Panic Over Looming Strike By Bank Workers

CBN, FG FAIL TO INTERVENE

The nation’s apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has failed to wade into the plan by the bank workers in the country, ASSBIFI to embark on strike action anytime from now.

The development came on the crest of disclosure by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, Senator Uba Sani, that the review of the BOFIA Act will resolve some nagging issues in the sector.

“No stone will be left unturned by the committee as it planned initiating interventions in respect of fiscal and monetary policies to enhance Nigeria’s economic growth and development,” Uba said.

President ASSBIFI, Oyinkan Olasanoye, on Monday said it’s only the timely intervention of the Godwin Emefiele led-bank can stop its members from going on strike over the casualization.

While speaking in Abuja earlier in the week to mark the “World Decent Work Day”, Olasanoye, said the only thing that can stop the impending strike action is the timely intervention of the CBN.

The president of ASSOBIFI also called on the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, and Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, to wade in before it’s too late.

She said “The statistics is not only frightening, but have grave implications for banking, especially given that this category of workers are denied basic rights and treated shabbily.

As we have indicated in the past, despite awareness by most employees on ILO Conventions that deal with rights of workers, all manner of indecent treatments are still discernible in our various workplaces.

While more demands are placed on workers, they simultaneously continue to face threats to decent pay, conditions of work, safety and outright job loss.”

She explained that the intervention of CBN, CIBN, NECA was required, not just to tackle casual/contractor staffing in the sector, but also address the issue of the sector’s CBA which had not been renewed since expiration in 2007, and already causing tension in the banking sector.

She further stated that its effort to get Chris Ngige, the minister of Labour and employment, to intervene has not yielded any result.

She said the association has also reached out to CIBN and others, but nothing had been achieved till date, declaring that the situation would only give the members of the association no other option than to abandon their work.

Meanwhile, financial analysts told the magazine on Wednesday that the banking public will be the one to suffer if bank workers are allowed to embark on the planned strike action.

They warned that the looming strike will further throw the country into a sectorial crisis that’s capable of affecting the nation’s struggling economy apart from the fact that businesses will be badly hit.

James Friday, a spare parts dealer told the magazine that it will be hard to transact business if the workers go on strike even in the face of online/ virtual financial transaction.

But sources in the CBN informed the magazine on Thursday that the apex regulator is currently confused on how to intervene because of the belief that “what’s the workers are demanding is not within the purview of the CBN,” a source in CBN said.

The source stated that what’s required to stop casualization and everything that has to do with workers’ welfare must have been provided in the enabling law before the CBN can implement.

“CBN is just a regulator that implements government’s policies we are not the one that make the law.

But once the BOFIA act is reviewed and passed by the Senate, most of these issue will be resolved,” the source stated