Some of the staff members of the now-defunct Capital and UT Banks, which were subsumed by GCB Bank, are now out of work after the bank laid them off.
The affected staff members were served with their letters of termination earlier this month and were told they would only receive one month’s salary to be kicked to the curb.
According to reports, they are being let go because they could not produce their WASSCE certificates. The Bank carried out an audit of the staff members they took from the two defunct banks and realized some of them failed some core subjects such as Math and English during their SSCE days.
Using that as a pretext, they were thus asked to leave their posts.
One of the termination letters sighted by Graphic Online reads: “We wish to advise that with immediate effect, your services to the Bank will no longer be required.
“You will be paid an equivalent of one month’s basic salary in lieu of notice in line with section 29 (a) of our Collective Agreement and other benefits you may be entitled to per your contract of employment (less any indebtedness to the Bank).
“You are to hand over any company property that may be in your possession including but not limited to documents, manuals, computer/laptop, mobile phone, ID card, name tag, electronic access card and keys to your line manager/supervisor before your final departure.
“Per a copy of this letter, the Chief Information Officer has been advised to block your access to the Bank’s system and network.”
A source at the bank said the sacked workers were given ample time to produce their results to show they passed the subjects but they failed to do so.
“Some produced the required results and are still at post, others, unfortunately, even upon reminders, failed to provide the required certificates. If they have the required response yet refuse to comply, I’m afraid they’re the only ones to help themselves,” the source said.
However, a spokesperson for the ex UT and Capital Bank workers has decried the decision.
Raymond Addai Danquah, speaking on Citi Fm said the decision was inhumane and practically senseless.
“For me, it is rather unfortunate that this should happen to these colleagues of ours. The fact that somebody had D or E in one of those core subjects and you use that as a basis to terminate the person’s appointment, this is inhumane and it is about time GCB reinstates these people,” he said.
“How about those who have gone further to do their masters? Are we saying the point of entry into GCB is SSCE?”
The entire exercise seems like an excuse by GCB Bank to trim some of the workers they took on and looking for any excuse they could find. The crisis in our banking sector, unfortunately, continues to get worse for the average worker with each passing day.
Source: GhanaCelebrities.Com