UWUL Elects New Corps of Officers the United Workers Union Liberia (UWUL) recently held its 4th triennial convention in Congo Town, Montserrado County, where a new Corps of officers was elected for the next three years.
The elections saw the re-election of Dave Seneh as Secretary General, Daniel Weah as Deputy Secretary General for Administration and Operations, James Sorbor as Women Coordinator, and Tenneh Nagbe and Grace Neah as Financial Coordinator. Additionally, Lydia Togba was elected as President, Abel Gray as Vice President, and Victoria Badio as Youth Coordinator.
UWUL is a representation of workers in the mining, energy, and former transport sectors, positioning it as a prominent national trade union with international connections.
The group affiliates with the International Transport Federation Union based in London and the Industry Oil Global Union, and collaborates with unions globally and focuses on programs, networking, and experience sharing.
In a brief statement at the opening of the convention, the Head of Human Resources and Organizational Development at ArcelorMittal Liberia, Rebecca Kwabo-Buegar, lauded UWUL for its strong presence in the labor section and for being a strong partner.
She noted that though the union is firm in standing up for its members, it is also a very understandable organization that knows how to negotiate.
“Our workers are our prime assets, and we always want to be there for them,” Kwabo-Buegar noted, “But there will always be challenges that we have to sort out. And this is where I want to appreciate UWUL. They have been great partners.”
A Proxy of Labour Minister, Cooper W. Kruah, who served as the keynote speaker at the event lauded UWUL for building a strong, vibrant and democratic trade union in the country.
“For a country to move forward, it needs a strong labor sector and a strong and effective union, and we think UWUL is stepping up to that,” he said.
Daniel K. Weah, UWUL Deputy SG, provided insight into the organization’s background, highlighting the union’s formation in 2011 through the merger of the Forestry Logging and Industry Worker Union of Liberia and the National Mines Worker Union.
As a multi secretarial national trade union standing tall among others, UWU has fifteen local shops but due to the closure of other companies and other reasons, there are currently eight shops operating with collective bargaining agreements.
“UWUL isn’t only a vibrant trade union nationally, we are internationally connected,” he said.
During the convention, attendees aimed to ensure adherence to the conditions laid out in the Business Work Art of 2015, prompting the election of new officers.
A representative from the Solidarity Center of Liberia expressed gratitude for the opportunity to witness UWUL’s convention and emphasized the importance of democratic processes, particularly in union elections.
“The Solidarity Center in Liberia, for the past decades, has been working with unions both in the private and the public sector,” he said. “But I would like to say to you here, among the unions that we have been working with, the United Workers Union of Liberia has been so exceptional.”
The Center commended UWUL for its exceptional leadership, accountability, collaboration, and training initiatives–reaffirming its unwavering support for UWUL and expressed hope for a peaceful and productive election process.
“We, from the solidarity center, uphold the view that democratic processes, more or less union elections, are important elections. And that is why, doing this time, you have the members exercising their democratic rights,” he said.
“Exceptional in terms of leadership, exceptional in accountability, exceptional in collaboration, and exceptional in terms of training, as a matter of fact, the leadership of you, they have been our comrades that we have been using for most of our training in Liberia,” he added. “We want to say in respect of the situation that we find ourselves in today; our support to this union will be unwavering. We stand with you, and we will continue to be with them till the end.”
Meanwhile, the elected leadership promised to lead with integrity, accountability and credibility.
