At Ongoing Shipping Branch Election: MWUN Announces Unionisation of Lillypond Export Terminal
L-R: President General of MWUN, Comrade Francis Bunu, Secretary General, Comrade Oniha Erazua, (Back Row) Deputy President-General, Comrade Abubakar Bello (right) and Deputy Comptroller-General, Comrade Funmi Fasan at the ongoing Shipping Branch election of the Union on Monday.
…Say “The control of the freight forwarders are now under us”
By DAPO OLAWUNI
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has announced the unionisation of the workers of two shipping companies operating the Lillypond Export Terminal at Ijora Lagos into the union.
Outgone President of the Shipping, Clearing and Forwarding Agencies Workers Branch of the Union, Comrade Ekpeyong Ekpeyong, stated this on Monday 16th, June 2025 at the 6th Quadrannial Branch Delegate Conference held at the union headquarters in Apapa, Lagos.
Ekpeyong while giving stewardship of his eight years in office stated that apart from Lillypond Export Terminal, the union has also unionised the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN)
With this, Ekpeyong said the control of all freight forwarding practitioners are now under the union.
He also said that the union has approved the CRFFN to be a district under the shipping branch.
“I am happy to announce unionisation of Lillypond Export Command. We have had people coming into the industry doing the work of Export without the involvement of the Union. If you are company doing Export activities and logistics, the shipping branch is the one in charge of that aspect.
“The second area we have unionised under my watch is the CRFFN. These are significant achievements for the shipping branch. Since the establishment of the Marine and Blue economy, they have all been reorganised.
“The control of the freight forwarders are now under us, at our last CWC meeting, they have been approved to be a district under the shipping branch”
While highlighting the various challenges experienced by the branch under his watch, he listed them to include outsourcing and casualisation of workers.
“Outsourcing and casualisation is being perpetrated by shipping companies against the workers. Their focus is to reduce labour cost and infrastructure expenses, cheaper labour and administrative convenience. Everyday we receive letter that they want to downsize, and they call us to renegotiate our benefits, but it’s all a tactics by them.
“However, the leadership of the Union has developed and cannot allow ourself to be caught unguarded ,we must be vigilant to threats against our survival, which if not curbed would spread across our other branches.
“The Intention of these companies is to turn workers to contract staffs which has no tenure” he said
The MWUN outgone branch President noted that the signing of the N200,000 minimum wage and Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of workers signed by the union under his tenure, bears credence to the purposeful leadership that his administration provided.
“It is a milestone that has not been achieved in years.
It is attributed to our former PG, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, former Treasurer, Comrade Uche Igweonu and the Nigerian Shippers Council” he said.
