8th May, 2012
Former members of staff whose services were allegedly terminated prematurely between 2006 and 2008 by the management of Union Bank Nigeria Plc without payment of the agreed terminal benefits have appealed to government and other concerned authorities to address the injustice and encourage their former employers to pay them as already provided for over the years.
During a peaceful demonstration held in Lagos recently, the aggrieved former bank workers, in a statement jointly signed by Victor Gbade Adefisan and Sampson City Nnabuchi, National Coordinator and General Secretary, respectively, said that before the coming of the Mrs. Funke Osibodu-led administration, the victims had made individual and collective demands for the balance of the short paid gratuity and pension allowances to the previous management, adding that the then former Group Managing Director instructed Human Resources Department of the bank to compute the figures in batches within his approval limits but this was not executed before he was booted out of office.
According to them, several letters have been sent to major institutional stakeholders from the Presidency to the National Assembly, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Minister of Labour and Productivity as well as the Director General, State Security Services (SSS), who encouraged the bank to follow the path of justice and rule of law and comply with the content of the extant collective agreement but the present administration of the bank has allegedly refused to comply.
“We have exploited all peaceful means known to us, we will therefore strike without mercy and relocate with the entire household including domestic animals to Union Bank environment,” the aggrieved former workers threatened, adding, “since last year, 15 of our members had died, making a total of 75. Many are sick, while majority cannot provide basic domestic needs including payment of children school fees, etc.”
Meanwhile, the management of Union Bank has dragged the former bank workers before Justice O.A. Obaseki-Osaghae of the National Industrial Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, over the matter and the hearing of motion of the suit has been adjourned till 30 May, 2012.