Bank and labour clash over owed benefits for 1,000 laid-off workers

A new dispute has broken out between Heritage Bank Plc and Organised Labour because of the former’s alleged unjust dismissal of employees without pay.

The un-procedural dismissal of members occurred between Heritage Bank PLC and the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions, or ASSBIFI, in October of last year.

Indeed, last week, representatives of NUBIFIE and other members besieged the bank’s headquarters on Victoria Island, seeking justice for the impacted workers.

This time, it involves allegations of wrongful disengagement and a reluctance to settle severance compensation for over 1000 departing employees. The parties involved are the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees, or NUBIFIE, and Heritage Bank.

They sang songs of camaraderie and voiced their displeasure at the bank’s decision to fire approximately a thousand employees.

Some of the signs held up during the bank’s main office picketing said things like, “N90,000 benefits for 15 years of service is dehumanising,” and “CBN call Heritage Bank to order.” “Stop dehumanising workers; banking is not slavery. End your anti-union policy.”

They insisted on receiving fair compensation for the impacted workers.

Speaking to the picketers, NUBIFIE President Anthony Abakpa said that the bank terminated the workers’ employment without following the proper procedures and neglected to produce proof of paid severance benefits, in spite of the union’s attempts to seek justice for the workers through communication and negotiation.

Abakpa emphasized that these employees had dedicated years of service to the bank, ranging from 14 to 18 years, and criticized the bank for leaving them without any compensation, calling it “exploitation and injustice of the worst order.

“ The bank paid stipend of N90, 000 for a worker that have served them for more than l5 year. This is a criminal act and we cannot take it any longer . We will continue with this activities until our demand is met.”

The General Secretary of the union , Sheikh Mohammed on his part, said the picketing was based on the wrongful retrenchment of workers without following due process by the management.

He said the bank refused to settle severance benefits of the sacked members of the NUBIFIE after disengaging them.

“We shall not hesitate to deploy all its networks and contacts to mobilise affiliate trade unions and Nigerian workers towards protecting the rights and privileges of our members in this institution”, he said.

Responding , the Head of human Resources of the bank, Mother Dan Egwu said all the severance benefits and pension of the affected workers have been paid through the Service Providers.

According to her, ` the contract of the service providers with the bank has also been terminated.

Moving forward she said the bank is ready to engage with the union to sort out the problem.

Recall that in October last year, ASSBIFI threatened to deploy all its networks and contacts to mobilize affiliate trade unions and Nigerian workers against Heritage Bank PLC, over un-procedural sack of members.

At a briefing in Lagos, ASSBIFI recalled that since May 30, 2023 members including an official were sacked by the bank without benefits or any reason.

President of ASSBIFI, Olusoji Oluwole, lamented the frustration of ASSBIFI trying to amicably settle the myriad of unfair labour practices that the management of Heritage bank had continually perpetrated on vulnerable Nigerian workers.

Among others, he said “The Management of Heritage Bank disengaged over 30 members of ASSBIFI, including a Principal National Officer of the Association in May, 2023 without due process. This action was condemned by ASSBIFI as an outright violation of Section 20 of the Labour Act, Cap L1, LFN 2004, the ASSBIFI Industry Wide Collective Agreement, and the ILO Convention 158 on Termination of Employment, which specifically provided that “the employment of a worker shall not be terminated unless there is a valid reason for such termination”.

This has been rightly recognized by the National Industrial Court (NIC), and we abide with it.

As the Statutory Representative of Senior Employees in the Nigeria Financial Sector, and in line with our policy on social dialogue, ASSBIFI engaged the Management of Heritage Bank on several occasions to demand justice for the vulnerable Nigerian workers’ whose employments were wrongfully terminated.

“The Management insisted to have terminated the workers based on their company policy, without negotiation or dialogue with the Union as provided by law.

ASSBIFI requested the Management of the Bank to supply the Company Policy and Details of the claimed payments and settlements of the severance benefits paid to the disengaged Employees. Over three months after this request, the Management has not been able to produce its own acclaimed documents.

“The Employees have severally served the Bank for periods covering between five and twenty years, and without any tangible or valid reasons Heritage Bank asked the Workers to go home empty handed. This is exploitation and injustice of the worst order.

“We are not unaware of recent publications that have put the health of the Bank to question which we had initially ignored. However, we are now forced to assume that the Management of Heritage Bank is telling the General Public that the Bank does not have the Financial Capacity to settle the entitlements of its employees.

“It also speaks volumes about the safety of several Nigerian workers in affiliated unions who have their salaries paid into this Bank.

After several unproductive engagements with management representative who either had no mandate to make concrete decisions, or those with requisite mandate but did not have genuine motives and continue to frustrate every effort to resolve this matter in an amicable and decent way, we have called this conference to sensitize and inform you and the general public of the continued suffering of our members due to the Injustice being meted out on them by the management of Heritage Bank.

“ASSBIFI shall deploy all its Networks and Contacts to Mobilize affiliate trade unions and Nigerian workers towards protecting the rights and privileges of our members in this institution.

“Heritage bank has an opportunity to address our concerns and we hope they will take advantage of the little time left to do what is right by toeing the path of organizations that have made their institutions great places to work.”