By Fatou Sillah
Staff of Alport Banjul on Tuesday issued a 28-day ultimatum to management, citing what they describe as the failure to fully implement conditions tied to their transfer from the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA). The workers warned that they would embark on a sit-down strike if their concerns were not addressed within the stipulated period.
Reading a petition addressed to the Managing Director of the Gambia Ports Authority, Ousman Jobarteh, Alport management, and other relevant stakeholders, the President of the Staff Association, Adama Jatta, said the transfer was originally agreed on the basis that employees’ existing terms and conditions of service would remain unchanged. She, however, noted that this agreement has not been fully honoured.
The staff alleges that several assurances made during the transition have not been implemented, particularly regarding management representation and key appointments. According to the petition, it was agreed that certain senior positions would be held by Gambian nationals to safeguard the interests of local staff.
“The head of Human Resources at Alport and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer positions would be occupied by Gambian nationals to represent the interests of Gambian staff,” Jatta stated.
The workers also raised concerns over salary administration, promotions, staff loan arrangements, and internal service regulations, which they say remain unresolved since Alport assumed responsibility for payroll management.
“Since the commencement of salary administration by Alport, these conditions have not been consistently implemented or enforced,” the petition noted.
The staff is now demanding either the full implementation of the original transfer agreement or a reversal of the process. They are calling for all human resource matters to be returned to GPA control, including salary administration, or for all transferred staff to be fully reinstated under GPA.
“We hereby request a complete transfer process as formulated in the contract agreement and full disclosure of all matters relating to staff within the agreement,” Jatta said.
She added, “All our HR matters will be transferred back to GPA, including salary payments, or all transferred staff will be returned fully to GPA. Pending this, we shall only receive operational instructions from Alport.”
The staff further warned that failure to meet their demands within 28 days would trigger industrial action.
“We hereby give twenty-eight days’ formal notice that if our demands are not fully met and implemented within this period, we shall proceed with a sit-down strike.”
In the meantime, the workers indicated they will scale down their duties, restricting their work strictly to statutory working hours as provided under the Labour Act 2023.
“We shall limit our work strictly to the statutory forty-eight (48) working hours per week as provided under the Labour Act 2023.”
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