The national president of the Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association (NMNOWTSSA), Engineer Bob Joseph Yousuohas, was warned that except all shipping companies adopt the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) being put together by the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC), not all seafarers in the country will earn the 150 percent wage earnings being proposed by the NJIC.
Recall that NJIC, which comprises the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), shipping companies and maritime labour unions, has agreed to incorporate the International Transport Workers’ Federation/International Labour Organisation (ITF/ILO) International Wage Scale in the Conditions of service of the Nigerian Seafarers, raising their earnings by over 150 percent.
Speaking on the proposed wage increment, Yousuo revealed that many Nigerian shipping companies do not have CBA, and without CBA, no seafarer can earn a wage increment as agreed under the NJIC.
According to him, “The NJIC, which comprises NIMASA, shipping companies and the labour unions, has agreed to implement the 150 percent wage increase for seafarers, although we are yet to sign the agreement.
However, even if we sign it, I am not sure all seafarers will get that wage increment because not all shipping companies have CBA. Whatever the NJIC approves, it is the shipping companies that will implement it, and if a shipping company does not have a CBA, how will it implement an agreement of the NJIC?
“Unless government ensures that all shipping companies key into the NJIC agreement by having their CBA, that is when the benefits of the NJIC will trickle down to all seafarers.”
When asked about the identity of the shipping companies operating without CBA, Yousou stated: “Many of the Nigerian-owned shipping companies don’t have CBA.
“The foreign shipping companies have CBA because they understand the importance of such agreement to workers, but many of the indigenous shipping companies don’t have CBA and the government needs to look into this issue.”
