Aug 16, 2017
The staff of the defunct UT and Capital banks who would be affected in the imminent staff layoff by the new owner, have been urged to seek the services of labour consultants to lead them in severance negotiations.
Renowned labour expert, Mr. Austin Gamey advised the staff not to panic but rather prepare for the “right-sizing” exercise that GCB Bank, their new employer, intends to undertake.
He told ADR Daily that it was obvious that GCB bank would not be able to engage the services of all the 990 staff of the two defunct banks since the new owners would do a re-organization to identify those they can maintain.
“It is quite clear that GCB will do re-organization to see those workers from the two banks who will still be relevant to their business and those they cannot maintain. Obviously some staff will be asked to go home,” he said.
The Bank of Ghana on Monday announced the revocation of the licenses of the two banks, describing their financial position as deeply insolvent. GCB Bank, which was approved to take over the liabilities and assets of the two distressed companies, yesterday announced a restructuring exercise which it says involves a “right-sizing” process that would lead to a layoff of some staff after their reassessment.
It has placed the staff on a six month probation pending their assessment, and the development has uncreated uncertainty among the staff since it not clear how many would be affected by the job cut.
Asked whether they need to be unionized to be able to negotiate with the new employer, Mr. Gamey said the question about unionization would not be key in this circumstance.
“You don’t need to be unionized to get someone to help you under these circumstances. They (the affected staff) can still go to the TUC, get a labour consultant or engage the services of lawyers to help them,” he said.
Mr. Gamey, who is also an Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR) consultant, urged the workers of the defunct banks to perform their duties very well since the new management, would be observing them critically to see whom they could maintain.
Similarly, Solomon Kotei, General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), also told ADR that the GCB takeover should not lead to heightened anxiety among the staff of the defunct banks.
Mr. Kotei urged those who will be placed on redundancy to consider their conditions of service and exit clauses on redundancy of their respective banks and negotiate through the help of experts.
“The UT and Capital banks staff has conditions of service. What does it say? There are clauses on redundancy…what do they say?
“They should look at these things and get people to help them if they are asked to go home,” the ICU General Secretary said.
By Francis Tandoh/adrdaily.com
