By Victor Ahiuma-Young

The management of the largest containers in Africa, AMP Terminals, and the leaders of Maritime Workers of Nigeria, MWUN, Tuesday began a marathon meeting to avert looming industrial unrest from Thursday over the replacement of Nigerian workers with foreigners.

Leaders of MWUN had last week directed workers to shut down operations of AMP Terminals from Thursday if it failed to recall Nigerian workers recently replaced with foreigners.

After the expiration of an earlier seven-day ultimatum to AMP terminals to recall the affected workers, the union on Wednesday, March 31st,  gave the management what it calls a three-day grace to recall the affected Nigerian workers or risk a total shut down of its operations until the union’s demands are met.

However, Vanguard gathered the management of APM terminal reached out to the union and it is now racing against time to beat the deadline as both parties started meeting Tuesday to resolve the issues before the close of work on Wednesday to avert industrial unrest.

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MWUN  had among others, accused three consultants from South Africa and Britain  that work for CRG, a sister company  to G4S of behind the sack and replacement of Nigerian security personnel with foreign security personnel without the knowledge and approval of appropriate agencies and security,

According to the union, the engagement of the foreigners after sacking Nigerian was a breach of the agreement reached between the Union and AMP Terminal management which stated that “In the event of a further need for outsourcing in the operations, the MWUN and management of APMT will discuss and reach an agreement.”

In a letter dated March 31, 2021, to the Managing Director of APM terminals, the Secretary-General of MWUN, Felix Akingboye, among others, lamented that “it is observed that your management has neither taken any remedial step nor bordered to reach out to the union to conclude the stalemated meeting of 23rd March 2021. This is an invitation to industrial disharmony.

It added that “at the expiration of this 3 working days grace, the Union may not be in a position to guarantee industrial harmony in your Terminal and shall not be responsible for whatever social repercussion that may arise as a result of your inaction on the matter under reference.”

Vanguard News Nigeria