BY FUNMI KOMOLAFE & VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

Last week was one the management of Union Bank of Nigeria, UBN, which began business in Nigeria as Barclays Bank will not forget in a hurry. Why? It was a case of management overstepping its bounds. Somehow, some people in management think that they have unlimited, unquestionable powers. So, they try to ‘make a mark’ at all costs.

That was the case with Mrs. Funke Osibodu, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN appointed interim Group Managing Director, GMD, of Union Bank.

Union bank with headquarters at Stallion House, Marina Lagos was one of the seven banks that the present CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi sacked their management for alleged malpractices. Consequently, Mrs. Funke Osibodu was deployed to manage Union Bank for a while. A seasoned banker, Funke, Osibodu was formerly Managing Director of ECO bank.

Ecobank under her tenure was one of the so-called new generation banks that denied employees the right unionise.

It was therefore not surprising when lady Funke embarked on a mission to wipe out unions of employees and their elected leaders.

The greater surprise is that many expected the seasoned banker and experienced manager to have learnt some lessons from Benard Longe’s war with employees. It was even more surprising that she and her management have little or no knowledge of labour laws and the rights of employees to unionise as provided for in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

They are unaware that Nigeria at independence ratified the International Labour Organisation, ILO, and Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Convention 98 on Collective Bargaining.

In her desperation to wipe out the employees trade union, she forgot that Union Bank is also a member of an employers’ union organization which is affiliated to the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA. She made no attempt to de-unionise the bank from employers’ umbrella body.

Perhaps unknown to her, Union bank is one of the first generation banks with an enviable record in labour relations. The bank before Osibodu had cause to send managers in its human resource department to develop their capacity by attending the annual International Labour Conference, ILC.

Last week’s action cost the bank millions of Naira as it could not provide services for its customers, yet the management while trying to polish its image blatantly lied that the picketing of labour did not disrupt its services.

The management of Union Bank ought to know that public relations is not the same as publishing falsehood. The press release claimed that the bank’s services were not disrupted whereas everyone knew services were disrupted nationwide. More importantly, the action of the Osibodu led management lent credence to claims that the Central Bank had a hidden agenda when it sacked the former management. The good side of the Union Bank / Labour dispute is that organized labour proved that it could not only bark but also bite. It limited the management to its own space. Labour fought and won the battle for workers to assert their rights.

If one was to award marks, the Osibodu led management was made to swallow its pride.

The management failed and the employees won the battled.

Beyond this however, is that this should afford the employees the opportunity to put the union in order. Workers must elect leaders that are trust worthy, reliable and dependable.

The battle for the soul of the bank has been won and lost. Employees who are already share holders of the bank must renew their commitment to the bank and sustain the struggle against any attempt to trample on workers’ rights.

Why mgt descended on ASSBIFI, UBASS

The management had explained that the withdrawal of recognition of the bank’s unit of Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI ) and its domestic unit in the bank known as Union Bank Association of Senior Staff, UBASS, that were not registered.

In fact, Mrs Osibodun told Journalists that the bank only discovered that its unit of ASSBIFI and UBASS were not registered two weeks before the management announced the with withdrawal of recognition.

She said “after some issues arose within the union, the bank investigated and discovered about two weeks ago that the in-house ASSBIFI was unregistered and that continued relation with it would be unlawful and illegal. The bank discovered that the only registered union by the federal ministry of labour and productivity to organize all senior employees of Banks, insurance and financial institutions in Nigeria is the ASSBIFI affiliated to the Trade Union Congress (TUC)”. Contrary to this, investigation revealed that the senior staff body was seen as an obstacle to the grand plot to undervalue the bank to see it to already pre-determined investors. As part of the agenda, few days after the announcement of the withdrawal of recognition, the management started hounding down union’s officials and identified sympathisers. At once, 13 union leaders were dismissed for what the management called “ acts that were against and unethical to the banking profession, the offence bothers on breach of confidentiality of the bank.”.

The so-called “breach of confidentiality of the bank”, Labour Vanguard gathered was that the union’s officials who have invested much in the bank and spent better part of their life in building the bank, were said to have become very apprehensive and uncomfortable with plot to undervalue the bank and decided to send details of the bank’s assets to some of the bank’s major shareholders.

The management was said to have been jolted by this development and decided to axe the union’s officials immediately by dismissing them from service.

Transferred staff

dies at new base

Besides these 13, others were transferred as punitive measures after they were said to have declined overtures to denounce unionism. Sadly, one of the labour leaders of association, Mr. (David Eshiet, Secretary of Obun Eko branch of Union Bank who was transferred out of Lagos, died three weeks after at his new station, Dutse , the Jigawa State capital’s branch.

Reacting to this unfortunate development, the Bank’s Executive Director, Operations, IT and Services, Mr. Shonubi Adebisi, faulted the link between Mr. Eshiet transfer and his death, saying “it was unfortunate that the incident happened in such circumstances. The man was reported to have slumped in his bathroom. He has worked for about three weeks before the incidence happened and so there is not way one can link his death to the transfer. Anybody can die at any time.”