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First Atlantic Bank has reacted to a pertaining issue concerning a redundancy exercise it undertook recently which affected eighty-three (83) of their staff.

The redundancy payments were made to the affected workers by May 3, 2019, which was their final day of work.

“As far as we are concerned, we have complied with all our legal and commercial obligations in respect of the redundancy,” a letter by the Bank and addressed to the Chief Labour Officer and sighted by Peacefmonline.com stated.  

"Some of the affected workers have accepted the redundancy package and have exited the Bank peacefully. It is also important to note that apart from the workers who were initially earmarked to be affected by the redundancy, an additional number of eleven (11) workers, acknowledging the fairness of the redundancy package, voluntarily approached the Bank to be given the same package. These workers have since received their redundancy package and have also exited peacefully," the letter added.

Labour Matters Advisor is representing some of the ex-workers who were affected by the redundancy.

According to the bank, Labour Matters Advisor, Mr John Esiape, does not represent all the workers who were affected by the redundancy exercise, contrary to the impression he seeks to create in his earlier letter to the Labour Commission.

The compulsory redundancy affected eighty-three (83) workers and Mr. Esiape only represents fifty-three (53) of the affected workers.

The affected staff rejected an initial severance package put on table by management of the bank.

The redundancy became necessary after the bank completed its merger process with Energy Bank during the Banking sector cleanup.

The merger of the two banks is said to have led to duplication of roles, leading to the redundancy.

The processes affected the staff of both banks that were consolidated.

Attached is a letter by First Atlantic Bank to the Labour Commission in respect of the impasse