Dec 14, 2009
N- DOCK WORKERS
Dock workers have threatened to go on strike should the Port management fail to honour an increament in house allowance awarded to them two years ago.
The workers made the resolve during a special confrence convened by Union officials on Sunday evenning.
The union’s general secretary Simon Sang accused the ports’ CEO James Mulewa of fighting the union instead of coopertaing with it and for going against the industrial charter.
Sang said the 60 per cent house allowance increament was supposed to take effect in January 2008 but Mulewa has been slow in implementing the agreement arrived at after a one year battle between the port and the union settled by the industrial court.
“We had consulted and agred on the 60 per cent but today,the MD wants to fix me and the union because he wants to sell the port,I say no way.Employees will infact fix him,” said Sang.
The union’s chairman Jeffa Kiti said the union is strongly opposed to the port privatization as the move is not justifiable.
“The port can still perform effectively even when owned by the public, we are ready to sign performance contracts but the management has been reluctant since 2005 because their motive is to ensure the port operates below par so that it can be privatised,” said Kiti.
He gave examples of the ports of Singapore and Durban which are top ten ports in the World and Africa respectively but are public owned.
The other declarations made during the meeting included having the Ports board of directors and the MD replaced as well as the tranfer of a senior NSIS official due to conflict of interest.
The union also proposed that the Prime minister intervenes by appointing mediators to make a final and binding determination in the stand offs between the port management and the union.
ENDS.
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