The Federal Government recently took a major step towards the resolution
of the lingering retrenchment and other major labour issues in the
banking and financial institutions with a crucial meeting with the
sector’s organized labour unions (ASBIFFE & NUBUIFE) declaring that “
banks and their employees must be ready to operate within the
provisions of the Nigerian laws.”
According to the statement
released to the Press by the Ministry’s Public Relations Unit recently,
the meeting was the first of the three-stage meetings with the sector’s
stakeholders. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige (Sen),
while declaring the meeting open said, “Our journey towards the
resolution of the industrial disputes in the banking and financial
sector begins in earnest. You may recall the series of petitions from
the organized unions in banks and financial institutions, and
individuals complaining of unfair labour practices which include illegal
termination of appointments, forced resignations, unpaid exit
emoluments and entitlements, non remittance of union check-off dues,
prolonged casualization, contract staffing and redundancy”.
Sen.
Ngige gave a short history of the disputes in the sector which compelled
him to intervene and declare status quo ante-bellum on May 30, 2016,
directing banks to reverse all termination of the previous four months
while the unions were restrained from picketing the banks, pending the
outcome of negotiations. He observed that the misinterpretation of this
directive led to an invitation by the Senate Committee on Banking and
Financial Institutions, which agreed that the ministerial directives
were proper, and legally guided after his appearance with the banks and
the unions and commended his approach to the matter.
The Minister
therefore reassured that his intervention was to resolve the disputes
in the overall interest of all Nigerians. He expressed displeasure with
the skewed observance of the laws of the land by the financial
institutions and warned that the provisions of the Financial
Institutions Act (BOFIA) cannot be the only law banks will comply with,
to the exclusion of the laws of the country.
According to the
Minister, “Banks are not only to obey the Banks and Financial
Institutions Act; they must also obey the all encompassing laws of
Nigeria, especially the labour laws because the banks cannot function
without human beings. So, both the banks, that’s the owners and the
unions, the umbrella for the workers must conform to the laws of the
land that guide employer/employee relationship.”
He said the Federal
Government was conscious of the nation’s steep economic indices, hence,
the emphasis on saving the jobs where government was constrained to
create new ones.
“The economy is technically in recession. It is
therefore imperative for us as government to use various mechanisms to
keep the existing jobs as we have done in the oil sector where cuts in
perks and allowances especially at the upper level were deployed. We
expect same in your sector,” he said.
The Minister further
assured that government was not on a witch-hunt but was also prepared to
ensure that all parties to the dispute obey the laws of the land,
insisting that where retrenchment was inevitable at the end of
negotiations, due process of law, however, must be followed.
In
his response, the National President of Association of Senior Staff of
Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFE) Comrade Sunday
Salako commended the Minister for his forthrightness and dogged
determination to defend the rights of all Nigerians irrespective of
class. “ This is the first time, a Minister of Labour in this country,
at least in recent time, will for once come out to say that the
bourgeoisie that are taking we the workers for a ride in this country
cannot do that again with impunity. That statement alone is a firm new
direction,” Salako said. He listed unilateral declaration of redundancy,
casualization, and non-remittance of check-up dues as the peak of the
unfair labour practices in the sector and expressed the commitment of
the union to complement the efforts of the government to tackle the
problems.
Similarly, the National President of the National Union
of Banks , Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees( NUBIFIE)
Comrade Danjuma Musa decried the flagrant abuse of labour laws by the
bank employers listing Guarantee Trust Bank, Fidelity, Standard
Chartered, Stanbic IBTC as well as Daimond as topping the list of
defaulting banks . He told the Minister that since his intervention, the
management of the banks have resorted to hiding under the principle of
“Appraisal” to give poor evaluation to workers they want to sack.
Source: http://www.trezzyhelm.com/2016/09/recession-fg-releases-fresh-n350bn-to.html
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