Business activities in Union Bank, one of Nigeria’s oldest banks, were paralysed Monday when the umbrella Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) besieged the bank’s offices across the nation to protest alleged management’s insensitivity to workers’ welfare.
NLC’s deputy president and president of the Association of Senior Staff of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Promise Adewusi, led the picketing of the bank in the capital city of Abuja.
The headquarters of the bank in Lagos was also not spared.
The protesters are demanding the sack of the bank’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Funke Osibodu, over what they described as anti-labour activities by the management.
They also demanded the withdrawal of the letter from the CEO that purportedly de-recognised the in-house union – the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSIBIFI) and its affiliation to the NLC.
Other demands include the reversal of the sack of 300 workers, another 13 labour leaders who questioned the rationale for the sack and the transfer of the union executives to remote areas due to their involvement in unionism.
Indications are that the picketing will continue Wednesday, since the protesters have vowed to ensure the bank does not operate from Monday to Friday
