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The Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) and Union Bank management will meet later in the week
over the imbroglio in the bank. The bank last week sacked 13 staff for
participating in labour activities though the management said it was
“for violating bank rules.”

“A meeting has been
called for Friday this week in Abuja by the minister of labour,” Denja
Yakub, the assistant secretary, NLC, said yesterday, in response to an
enquiry on the matter.

Last week, the
labour union asked the bank’s management to reverse its decision not to
recognise the union within seven days and also reverse the layoff of
the 13 members of staff. The union added that without this, it would
shut down the bank offices nationwide.

Francis Barde, the bank spokesperson, said banking operations are going smoothly and unhindered.

“Our banking operations are smooth as we are in dialogue with the staff on their issues,” Mr. Barde said yesterday.

He said that it was the bank management that requested for the meeting with the minister of labour.

Union Tussle

Meanwhile, the
Trade Union Congress of Nigeria has spoken on the Association of Senior
Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and
Union Bank controversy, after its silence since last year when workers
of the bank had open confrontations with their management.

In a statement
yesterday, titled ‘TUC position on the proscription of Union Bank
ASSBIFI’, the union said that it sees this as one of the numerous
attempts by the new management to reform and reposition the bank.

“The Trade Union
Congress of Nigeria (TUC), having watched and followed recent
developments as well as comments and reactions from interested parties
with regard to the decision by the management of Union Bank of Nigeria
(UBN) to formally withdraw its recognition of the bank’s unit of the
(ASSIBIFI), views this u-turn as a welcome development, even though
belated.

“The truth is that
the workers of Union Bank of Nigeria are bonafide members of the
ASSIBIFI whose national secretariat is located at Alausa, Ikeja, and
affiliated to TUC by the relevant laws. Unfortunately, some over
ambitious officers with the active connivance of a dominant external
interest hijacked the workers’ body in defiance of all known trade
union ethos and the extant laws of the federation, cornered its
check-off dues, and diverted its purse under the guise of voluntarism,
albeit ignorantly,” the statement read.

Last week, The
Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial
Institutions (ASSBIFI), Ikeja division, said that it was helpless in
the travails of the staff of Union Bank as they are not members of the
association.