The Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance Workers (UNICOF) has called for calm among workers of GCB Bank Limited over the bank’s recent announcement to lay-off staff.
[contextly_sidebar id=”CxRq19iiRr69sIxVr0dCfZY1TQq5Fayg”]According to UNICOF they will engage management to ascertain their reasons for the intended lay-off.
GCB bank’s Managing Director last week confirmed to Citi Business News that between three and five hundred of its workers will be laid off in the coming months as part of the company’s restructuring exercise to make the bank competitive.
“The bank has changed over the years we have invested a lot in technology and these basically has been driven by the fact that there is competitive pressure, regulatory pressure, rising operating cost and to sustain our competitive position we have to restructure the bank and if that means we have to reorganize our labour force and if that is what is needed to sustain or keep the bank competitive we will have to do that. Whatever we have to do about the restructuring we will follow due process.”
But speaking to Citi Business News General Secretary of UNICOF John Esiape said the union was ready to engage management to ensure that the due process was followed.
“I can confirm that some indications to that effect have been made, normally is under the section 65 of the labour law. Management is following those processes in the labour law and as part of that we will have to engage management to get to appreciate why they are embarking on such an exercise. We may not be happy with it. No worker or labour leader is happy when workers are going home rightly or wrongly, we are not happy about it but the law also provides an avenue for such exercises to take place.” He said.
General Secretary of UNICOF John Esiape explained that due to the law and its avenues its provides, its makes it difficult for the union to come out with what they feel about these restructuring exercises.
John Esiape adds “in some of the institutions there are some who may want to go but the absence of a package does not unable their exist. So there are some for who such an exercise may be a blessing, there are others who may not want to go at all and if they come up it has to be discussed. But if you don’t follow the due process the law will catch up with you. You can choose not to meet management on the matter they go to a third party or an institutional authority and you would be compelled to meet them and if you fail a decision would be made and it would be binding on you.”
General Secretary of UNICOF therefore was of the view that its better for the union to go through the process and take advantage of their chances and opportunities using their skill in addressing some of these issues.
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By: Norvan Acquah – Hayford/citifmonline.com/Ghana
