Workers shut down Enterprise Bank HQ

The lock-down has halt activities at the bank's headquarters and branches nationwide as network services and power supply have been shut down.
Hundreds of protesting workers on Friday morning locked up and shut down activities at the Enterprise Bank headquarters in Lagos. The placard-carrying workers who were chanting and singing solidarity songs were requesting that the bank's management pay them off and settle their outstanding benefits.

In an interview with Daily Times, the president of the workers' union Comrade Murphy Adeyemi Adesanya, said the protest is against the “illegal transfer of service by the bank's management".

Following CBN’s directive that all banks should divest their subsidiaries, Enterprise Bank which owns First Spring Franchise Services, is transferring the services of the workers to new entities; Resource Intermediary, XL Logistics and Micheal Stephens.

The protesting workers according to Adesanya constitute about 80% of the bank's work force.

"We met with the management  and request that all labour related issues should be solved" the president said.

Enumerating the worker's grievances, Adesanya said "tax clearance from 2006 was deducted but not remitted , pension from 2006, some remitted some were not, our national housing fund was deducted but no remittance at all. They sack some of our members illegally without paying them, without following labour law. We ask them to call them back or pay them off". He lamented that " all these issues were ignored".

"We are more than 2000 workers, about 80% of  the workforce. They are throwing us to the next entities without settling the benefits and paying us off. We have put in 6 years of service. They are not ready to pay."

The workers who were all on contract employment with the bank until 25th September said "we had an agreement with them on 14th of May that they will pay us 3 months’ gross  salary multiply by  the number of years you have put in. They implemented it for 14 of our members who were sick, we ask them to use the same method to pay us off. They are silent they don’t want to pay at all."

Expressing his surprise at the attitude of the management, Adesanya said the union was dialouging with them as at yesterday night. "Workers now agreed that management should come and address them but this morning we met the door locked. We learnt some staff are coming to take over our jobs".

The lock-down has halt activities at the bank's headquarters and branches nationwide as network services and power supply have been shut down by the workers.

All efforts to contact the bank's management proved abortive as our reporter could not gain entrance into the headquarters which was guarded by armed policemen.






-Daily Times