ATBOWATON Drags MWUN to Court Over Dues Collection on Waterways

By DAPO OLAWUNI

There are indications that the Association of Tourist Boats and Water Transport Owners of Nigeria (ATBOWATON) is on collision course with the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) over alleged harassment of it’s members and collection of dues on Lagos waterways.

ATBOWATON National President, Mr Ganiu Balogun Tarzan confirmed to DAILY TREND last week that the association has dragged the union to court over the matter. He however said the case is between the State chapter of the association and the union.

Inside sources at MWUN told our correspondent that the case is holding at the Lagos State High Court and the union is going to appear on Tuesday, 5th of July.

Speaking with our correspondent, Mr Tarzan said “The national body is aware of the case in court.
We don’t want the kind of problems that is being experienced on land transportation, whereby unions remove vehicle wipers and do all sorts of things in order collect dues.

“Here, we are talking about waterways transportation which is very dangerous, if we don’t stop it now, they might go in the middle of the water and start stopping boats the way they stop cars on the roads.

“The maritime workers go to the jetties and ask our members to pay money, even the government process of registering our boats with NIWA, LASTWA, we are still complaining that the charges are too much

“The boat operators are generating money for two parastatals and the matter is still in court to determine who is the real regulatory agency in charge

“These Maritime Workers Union that are harassing our members and asking them to pay money, they don’t contribute anything.

“The same thing applies to the road unions, if you go to motor parks, unions collect money but they don’t use it to develop anything.

“We have reported to NIWA and LASTWA, they are not on the union side and they are not happy with what they are doing, they have called them many times to collect dues from their MWUN members, not ATBOWATON members

“Between me and you, MWUN don’t have a boats, but they are collecting money from those who have boats, our members are complaining bitterly.

“Spare parts are very expensive now, and the cost of fueling has increased. The more the union is requesting for money, we would pass it to the passengers, yet the government is trying to make life easier for the passengers

“The agencies have called us together for many meetings, asking them to stop the harassment but they failed to stop.

“Our prayers in court is to determine if it is legitimate and justified for them to be collecting money from our members, we don’t want to make life difficult for passengers.
But if the court says they have the right to collect the money, then we have no choice.

“I was informed that the court has ruled that ATBOWATON and MWUN must not collect money from anybody for now, until the case is determined” Tarzan confirmed

However, when contacted, the President General of MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju told our correspondent that the union was not aware of any case in court with ATBOWATON.

Also speaking with our correspondent, the Special Assistant on Media to the MWUN PG, Comrade Oniha Erazua said the union is not aware of the court case being mentioned.

“We don’t know who they served the court notifications to, I have checked through our records, they didn’t serve the branch, we don’t know who is in court with them, and they are saying the maritime workers union” he said

Also speaking with our correspondent, Deputy Secretary General of MWUN, Comrade Abudullahi Eroje said the union would not want ATBOWATON to obtain any injunction through the back door when the union is not aware of any court proceedings.

He explained that the matter falls under the Seamen and Water Transport Branch of MWUN.

Comrade Eroje said that ATBOWATON are owners of crafts and boats, but that MWUN has rights to unionize workers on the waterways.

“ATBOWATON are owners of boats, the owner cannot be a union, they cannot unionize the workers, the boat drivers are our own members, ATBOWATON cannot be owners and still be a union.

“We don’t know the court they have gone to, maybe it’s federal high court or state high court” he said