The Association of Tourist Boats and Water Transport Operators of Nigeria (ATBOWATON) has raised alarm and alleged that the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) was engaging thugs to harass boat operators and force them to pay dues to the union at Jetties.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos yesterday, State Chairman of ATBOWATON, Chief Wellington Akingbulu Ilori alleged that the situation is prevalent at Liverpool Jetty where MWUN engage touts to coerce his members to pay union dues to them.
He argued that ATBOWATON is an association by itself and MWUN is equally a body by itself, hence he said they should collect money from their members and not force ATBOWATON members to pay to them.
Wellington alleged that initially, MWUN were using Navy to molest ATBOWATON but the case was reported to the Navy authority and they were strongly advised. He however said the situation is still prevalent especially at night.
"Maritime is an association by itself and ATBOWATON is also an association, they have their people and we have our own people, they should collect dues from their members and stop forcing our members to pay them 2%. In the constitution, I may have an association and not even join the union, it is not by force to join labour union"
"We have taken the matter to the police and even up to the ACG when they were using thugs on us, the ACG has referred the case to 'Panti'(Police station).
"Our prayers is that the two associations are a body on their own and two parallel lines cannot meet"
"Initially, they were using Navy to molest ATBOWATON but I reported to the Navy authority and they were strongly advised. MWUN employed some thugs to force our members to pay to them, when we took it to the police, they warned that everybody should patronise their own members"
"To an extent MWUN were abiding by this directive, but they are still doing it silently, when it is in the night, MWUN come in and force our members to pay to them. As good citizens of Nigeria we don't need thugery" He said
He said that there were failed attempts by both groups in the past to sign a working Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) but that the term of the MoU was not satisfactory to his members.
"They called us that we should have an MoU, the MoU cannot work because they were proposing that we collect the dues together and at the end of the day we would share the money, i cannot share money with anybody at this my level, bloodshed would come"
"We paid N201,000 to NIWA before we could use the Liverpool jetty, I don't know if they paid anything"
"I did not sign the MoU, I promised to take it back to my members who elected me into office and my members said we must not sign it then", he added.
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