Angry dockworkers under the aegis of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, on Thursday, shut down the entry and exit gates of the APM Terminals, Apapa over what they regarded as anti-labour activities of the Lagos container port operator.
The placard-carrying workers shut the terminals to businesses, accusing the terminal operator of flagrant abuse and breach of Nigerian content law.
The union had last week issued a seven-day ultimatum to the concessionaires, asking them to reverse their plans to outsource security work of the terminal to foreigners.
The workers had warned that failure to respond to the ultimatum, will push them to down tools.
It made good its threat on Thursday morning when aggrieved workers blocked all entrances to the terminal and turned back staff members trying to enter the facilities.
Present at the gates of APMT were the members of the union and the executives, carrying placards with inscriptions such as “We say no to racism”, “We say no to the scrapping of any department in our terminal,” among others.
The atmosphere was still tense as at the time of filing this report as the workers said there was no going back until the terminal reverses to the status quo ante.
