Recall recently sacked staff or face national strike action- NLC tells six banks

The leadership of the Nigerian Labor Congress have written to six Nigerian banks asking them to recall the staff they laid off recently or face a national strike action. Recall that some banks carried out massive downsizing in the last three months, a situation that led to the federal government mandating them to stop sacking or face severe sanctions.

In the letter signed by NLC's Deputy General Secretary, Chris Uyot, and sent to the managements of Skye Bank, First City Monument Bank, Fidelity Bank, Diamond Bank, Ecobank and First Bank, the labor organization accused the banks of sacking their staff without obeying laws and also preventing their staff from forming labor unions. The letter in part reads

“I have been directed to notify you that we have been informed by our affiliate union, the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees that your bank has arbitrarily sacked a large number of workers contrary to laid down procedures and the country’s extant labour laws. In addition, you have also resisted unionisation of workers in your bank despite spirited efforts by the union to amicably engage you in the process. By this letter, we are giving your bank 14-day ultimatum commencing from Thursday, 16th June, 2016 to immediately recall all workers so sacked and allow unionisation of workers in the bank or face industrial action, which may include closure of your banks and all its outlets nationwide”.