Monrovia – The Ministry of Labour has swiftly thwarted a pending strike action at seaports across the country, and has potentially intervened in bringing imminent strike actions to closure .
In a timely intervention, Labour Minister Cooper W. Kruah told Dock Workers and representatives of APM Terminals that both parties are important to Liberia economic development.
“It takes two to tangle and the government cannot allow our major industrial sectors, especially seaports, to cease operation with grave economic, labour and political repercussions at this time when there are remarkable improvements in the commercial, trade and economic sectors of Liberia,” Min. Kruah stated
He said their contributions are significant and key to President Boakai’s ARREST AGENDA.
In response, the Dock Workers Union leaders and representatives of APM Terminal Management pledged to honor minister Kruah’s request and promised to remain engaged with the government in finding permanent solutions to their crisis.
Meanwhile, normal labour and economic activities at seaports across the country remain in full swing.
The Dock Workers had earlier targeted the Freeport of Monrovia, Ports of Greenville and Harper to carry out their strike actions.
Hundreds of workers at these seaports had been agitating over a protracted period of time citing several labour related grievances.
The grievances include basic work benefits, increment in wages, failure by management to renew and ensure compliance with terms of their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) reached with the APM Terminals, currently in charge of the management of the National Port Authority (NPA).
The Dock Workers Union of Liberia and Management of APM Terminals had been at loggerheads for more than a year since the latter assumed running of the ports.
The situation reached a boiling point recently when the Dock Workers Union (DOWUL), the mother union of the workplace Representatives, issued a notice on the Labour Ministry, threatening to launch their industrial unrest if nothing was done to remedy their concerns.
Their notice was inline with the relevant provisions of the Decent Work Act which stipulate 21 days as the deadline for aggrieved workers to embark on industrial unrest, if the Labour Ministry does not redress their concerns.
However, Min. Cooper W. Kruah, Sr. stepped in and launched a strategic social dialogue between the two parties, and called on the union leadership to allow more time for the Government to engage the two parties in amicably addressing their grievances
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