The Federal Government has threatened to sanction banks and
telecommunication companies which fail to comply with its order to
suspend staff retrenchment.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, gave the warning yesterday at the 105th session of the International Labour Congress (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland. The minister expressed shock that the directive was disregarded.
“The federal government gave the licences to the banks to operate and if its directives are not adhered to, the licences will be withdrawn if the need arises.
“We will go a step further if they continue. We know what to do. They need to comply. They need to come to the negotiation table. We halted the spate of sack in the oil industry and we succeeded. “Even if you are going to lay off, there is a way to declare redundancy, there is a process. Section 20 of the labour act says it. You must call the unions and discuss with them.
“You don’t just treat them as slaves in their own country and you want us to keep quiet. “We want them to maintain the status quo.
As far as I am the minister of labour, I will protect the interest of workers; same to the telecommunication companies because they are also talking about compiling lists without discussing with anybody.”
Ngige’s statement came after Skye Bank laid off 175 staff on Monday, the next working day after a directive by the minister for banks and other financial institutions to suspend plans to sack workers in the sector. Eco Bank, on the other hand, sacked over 1,000 staff last week. The current economic situation in the country has led to massive job loss.
Last week, the Federal Government, through the minister of labour and employment, issued a statement directing the suspension of on-going retrenchment pending the outcome of reconciliatory meetings in the banking industry.
Ngige in the statement said: “Following spate of petitions and complaints from stakeholders in the banking, insurance and financial institutions, I, hereby, direct the suspension of the on-going retrenchment pending the outcome of the conciliatory meetings in the industry,”
“This is as a result of the apprehension, by my office, of the various disputes in the sector, in accordance and in compliance with the provisions of the labour laws of Nigeria.
“In this wise, all the retrenchments and redundancies done in the last four months and all proposed ones should be put on hold pending the outcome of the proposed stakeholders’ summit for the banking, insurance and financial institutions’ employers and employees, slated for July 2.”
The statement added that the continued retrenchment and redundancy by the sector were jeopardising the outcome of the reconciliatory and mediatory processes undertaken by the ministry.
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