Says indigenous app alternative under way

Lagos State Council of the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON) has urged e-hailing drivers to exercise patience over the proposed industrial action, saying the union is working to secure alternative platforms before withdrawing services from existing operators.

The union said the move was necessary to prevent drivers from suffering further economic hardship from an industrial action that may not achieve its objectives.

Chairman of AUATON, Lagos State Council, Jaiyesimi Azeez, popularly known as Makavelli, said that the drivers’ grievances over poor fares, high commissions, unilateral decisions by app companies and deteriorating working conditions were legitimate.

Azeez, in a communiqué to app-based transporters in Lagos, however, said the union had learnt from previous strike actions that drivers often could not remain offline for long because of their financial obligations.

According to him, many drivers have responsibilities, including house rents, school fees, feeding, vehicle maintenance and loan repayments, making prolonged strikes difficult to sustain.

He said the inability of some drivers to participate fully in previous industrial actions had weakened the collective bargaining power of the union.

Azeez disclosed that AUATON had been engaging indigenous app companies and was at the finalisation stage with some of them, stressing that the union would make details of any agreement public before asking drivers to migrate to an alternative platform.

He said the objective was to ensure that drivers would have another means of earning when the union eventually calls for industrial action against platforms that failed to address their demands.

The AUATON Lagos State Council chairman said the proposed strategy would enable drivers to collectively withdraw their services from platforms for a defined period while continuing to earn through an indigenous alternative.

He stressed that the union was seeking an industrial action that would compel app companies to return to the negotiation table without leaving thousands of drivers without income.

Azeez, therefore, appealed to aggrieved drivers to remain calm, saying that the union had not abandoned the struggle for better fares, lower commissions, improved welfare and greater participation in decisions affecting the e-hailing sector.

He maintained that the union’s approach was aimed at building a stronger collective bargaining structure rather than abandoning industrial action.

He urged the drivers to remain united and disciplined, assuring them that the union would communicate its next steps once the ongoing engagements with indigenous platforms were concluded.