SACK: We ’ll shut down banks - Bank workers threaten - Oceanic Bank sacks 1,500

From Adunola Fasuyi and Odidison Omankhanlen - 22.12.2009

THE ongoing mass sack in the nation’s banking sector may throw the industry into another major crisis as the organised labour on Monday threatened to shut down the affected banks this week.

Angered by the disengagement of more than 3,500 employees by two commercial banks last week and the impending sack of more workers this week, the two workers’ unions in the banking industry, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions’ Employees (NUBIFE), have perfected plans to fight the banks to a standstill.

He said the affected banks should prepare their mind for a shocker before the New Year.

A reliable source at the two banks told the Nigerian Tribune that the affected employees from both banks were to be paid three months basic salaries, irrespective of the number of years they had served the banks.

According to the source, the sack, which came just two days after their salaries were paid, had been hanging in the air since the beginning of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) new reform.

However, the two unions were worried that their members were being made to pay the price of the ongoing reform in the sector and, therefore, vowed to fight to the end and ensure that the welfare of their members was protected.

The General Secretary of NUBIFE, Mr. Elijah Segun, who described as unfortunate the process that led to the mass sack in banks, said the union would ensure that the welfare of its members was adequately taken care of as it could not fold its arms watching the injustice being meted out to its members.

“When the banks recapitalised, we were at the receiving end; when they re-engineered, we were at the receiving end; they are now sanitising, and we are also at the receiving end, despite the fact that we are not privy to the perpetration of the so-called atrocity in the industry. This is not fair on our members and very unfortunate that it is happening this way,” he said.

He expressed disappointment that despite the directive by the Federal Government to the CBN to stem the wave of mass sack in banks, a contrary order by the apex bank management was brewing trouble in most of the financial institutions.

Similarly, the Secretary-General of ASSBIFI, Jarvis Erhomosele, has asked the CBN governor to be cautious in his action, adding that the wave of retrenchment in the banking sector had nothing to do with reducing cost but a mere ploy by the new chief executives to eliminate by substitution a handful of staff perceived as not being loyal to them.

The union scribe said in most cases, the sacked workers were replaced with cheaper hands and cronies of the new chief executives.

Meanwhile, in reaction to the ongoing restructuring in the banking system, the new management in Oceanic Bank International Plc has retrenched over 1,500 of its workforce.

According to sources within the bank, the retrenchment exercise, which led to the winding down of a department in the bank, cut across all cadres.

Though most of the people affected have been given their entitlements, they were said to be affected by the strategic planning put in place by the John Aboh-led management team.

The sack might be in connection with the recent directive of the CBN to the eight troubled banks to submit their strategy to cut down their operational costs.

The directive specifically asked the appointed management teams of the banks to reduce their management staff as part of the cost cutting strategy by 30 per cent.
During a recent media briefing by the management of the bank, Aboh had assured them of security of their jobs.

He, however, said there would be reduction in their non-functional operational aspects.

He argued that there was no way there would be a restructuring, especially with the kind of crisis in the sector, without retrenchment, but assured that the bank would be fair, if it would eventually embark on such exercise.

Though the apex bank had denied issuing such order, the troubled banks had been engaged in scaling down their workforce.

Since the order was given by the CBN, Intercontinental Bank Plc and Union Bank Plc had sacked some of their workers.

The banks claimed that the retrenchment was a voluntary one by the workers, but most workers complained that the managements of the banks just give them the letters to the effect
http://www.tribune.com.ng/22122009/news/news1.html

God forbid, unemployment increase by 70%.

I really don't know the basis on which the bank workers will supposedly want to shut down banks(as if they could), because none of was in the loop when all the rots are been perpetrated by the banks and the dirty profits are been used to pay the workers as their own share of the largesse, now that their is no dirty profits with which to pay the largely overbloated salary and allowances, something has to give way, and it is not going to be the shareholders, and the new management. it has to be the middle level staffs, so the deed has been done, i pray the ones they let go get a much beta job maybe not in terms of money, but in terms of happiness. ciao

they need to sue them with immediate effect because for them to be sacked they need to have commited serious offence which is gross misconduct and inturn lead to immediate dismissal under the employment act . but since naija companys dont have proper hr structure and dont follow procedure. even in applying redundancy they are supposed to give those affected or going to be affected notice to enable them seek alternative measures. but even if they sue i doubt it they will win as anything goes in naija. Good luck

Shutting down banks is a mere waste of time, the only thing they can do is to behead sanusi lamido, gbam

I agree with wrex. This sanusi of a guy should be beheaded.he claims to be a sheep but he his a ram. Anyway i dont blame the hausa's it's that rascal mentality that's in them

otukpo:

this isn't a good way to end the year.

So, what's a good way?

lol

abeg guys lets put sentiments aside jare. who is beheading who, soludo that needs beheading for turning a blind eye to malpractices and unhealthy banking procedures.

if sanusi had also kept quiet as soludo did, yes naija banks will still be going but years down the line when they collapse and all our money trapped inside we will be the ones to start complaining amd cursing. so let him do his job and hopefully it will make naija banking secotr stronger and better. chikena.

axeman85:

abeg guys lets put sentiments aside jare. who is beheading who, soludo that needs beheading for turning a blind eye to malpractices and unhealthy banking procedures.

if sanusi had also kept quiet as soludo  did, yes naija banks will still be going but years down the line when they collapse and all our money trapped inside we will be the ones to start complaining amd cursing. so let him do his job and hopefully it will make naija banking secotr stronger and better. chikena.

, do his job by increasing unemployment, you are definitely related to him, :-

empty Threats

wait, let me get this right;

Angered by the disengagement of more than 3,500 employees by two commercial banks last week and the impending sack of more workers this week, the two workers’ unions in the banking industry, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions’ Employees (NUBIFE), have perfected plans to fight the banks to a standstill.

these unions dont have a clue wots going on.

so i have no option than to label them as misguided jokers just trying populist tactics, cos people are disgruntled.

THESE BANKS WERE MISMANAGED!!! WE GET THE POINT!!!!BUT LETS STOP WHINING LIKE OVERGROWN BABIES AND TRY AND MAKE SURE THESE BANKS DONT GO UNDER!!!!!HABA, NIGERIANS, WHY DONT WE LOOK BEYOND OUR NOSES


as one poster has said, when the going was good and these banks were paying sky high prices that they couldnt sustain in a period of downturn, what did they (unions) do

these banks are privately run and not government properties, and as far as i know, they have to turn these business into profit making ventures (thats y shareholders invested in the first place).

you dont expect an organisation that is restructuring to still maintain a bloated workforce with outrageous salaries. (and when these companies go under, they will still blame the management for not taking measures to forestall the impending doom)

this is the only solution-reduce personnel/overhead cost, and its what these banks are doin.

f#u@king jokers

@ axexman you are one of those nigerians who use their social post or calibre to steal governmental funds.do you ask yourself with a bioloptic view in an unaffiliated menace the risk of unemployment. Or you just concluded with a slightated irical talk.i think you should go back and ave a microscopic view to this question what if i was unemployed or sacked  @ wrex my brother job well done

Wrex:

, do his job by increasing unemployment, you are definitely related to him, :-

axeman85 has a very good point. If these Banks had continued to forward fictitious and fabricated profit figures to Shareholders without proper auditing by Central Bank how long do you think it will take before the entire establishment collaspes. Remember it happened to Savannah Bank and every worker was laid off irrespective of grade.

Likewise the law supports the retrenchment of any active staff in any working establishement without any wrongful reason if they risk bankrupcy as long as such persons are offered statutory pay which they can reject during the consultation period. To be honest with you those who have worked more than 3 years with such Banks are actually losing in comparision to those who have worked less than 3 years.

In the UK Statutory pay is
1.0 week’s pay for each full year of service where age during year is 22 or above, but less than 41
1.5 weeks’ pay for each full year of service where age during year is 41+

So please leave sentiments aside. I feel bad for those who have been affected as I too was affected with the UK bank redundancies earler in the year however you must also understand the Employee Unions too have to perform and prove themselves at such times (as they too have been paid to provide this service) however 99.9% of the time the decision is irrevessible. To those affected take heart and commence with your Plan B

Ben-10:

empty Threats

Maybe you are wrong

axeman85:

abeg guys lets put sentiments aside jare. who is beheading who, soludo that needs beheading for turning a blind eye to malpractices and unhealthy banking procedures.

if sanusi had also kept quiet as soludo did, yes naija banks will still be going but years down the line when they collapse and all our money trapped inside we will be the ones to start complaining amd cursing. so let him do his job and hopefully it will make naija banking secotr stronger and better. chikena.

You too much joooo, At least thank God there are some normal people in Nigeria. My brother was among those that were laid off at intercontinental bank but that will not make me lose my reasoning. Soludo was/is the root cause of this calamity.

Well,the downsizings are not fundamentally caused by the ongoing reforms in the banking sector but by the greedy politicians and businessmen who rode on the wings of kleptomaniac tendencies of the sacked bank CEOs.It's just to unfortunate that the 'grass has had to suffer for the crisis between the elephants'.The bank unions can go ahead to enforce payment of befitting severance packages for the affected guys but reinstating them may not be feasible.God bless Nigeria.

Reports of big job cuts are now an almost daily occurrence as the credit crunch hits both consumers and business sector.
Redundancies can sometimes be seen as a quick fix as employment costs often represent a significant slice of a company's operating overheads.

But it can be very challenging to reduce the number of employees, particularly in a unionised workforce.

Furthermore, a redundancy programme can lead to problems when the upturn eventually arrives:This time round, many organisations are exploiting alternative approaches to reducing their employment costs, either as an alternative to cutting staff numbers or in combination.
I hope my friend is not affected in Oceanic is a tragic scenario towards d end of the year.His pointless pointing finger to the CBN governor Soludo,someone need to mop up d mess obvoiusly an average Nigerian react negatively to progreSSIVE POLICY.
COVENTRY -IKORODU

let them do so. i wil dig a hole and then be hiding my money .


hmmmmmmm na true na

Ben-10:

empty Threats

You are so right!! All talk No action!! 

The Unions and the sacked bank workers need to go and protest and shut down the establishement of those that got money from these banks and refused to pay it back. Those are the ones that owed the sacked emmployees. But no, the inept union are making noise as if they don't know the real culprit; help the banks to stay afloat and shame the debtors to pay back their loan - you all know who they are.

Nigerians neva hid to any wake up call. The whole scenario only boils down to one fact  we are a very very CORRUPT nation and we are doing everything to keep on with our corrupt acts. How do u xplain a country like ours having majority of our work force in the banking industry and in the civil service? whatever happened to the REAL SECTOR, manufacturing sector and others. if we had other ssectorsup and running the effect of this reform would have been minimal. That's not 2 say that there is a justification for this sporadic retrenchment. May God save Nigeria.

@ INALEGS , WELL SPOKEN

Ti elese ba jiya, oloododo ama pin ni nu e. It is not all pple that works in bank are paid armed robber salary as some pple beleived. Remember the HND graduates who in most of these banks are CONTRACT STAFF. they're being paid stipend if i may use that word, where univeristy graduate is being given 95%, HND is given the remaining 5% as salary. ofcourse pple like these are also going to get sacked for doing nothing but trying to survive in their father land as second class citizens.

Is only God that can save us in this country

Let us hear word!!!
All over the world, oil companies laid-off workers, General Motors laid of 3rd generation workers (their grand fathers, fathers and they themselves worked for GM), even airlines laid-off workers.
Why can't Nigerian banks lay-off their workers ehn!!!
The banking sector is like a spoilt, pampered child who goes to spend the holiday with a very strict Aunt.
Sanusi keep up the good work.

inalegs:

Nigerians neva hid to any wake up call. The whole scenario only boils down to one fact  we are a very very CORRUPT nation and we are doing everything to keep on with our corrupt acts. How do u xplain a country like ours having majority of our work force in the banking industry and in the civil service? whatever happened to the REAL SECTOR, manufacturing sector and others. if we had other ssectorsup and running the effect of this reform would have been minimal. That's not 2 say that there is a justification for this sporadic retrenchment. May God save Nigeria.

Amen,

@Topic
Dem they rake. All of them without exception. Let them change those suits for sth more real and practical.

Unemployment certainly will skyrocket like no man business.

PLS WHY IS IT ONLY OCEANIC OR INTER ARE IN THE PICTURE HERE WAT OF DIAMOND BANK THAT SACK THERE STAFFS EVERY FRIDAY SO THAT THE PUBLIC WILL NOT KNOW  THEY HAVE SACKED MORE THAN 1500 STAFFS STYLISHLY   THAT BANK NEED TO BE CLOSED TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

sonyvaio:

Let us hear word!!!
All over the world, oil companies laid-off workers, General Motors laid of 3rd generation workers (their grand fathers, fathers and they themselves worked for GM), even airlines laid-off workers.
Why can't Nigerian banks lay-off their workers ehn!!!
The banking sector is like a spoilt, pampered child who goes to spend the holiday with a very strict Aunt.
Sanusi keep up the good work.

This guy is a slowpoke, you're picture perfect of everything that is wrong with Nigeria. Just because GM, oil companies around the world laid off employees, it is okay for Nigeria bankers to lose their jobs?? As much as i support Sanusi, you are wrong in your views. Do you know that all those GM workers you mentioned still get unemployment checks and benefits years after they lose their jobs? A friend lost his job in April 2008 but was getting unemployment check till August 2009. He was paying bills as usual until he found another job in september 2009. How many Nigerian bank workers has this privilege??