The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Monday written to
the First Bank Plc, expressing concern over alleged moves to carry out mass
retrenchment at the end of November 2019.
The labour movement demanded immediate suspension
of the plans to retrench over 1,000 workers in the employment of the bank.
It also called for genuine engagement on the issue
with its affiliate union, National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial
Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE).
NLC said it is disheartening that the mass
retrenchment billed for the end of November 2019 is targeted at workers whose
ages range between 35 and 55 years, and who have put in an average of five
years in the services of the bank.
In a statement issued by the NLC President, Ayuba
Wabba, the labour movement urged the bank to ensure that any such exercise is
done in line with the provisions of the Labour Act guiding redundancy exercise.
NLC said information available to it indicated that
First Bank of Nigeria plans to retrench over 1,000 of its staff without
adequate and commensurate severance benefits.
It noted that the exercise is in severe breach of
the extant provisions in Nigerian labour laws.
The statement read: "It has been brought to
our attention by one of our affiliate unions, the National Union of Banks,
Insurance and Financial Institutions
Employees (NUBIFIE), that First Bank of Nigeria PLC plans to embark
on a mass retrenchment of over 1,000 members of its staff.
"We write to draw your attention to the fact
that any such exercise must be done in line with the provisions of the Labour
Act guiding redundancy exercise."
The Congress also said it learnt that the workers
being penciled for retrenchment by the bank are categorised as "outsourced
workers."
"Dear MD, apart from the non-recognition of ‘outsourced’
labour by Nigerian labour laws, it is extremely tortious to imagine that First
Bank with an enabling banking licence could boldly assert that its workers are
the responsibility of an entity not licenced to operate as a bank.
"As a matter of fact, what our laws recognise
and what is extensively provided in Section 7 and 11 of Nigeria's Labour Act is
that employers are required within three months of engagement of an employee to
give the employee a written contract of employment which must specify among
other things a description of the parties to the contract of employment; the
nature of the services (s) to be rendered; the tenure of the contract;
remunerations which must be paid; hours of work; the period of notice to be
served before the contract can be terminated and possible grounds for the
termination of an employee's contract," it said.
NLC further said: “Information available to us
indicates that First Bank of Nigeria Plc, by its plan to retrench over 1,000 of
its staff and without adequate and commensurate severance benefits, is in
severe breach of the extant provisions in our labour laws.
"We also understand that the management of
First Bank of Nigeria Plc has refused to enter into dialogue with NUBIFIE which
is the workers representative trade union organisation.
"This is also in contravention to Section 20 of
Nigeria's Labour Act and Convention 98 of the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) on the right to Organising and Collective Bargaining which Nigeria had
long ratified.”
It stated: "Finally, we wish to remind the management
of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. that workers are not commodities to be used and
tossed aside at will. In addition to declaring humungous profits to its
shareholders annually, First Bank has a higher moral responsibility to the
welfare of its workers as they are the ones who create the profit and wealth
that the shareholders enjoy. We believe that it must be people before
profit."
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