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Enterprise Bank Ltd. (EBL)?on Monday reassured workers of their subsidiary company of a secured future and continued employment as the bank divests from First Spring Franchise Services (FSFS) Ltd.
FSFS, a former non-banking subsidiary of EBL, has about 98 workers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes the bank as saying that the assurance became imperative following the increased concern of the?workers about losing their jobs and their agitation for appropriate severance packages.
According to Olusola Longe-Okenimkpe, EBL's Head, Corporate Communications, the Bank's?sale of FSFS was in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN's) directive for banks to divest from non-banking operations.
Longe-Okenimkpe, who was, however, silent on the new owners of FSFS Ltd., said the sale had no labour debt overhang.
“Enterprise Bank has ensured that no staff will suffer as a result of the transfer of service to a new owner.
“As a matter of fact, the bank has put in place a number of positive measures to protect the interest of every staff.
“Some of these measures include instituting, measuring and monitoring parameters to evaluate the service providers and ensuring that they are able to keep up the standards, the continued payment of existing remuneration and a future career development structure,” he said.
But workers of FSFS, in a swift reaction, said that their transfer to the new owners was against the agreement the National Union of Banks, Insurance & Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) and EBL's domestic chapter signed the with bank’s management on May 14.
They argued that the EBS management had agreed to pay the affected workers, using three months gross salary as the scale for calculating their severance packages and based on the number of years the individual workers spent with the company.
They said that their agitation and declaration of work to rule followed the arrangement by the EBL management?to hand over FSFS workers to X&L Logistics, MacStevens, and Resource Intermediaries on Sept. 1.
According to the workers, their worries also stemmed from the absence of any known operational structure for any of the three companies.
NAN also reports that workers who started their protest on Friday, have vowed to continue until their severance entitlements are paid. (NAN)