Maritime and Dockworkers want 20% GPHA container business deal implemented

The Maritime and Dockworkers Union is unhappy about the delay in granting 20% Container Business to the Ghana Ports and Habours Authority (GPHA) as well as the implementation of the reduction basis decision to cover only a 4-year period.

In a letter to the Minister of Transport, the union said: “We reject the proposal of MPS to implement the ‘Dubai Decision’ on a continuous reduction formula for a 4-year term. Our position is that the ‘Dubai Decision’ of granting 20% Container Business to GPHA should be implemented in the contract period of the Meridian Port Services (MPS) Terminal 3 agreement.”

Continuing, the union said: “We are seeking immediate implementation of the 20% Container Business to GPHA.”

It is, therefore, hoping to have positive feedback on its demands in a week in the interest of industrial peace.

In 2019, the Maritime and Dockworkers’ Union (MDU), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana and the workers of the Ghana Ports and Habours Authority (GPHA) developed a campaign for the review of the contract agreement of the MPS Terminal because of its negative effects on the revenues of GPHA and other maritime operators.

The campaign and the collective agitations of the MDU, TUC and the workers of GPHA, resulted in President Nana Akufo-Addo recommending a tripartite approach for the review of the MPS Terminal 3 agreement.

The union said: “It would be helpful to state that when the negotiating team for the review of the MPS Terminal 3 contract agreement failed to reach an agreement in Ghana, the shareholders, at a meeting in Dubai, on 12 November 2019, took a decision to grant 20% of Container Business to GPHA to avert the revenue losses and its associated job losses.”