Some labour analysts are demanding clarity from Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) in the decision to terminate the contract of employees of defunct UT and Capital banks.
They argue that the terms indicated in the termination letters served the employees of the two banks may be short of the labour law which protects the interest of employees in cases of insolvency.
About one thousand workers of former UT and Capital banks were on Tuesday, September 12, 2017 served letters notifying them of the termination of their employment contract by PwC.
The move is in accordance with the auditing firm’s role as a receiver of the purchase agreement between GCB Bank and former UT and Capital Banks.
According to the termination letter, all claims are expected to be provided at a time that enough have been realized from the banks’ assets.
But reacting to the latest development, an Executive Board Member of the Ghana Federation of Labour, Kenneth Koomson asserted that the lack of clarity may lead to shortchanging the workers of the affected banks.
“It must be stated clearly what is the terms of reference; is it a redundancy? If it is, then the redundancy rule must apply and one of the things that we must expect is that redundancy as per the practice in the market, there are benchmarks. In that situation, you look at three months pay for each year of service or two months’ pay for each year of service multiplied by the number of years you have served and paid as compensation among other fringe benefits that comes along with it,” he opined.
“But terminating of appointment, the employer is not under any obligation to give you such long compliments. What he gives is a one month notice if you have some deferred income then he makes it available if you have social security, second tier, he makes arrangements to make sure that those payments are made to you,” he added.
The termination letter among others indicated that any payments due the affected workers will be effected in consultation and in negotiation with the Unions or representatives of the workers.
But the labour analyst is convinced the effectiveness or otherwise of this option will largely hinge on a strong negotiation team put up by the affected workers of the two banks.
“It is also important to ensure that the workers constitute themselves like I’ve said with a representative or a local union or if there’s no local union, a representation of the entire staff or elect their own to have meetings and conversations with the management which I am sure they have began.”
The Bank of Ghana on August 14, 2017 granted permission to GCB Bank to assume the assets and some liabilities of UT and Capital banks.
The decision, according to the Governor of the central bank, Dr. Ernest Addison is among others to protect the interest of depositors and strengthen Ghana’s financial system.
In an earlier interview with Citi Business News, Mr. Ray Sowah, the MD of GCB Bank explained that though his outfit will be absorbing some staff of the two defunct banks, that will be determined in a skills assessment to be embarked upon by the bank.
–
By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
