By Chinyere Fred-Adegbulugbe

Monday, 10 Jan 2011

In an attempt to avert the planned nationwide shut down of their operations, the managements of Oceanic Bank International Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc and Unity Bank Plc have reached out to the workers’ unions for negotiations.

The President, Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, Mr. Sunday Salako, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Sunday, said the banks had indicated willingness to settle the dispute, which arose from the recent sacking of some workers by the three banks.

Salako said, ”They have started reaching out to us, so negotiations have begun in earnest.”

He explained that Intercontinental Bank started negotiations on Friday, while Oceanic Bank and Unity Bank had slated meetings for Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

He added that the meeting with Unity Bank would take place at the bank’s Abuja headquarters.

He, however, insisted that the plan to picket the banks remained unchanged until the ongoing negotiations came to a fruitful end.

Salako said, ”We won’t get carried away until the pen is put to paper, therefore, our resolve to picket those banks remains same. We are waiting to see where the negotiations will lead before we take any other decision because we act on specifics. Whatever is negotiated must be documented before we act.”

According to the ASSBIFI boss, the matter would not have deteriorated to the present level if the banks had responded before the ultimatum the union gave them expired on Thursday.

”They did not respond to our letter nor acknowledged that they received them. If they had acted before that ultimatum expired, we would not be where we are today,” he noted.

The workers, under the umbrellas of the two unions in the sector, ASSBIFI and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees, had on Thursday, announced plans to shut down operations in the three banks from Tuesday over sacking of some employees without following laid-down procedures.

They consequently advised customers of the affected banks to ensure that they concluded important transactions before Tuesday in order to avoid the hardship that might follow the industrial action.

Salako called on banks that had dispatched unlawful letters of disengagement to workers to reverse their action immediately, while those that were contemplating such action should shelve the idea because it would be an open invitation to the unions to embark on an unprecedented industrial action

According to Salako, the association has written to the ministers of Finance, Labour, Interior and other relevant agencies, but without response till the ultimatum expired.

Specifically, the workers are protesting the sacking of some of the employees during the festive period by the banks without going through the procedures for staff rationalisation in the sector.

Source: Punch