Striking employees of the shipyard of the autonomous port of Douala in Cameroon directly questioned the head of state on the situation of their public company. Gaspard Nyetam, the trade unionist and spokesperson for the strikers, explained that they had not worked for almost three months and saw the beginning of death for the shipyard. The strikers demanded the payment of salary arrears, among other things.
The employees of the shipyard, a public company located in the autonomous port of Douala, have been striking since the beginning of the week to demand salary arrears, better relations with management, and more trust from their managers. They have appealed to President Paul Biya to address their concerns.
“We See in This The Beginning of Death for the Shipyard”
In front of the headquarters of the shipyard and industrial Cameroon, dozens of people are thus the foot of the crane.
Gaspard Nyetam, trade unionist and spokesman for the strikers, says: “It is a movement that has decided to challenge the State of Cameroon and particularly its leader so that he has a particular look at the shipyard and industrial of Cameroon because nothing has been going well in this business for several years. We are accumulating salary arrears. Today we count up to five months of arrears”.
Plagued for years by several structural and managerial difficulties, the shipyard, once prosperous in the port area, is now in agony, supporting the staff who are also launching a cry of distress to save the company. “We have decided to directly question the Head of State himself. We are Cameroonian citizens and we joined this business in the late 1990s which was thriving. Today, if we tell people that this company is dying in our hands, it is an insult to us. We haven’t worked for almost three months. We see in this the beginning of death for the shipyard”, launches Gaspard Nyetam.