continued refusal of government to implement agreements, non-payment of backlog of salaries, pensions, discriminatory payment of salaries and non-compliance to national minimum wage.
Executive members of MWUN directed its members to shut down the ports on Tuesday morning in compliance with the directive.
It was learnt that freight forwarders who had arrived the port in readiness to commence clearance of their goods were asked to go back.
The spokesperson for Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, Ndidi Mbah, in an interview on Tuesday had said electricity workers, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), followed directives of the Nigeria Labour Congress had withdrawn their services around 11:20am on Tuesday, which would result in nationwide blackout.
“Electricity workers are NLC members; they’ve followed the directive by organised labour to withdraw their services from Tuesday”, she stated.
Some parts of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and its environs are already experiencing a blackout.
Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress announced a nationwide indefinite strike starting Tuesday despite a court order restraining the unions from doing so.
Reacting to the development, the Presidency, in a statement by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, said strike action by unions was a flagrant disobedience to court order and a lack of respect for the judiciary.
