THE 21-day ultimatum by the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) to picket one of the nation’s leading pilotage companies, Melsmore Marine, has been suspended.

This was sequel to productive deliberation between the union and the company management, which was held recently in Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria’s maritime capital.

“We have had the first meeting with Melsmore Marine (management), and the meeting has been very positive,” the MWUN President-General, Comrade Bunu Francis, confirmed to newsmen after the meeting, affirming that the ultimatum has actually been suspended.

He also highlighted that the Melsmore Marine, from all intent, has shown sincerity and genuine readiness to comply with all the rules and regulations guiding a smooth operation of the Nigerian Maritime industry.

Comrade Bunu stressed that though their discussions were still ongoing rather than concluded, he could candidly observe that the management was more interested in smoothly growing and flourishing their business, rather than in anything controversial.

Speaking in the same vein, the Chief Executive Officer of Melsmore Marine, Danny Fuchs, stressed that he was however seriously concerned with the fact that an aspect of the reportage posited the company as breaking a law of the land.

“We will never break a law”, he explained, adding that the company, though has laid formidable and indelible footprints in its area of business, is nonetheless within the first year of its operations.

He described Melsmore Marine as a highly focused and responsible entity, fully committed to compliance with every law of the land, hence his concern with some aspect of the hard reportage.

He maintained that much as he loves Union and union activities, it would be thoroughly awkward of the management to invite the Union to come and unionise its few workers.

It was affirmed that the company had raised the Workers’ salaries twice within the first year of its operations.

It would be recalled that the faceoff between the union and the management was ignited over the union’s commitment to factor in the Melsmore Marine workers into its Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) platform.