Maritime contractors threaten to strike
Over 600 contractors of the Liberia Maritime Authority or LMA have threatened to stage weeklong protest before the Maritime head offices in Sinkor, Monrovia in demand of six months’ salary arrears owed them by the management.
The aggrieved contractors in an interview with The NewDawn over the weekend said, the LMA management has refused to pay their just salary for work done during the period under review.
In previous protests staged by the aggrieved contractors, the Commissioner of the Liberia Maritime Authority, Binyan Kessalley, had assured the group that they would be paid.
A spokesperson for the group, James Kollie, said they are left with no option but to protest before the entrance of the Maritime Authority in Sinkor to get redress.
Mr. Kollie said it is unfortunate and disgusting that an institution like the Maritime will wantonly refuse to pay them salary that they honestly worked for.
The Liberia Maritime Authority hired the contractors about a year ago to clean and maintain beaches in and around Monrovia as well as stop the public from defecating on beaches.
Kollie said since July, 2014 the LMA has failed to settle the arrears due them, adding that whenever they made an attempt to ask for their salary, management will give excuses and make promises, but to no avail.
According to him, they have been cleaning the various beaches without protective gears. “Can you imagine during the heat of the Ebola Virus outbreak here, our people from Maritime refused to provide protective gears and yet still we have to work because we thought the work is important, but now getting pay has become a serious problem for such entity like Maritime,” Kollie lamented.
When contacted via mobile phone, the Maritime Authority Press and Public Affairs department promised to speak on the matter at an appropriate time.
By Rewina Juduh
