More than 300 Ghanaian workers, who were working in the five collapsed local banks in Ghana, are currently battling for their redundancy packages.The affected workers of the collapsed banks on Friday besieged the premises of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) and requested the union to negotiate for their packages.
The Bank of Ghana on August 1, 2018 revoked the licenses of Unibank, Construction Bank, Sovereign Bank, Royal and Beige Banks for being heavily insolvent, owing to mismanagement and poor corporate governance.
The five banks were merged to become the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited, which has taken over the assets and liabilities of the collapsed banks.
Additionally, workers of the five banks have been automatically offered job by the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited for 60 days after which some of them would be dismissed.
However, for fear of losing their redundancy package before the three months’ duration, they have asked the ICU to begin negotiation with the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited to ensure that their severance package is ready.
Speaking on the issues, the General Secretary of the ICU, Mr. Solomon Kotei, maintained that some workers of the Construction Bank had been paid already, adding that negotiation with the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited would begin by the end of August and assured workers that the union would make sure they get their packages.
Seven local banks have since 2017 collapsed, resulting in takeovers and mergers.
Following the directive of the Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Commercial Bank took over UT and Capital Banks. But the workers of the two banks are yet to receive their redundancy package. Some of the workers have resorted to court action to get their packages.
Some banking experts and civil society organizations have called for the prosecution of the Chief Executive Officers of these banks for their involvement in the collapsed of these financial institutions.
It is likely that the new $100 million recapitalization requirement for banks announced by central bank of Ghana will lead to the closure of some of the local financial institutions.