By Abass Jalloh
The Sierra Leone Ports Authority (SLPA) has in a press statement urged all staff of the Freetown Terminal Limited (FTL) currently engaged in a sit-down strike to call it off immediately, while calling on the company to honour its obligation to pay End of Service benefits to those workers who are no longer interested in working with the company.
The statement, dated 14th June 2020, also said they are prepared to accept those who will want to continue in service with the company.
The company is also “encouraging all the workers of the FTL to report to the Secretariat of the Sierra Leone Dock Workers Union and make their intentions known”, stating that they should make known whether they will choose to continue in service or will want their End of Service paid immediately for the attention of the Management of FTL.
On Tuesday 5th May 2022, the workers of the FTL went into industrial action and decided to stop work, according to SLPA. However, the reason for the strike action was sketchy.
The statement stated that while the Committee, which included some ministries, groups, and other institutions to resolve the situation, was looking into the strike action, the Sierra Leone Dock Workers Union and representatives of the said aggrieved workers dissociated themselves from the strike action taken by their workers without their knowledge. “The committee, therefore, concludes that the action taken by the aggrieved workers is illegal,” it states.
SLPA cited that even as the committee was meeting to resolve the issue, the workers went on strike again Friday 10th June 2022, and have still not returned to work.
The committee further urges every worker of the FTL to “immediately return to work” and that those who will fail to do so will face “more severe disciplinary action.”
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