“We suffered for that bank. Sometimes, we worked during weekends. My husband would complain and I would say, ‘I have to go, we don’t have another job’. Sometimes, I got back home by 10pm. We used our money to buy envelopes for customers. I spent all my youthful age with you. I am not saying you should not sack me; of course, I am not going to die in Ecobank but please pay me,” those were the exact words of a former member of staff of Ecobank affected by the recent downsizing.
Some of the affected workers have accused the bank of not complying with the terms of disengagement and also slashing their severance package. Ecobank had earlier denied this in a statement, saying only contract staff were dismissed and that it was not under any obligation to renew their contracts which was due to expire July 31.
The bank said it had already made “payment of contract cessation packages of over half a billion naira” to the outsourcing firms which employed the contract staff but some of the people affected told TheCable over 300 permanent staff have been sacked in 2019 alone.
PERMANENT STAFF LAID OFF TOO Some dismissed workers protesting at Ecobank headquarters A former official of the bank, who simply identified himself as Ayodele, told TheCbale that the company had sacked workers on three different occasions in 2019. He said over 2000 workers, both permanent and contract staff were laid off in January, May and July.
Ayodele said he was employed on permanent basis and worked for the bank for 13 years until he was sacked on May 17. He alleged that the bank laid off over 350 permanent members of staff in a bid to avoid promoting them.
“The bank has been claiming that they sacked only the contract staff whose contract ended, that is not true. Between January 1 and today, the bank has conducted three sack exercises,” Ayodele said.
“The first one was in January; they laid off people that they claimed have stayed beyond 10 years on a grade, that is the people that the bank refused to promote. They said that they have stayed beyond 10 years and that means those persons have not been performing.
“Nearly 1000 workers were retrenched in January, people who fell into the category of staying beyond 10 years on a grade were affected. They were paid a certain amount, I […]
