More than 300 sailors yesterday staged a protest at the Tema Fishing Harbour to demand better working conditions from operators and masters of industrial trawlers operating on Ghanaian seas.
The General Secretary of the local chapter of the National Union of Seaman, (NSU), Mr Isaac Impriam, in an interview after the protest, said for the past few years, the members of the association had been demanding signed conditions of service from the Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association, their employers, but their efforts had not yielded any results.
According to him, the existing pay structures did not provide for the payment of overtime, medical, public holidays, and night time allowances.
Petition
He said the union had already petitioned the Ministries of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and Employment and Labour Relations through its national officers at the Ports, Seamen, Maritime and Dockers Union (PSMDU), and reiterated the need for the two ministries to ensure that their working conditions were improved.
“We want the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development to note that the Licence Owners has refused to sign the contract they, the license owners, submitted to the ministry for the acquisition of new licences or renewal of old licences per the ministerial directive of September 16, 2016,
“We want to notify the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, through our National Union, that some of our employers told our members that if they were members of the union, then they, the employers, would not hire them. This is discriminatory and contravenes section 14 A of the Labour Act 2003, Act 651”, Mr Impriam said.
The sailors urged the government to take into account the harsh and unhealthy working conditions at sea and direct their employers to honour their obligations since they, the workers, also contributed to the national economy.
via: http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/seamen-in-tema-protest-over-poor-working-conditions.html
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| The demonstrators claimed ship owners were employing seafarers at rates below the minimum wage for which reason they demanded better working conditions in the form of regular working hours as well as the payment of additional allowances according to the labour law |
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