FRAUDULENT DEPRIVATION OF NIGERIAN BANK WOKERS THE RIGHT TO UNIONIZE: COMPLACENCY OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SENIOR STAFF OF BANKS, INSURANCE & FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS (ASSBIFI) AND NATIONAL UNION OF BANK, INSURANCE & FINANCIAL INSTITUTION EMPLOYEES (NUBIFIE).
The right of workers to organize in form of trade union is an adjunct of the constitutional right to peaceful assembly and association. Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (amended) guarantees the right to peaceful assembly and association. The section provides that:
… “Every person should be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interest”.
In the light of the above, it therefore presupposes to state that formation and membership of trade unions is an exercise of this constitutional right.
According to section 1 (i) of the Trade Union Act (1973) as amended, a trade union is any combination of workers or employers, whether temporary or permanent, the purpose for which is to regulate the terms and conditions of employment of workers…
From the foregoing statutory definition, it means that for an association to qualify as a trade union within the meaning of the trade union Act, it must fulfill the following conditions:
The combination must be of workers or employers
The purpose of the combination must be to regulate the terms and conditions of employment of workers.
The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance & Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and National Union of Bank, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE) were supposed to be the umbrella bodies for the unionization of Bank, Insurance and other financial institutions workers. These bodies that were formed with a noble intention to represent and protect the interest of the Nigerian bank workers have grossly derailed and compromised their roles through unhealthy fraternization with various management of the Nigerian Banks at the expense of the bank workers which they ought to have being representing.
There is no practical union in the banking industry in Nigeria, if they do exist, it is only on paper and when it comes to collecting monies from the bank managements by the so-called union leaders. The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance & Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and National Union of Bank, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE) are only representing the interest of their pockets and not the Nigerian Bank workers. On monthly basis, bank managements allots monies to The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance & Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and National Union of Bank, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE) purportedly representing the bank workers’ subscriptions/check-off whereas in reality, the intent is to financial induce them in order to deprive them from carrying out their statutory obligations to the bank workers.
In most cases, the banks management usually fraudulently presents their puppet who interface between the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance & Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and National Union of Bank, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE) and the Banks management, impersonating or assuming the imposter position of workers representative just to further defraud these hapless bank workers and deprive them of their rights to organize. The executives of ASSBIFI & NUBIFIE are aware of these grave antics of the banks but they deliberately decided to ignore this anomaly because of the financial gratifications they get from the banks.
These failures of the executives of ASSBIFI & NUBIFIE to effectively perform their statutory duty have created an ample opportunity for the banks to adopt various nefarious, degrading and inhuman labour policies and practices amongst which is EMPLOYMENT CASUALIZATION.
Available records have indicated that within the shortest space of time, the banks are increasingly filling positions in their organizations that are supposed to be permanent with casual employees. The reason for this has been largely attributed to the increasing desperation to cut down cost and as such they have considered casualization of employment as the appropriate strategy for cost reduction.
In life, one is supposed to either move horizontally or vertically but most banks have forced their casual staff to either retrogress or remain static and rigmarole in a particular point. There is neither promotion nor increment in their salaries. Casual staff in most cases spends 10 – 15 years in the same employment status/designation. The worst is that within the same organization there exist dichotomies in the relationship between the full and casual staff. Whereas the latter are treated with disdain, demoralized and looked upon like inferior being, the former are accorded with superior respect.
More than ever before, banks now appear to be taking advantage of the chronic economic underdevelopment of the national economy to exploit the Nigerian work force through organizational political strategy to undercut their hard-fought victories at the bargaining table and replace good jobs – jobs with benefits, training and security – with various forms of insecure and lower-paid contract, short-term and temporary work.
Concerned bank workers alleged that various banks in Nigeria use casual workers in an attempt to replace full-time unionized workers with lower-paid, less-protected workers and to relegate legal and managerial responsibilities to one or more third-party subcontractors.
More worrisome is the conspiracy of silence and the action/inactions of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance & Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and National Union of Bank, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE) as regards to this state of affairs and the plight of Nigerian bank workers who are subjected to these slavish and precarious labour conditions. The casual worker has no say, and if you are daring enough to complain, you will get fired or they give you some other severe sanctions. You are not considered part of a team and there is no sense of being part of a team.
Befuddling, more permanent/good jobs are falling prey to corporate cost-cutting moves by Nigerian Banks Management at the expense of the working families. Too many jobs are being outsourced, contracted out, or reclassified under a barrage of legal definitions designed to keep pay down, benefits low and unions out. More and more workers in permanent employment are losing their jobs and are being either re-employed as or replaced by casual or contract workers.
Casual work which is supposed to be a form of temporary employment has assumed the status of permanent employment in many organizations in Nigeria without the statutory benefits associated with permanent employment status. They are subjected to lower pay, barred from their rights to join a union, denied medical and other benefits.
The purpose of this article is therefore to call on the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance & Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and National Union of Bank, Insurance &Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Committee of labour in both House of Representatives & Senate and other concerned labour bodies to intervene in these callous, barbaric, degrading and precarious labour policies and practices of Nigerian banks.
Beneath this form of degrading labour practice in the country is the high level of unemployment and accompanying poverty. These two issues have bred a dangerous workplace and have gravely aided the prevalence of employment causaulization as many desperate jobs seekers in the labour force are willing to take any job no matter how illegal, dirty or inhumanly degrading it is. The supply of labour is higher than the demand for Labour.
In conclusion, one would easily agree that casual workers occupy a precarious position in the workplace and society at large and are effectively a new set of “modern slaves” and “underclass” in the modern extreme capitalist economy.
Writer: Egbo A. E

its no fun reading this

do u think im gonna read dis shit...

Fantastic article!

I really read every letter of this piece and found it useful and full of vital information. I suspect you're a lawyer, if not you may be legally inclined.

This is my first time commenting on this forum, and I'm glad it's on your post. Keep up. As for those who have regarded this piece as useless take no heed to them, they lack foresight. Keep it up.

I'm happy I've seen something like this. I wonder why things like this don't hit front page.

Teeboy22:
do u think im gonna read dis shit...

You shouldn't have commented, it doesn't speak well of you.

EroticAngelina:
its no fun reading this

But it's useful and informational.

Banks union are sleeping,I'm seriously not happy with them...their members across the country are suffering like mad while they are there as if nothing is happening.
if you guys need help why can't you extend that to strong union body in this country.
your CEO are going home with over 200 million naira as salary emoluments yet you see it as nothing.