Dock workers have vowed in frustration that they will not accept ‘any form of slavery from the Gambia Ports Authority anymore’ as they lament about their poor working conditions and demand for change by the management of the sea ports.

However, there are three Unions led by these people – Lang Bala Saho, president of The Gambia Dock Martime Workers Union, James Gomez, president of The Gambia Democratic Dock Workers Union and Amadou Touray, president of the Dock and Maritime Workers Union.

The trio called on the management of the ports to restore their over-time, bonus and wages which the management has removed last year without consulting them.

Meanwhile, they are demanding for provisional medical insurance, welfare fund to be managed by dock workers independently, higher promotion for dock workers beyond the rank of supervisors; they also want to see their social security slips and increment in their wages.

“There is no dock worker who knows how much they are paid. We work without any protective gears and work is very risky,” the trio said.

They said the condition while they were under the Department of Labour was far better than what they have at the Ports.

The Dock Workers said: “The time we were under Labour it was more beneficial than now because the Ports management does not consider our welfare.”

They said the highest rank for Gambian dock workers is being a supervisor which they described “unfair” adding “because there are some people serving as supervisors for over 20 years without a promotion.”

 They said in case of breakdown, dock workers will sit for the whole day without receiving any payment although the shipping agencies pay Ports in those state of affairs.

James Gomez, said for the past 11 years the dock workers were moved from the Department of Labour to the GPA, adding “the dock workers were promised that they will be employed by ports and will be given an employment contract as well as enjoy the privileges other staff working for the ports enjoy.

He said: “We were told that dock workers will be semi-autonomous to the GPA and will participate in the decision-making process about issues affecting dock workers.”

He lamented that the shipping agencies pay in hard currencies but GPA will pay each dock worker eight dalasi for each of the containers they offload.

“We understand that the shipping agencies pay ports over a hundred dollar per container but Ports would always pay us eight dalasi (D8) per container. This is not fair at all to dock workers who are risking themselves in doing their job without having any insurance,” he said.

Amadou Touray said, the Labour Act was amended and the GPA was soon authorized to recruit and employ all dock workers whether previously registered or not. They said they have not been staffed and only a small portion of the money paid by the shipping agencies for the labour of the dockworkers is paid to them.

They alleged that two former dock workers (Alagie Marong and Ebrima Jobe) died while working. Also, Nfamara Jarju had both legs cut and Musa Jammeh also sustained severe injury from their work. 

The Ports Management could not be reached for comments.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba