The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) is currently dragging it out with the Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association at the arbitration court of the Federal Government as a result of disputes on the collection of dues and levies payable to associations.
The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) is currently dragging it out with the Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association at the arbitration court of the Federal Government as a result of disputes on the collection of dues and levies payable to associations.
Shipping Position Daily gathered that what pitched the two associations against themselves in the controversies on who should collect levies from the officials working at Lamnalco Nigeria Limited, a maritime and Oil and Gas Company operating in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Investigations confirmed that Lamnalco Nigeria Limited is a company involved in Supply vessels, crew boats, thugs, barges and houseboats operators activities in Nigeria; it is also a global provider of towage and associated marine services to the oil and gas terminal industry.
Sources confirmed to our correspondent that the workers had been paying their dues to NUPENG for the past five years but now that the merchant navy association is fully operational in Rivers State, it sees it as encroachment on the part of NUPENG and that it seeks to collect what is rightfully hers.
Confirming the development to our correspondent in chat last week, President of the Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, Engineer Mathew Alalade explained that the association has had a clash of interest with NUPENG especially as it concerns offshore operations.
He explained that some of the members of the association also belongs to NUPENG because it closer to them at the time, but now “they believe that they are secure in the merchant navy association, they believe it is their bedrock, but because of their survival they had joined NUPENG”
Alalade said that his association is currently doing all it could in order to sort out the confusion and get its members back to their base which is the merchant navy, and that NUPENG will stop royalties that dully belong to the association.
“It is true that we had a disagreement over the collection of dues but we are going through the arbitration panel now by the federal government, so hopefully we are going to be on top of the situation” he assured
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