More than half of the workers at Kenya's main port of Mombasa went on strike on Thursday demanding better working conditions, halting operations of the east African region's main trade gateway, union and management officials said, Reuters reports.
The union said 3,500 workers, most of whom are loaders, had worked at the port for between 15 and 20 years on casual and contractual basis, and were now demanding permanent jobs.
"The most affected area is the operations section which deals with cranes and ships, and that is our core area," said Bernard Osero, the port corporate affairs manager.
The port employs about 6,000 workers in Mombasa, he said.
The workers, donned in aprons and reflective jackets, camped outside the port head offices in Mombasa, chanting slogans, while loaded cargo ships that had arrived earlier remained at dock yards with no one to attend to them.
Simon Sang, secretary general of dock workers union said at the port the management had agreed to employ the casual workers by Oct.31, but this had not yet happened.
"We don't want any more meetings and negotiations because we already did that, what we want are the (employment) letters, otherwise we will not go back to work," Sang told reporters.
Gichiri Ndua, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), managing director was said to be flying from the capital Nairobi to address the striking workers.
The port handled 10.7 million tonnes of cargo over the first-half of this year, up 24 percent from 2011.
Apart from Kenya, the port handles cargo to and from Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
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