The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has threatened to mobilise all its affiliate trade unions and Nigerian workers against Heritage Bank for the wrongful disengagement of over 30 members of the association, including a principal national officer.
The president, Comrade Olusoji Oluwole, who made this known at a press conference, noted that the picketing is based on the wrongful retrenchment of workers without following due process by the management.
This is even as Olusoji lamented that Heritage Bank refused to settle severance benefits of the sacked workers who are members of the association since May 2023.
“We have engaged the management of the bank on several occasions to demand justice for the vulnerable Nigerian workers whose employment was wrongly terminated, but the bank management insisted that the workers were sacked based on their company policy, without negotiation with the union as provided by the law”, he said.
Oluwole alleged that the bank refused to produce its policy and details of the claimed payments and settlement of severance benefits paid to the disengaged employees over three months of requests.
Oluwole maintained that the employees had served the bank for 25 years and for no tangible reasons asked the workers to go home empty-handed.
“This is exploitation and injustice of the worst order. It is wrong, unjust, and insensitive, and we strongly object to this slavery. We are now forced to assume that the management of Heritage 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, and others whose savings are domiciled in the bank”, said Oluwole.
According to him, “ASSBIFI 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”.
Efforts to speak with the management proved abortive as at the time of filing this story.
