NLC Threatens Show Down With Six Baks Over Retrenchment

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday threatened to shut the six banks

that sacked their workers.
The umbrella union gave the affected banks two weeks’ ultimatum to recall the
sacked workers and allow unionisation.
The action has pitched the organised labour against employers of labour, with
the umbrella body of the employers, the Nigeria Employers Consultative
Assembly, saying the government had no right to tell banks not to sack
workers.
Organised labour also threatened to picket the banks, if they did not halt the
mass sack of workers, accusing them of disallowing unionisation and reneging
on the principles of collective bargaining.
NLC, in a letter to the management of the banks, which was signed by its
Deputy General Secretary, Chris Uyot, said it would be forced to close the banks
and their branches, if they failed to recall the affected workers.
The affected banks are: Fidelity Bank, Diamond Bank, First City Monument
Bank, First Bank, Ecobank and Skye Bank.
The letter reads: “I have been directed to inform you that it has been brought to
our notice by our affiliate union – the National Union of Banks, Insurance, and
Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) – that your bank is one of those
that arbitrarily sacked workers recently, contrary to laid down procedures and
the country’s extant labour laws.
“Also of concern has been that these blatant retrenchments were carried out
without recourse to several correspondences, including letters and circulars sent
to you by the union to retrace your steps in line with best practices in labour
relations and laws of the land…”
-Thisday