ADB: Lay-offs nothing to do with May sit-down strike

The Management of Agricultural Development Bank, ADB, has justified the recent dismissal of 15 of its management staff, and added the action has nothing to do with an industrial action embarked upon by some staff in May this year.

Some ADB workers, on the instruction of the Professional and Managerial Staff Union and the Local Union of the bank on May 28, went on a sit-down strike to press home their demand for the resignation of the bank’s Board members and the Managing Director, Stephen Kpordzih.

The strike was also to protest “the failure of the appointing authorities to nominate external investigators to support the BoG (Bank of Ghana) to unravel the truth.”

However, Head of Marketing and Communications at ADB, Solomon Adu Atiso, told Citi FM Wednesday that “the unions are also human beings just like us, they need to protect the interest of the workers as well as our customers.”

“The management has the interest of their staff, as well as our customers. It should be a win-win relationship; it shouldn’t be acrimonious in any way.

“So, I believe it’s a step, and it was free and fair, it was opened to everybody within the bank once you throw yourself qualified... And I think management knows that this is the right way for the bank to go,” Mr. Adu Atiso said.

The 15 dismissed staff, according to a statement from ADB will be given a “juicy” severance package. That package is estimated to be in the regions of GH¢ 4 million.

In the announcing the dismissal, ADB said the layoffs were part of its restructuring programme. “As a result of these changes about fifteen (15) Management staff in the previous organogram have been affected thus rendering them out of work.”

It added, however, that “per the policy of the bank and within the acceptable labour laws of the country, workers have been rewarded with juicy compensation packages.”

“According to Senior Management of the Bank, the decision was taken earlier this year at a Management retreat in Akosombo and was given approval by the board for implementation since it is aimed at ensuring growth, strength and sustainability of the bank moving forward.”

“We are in a very competitive market and there is the need to re-align our operations and strategic objectives to remain on top as one of the best performing indigenous banks in the country.

“Also in another development some staff of the bank who engaged in various acts of operational indiscipline in the discharge of their duties have been dismissed for acts that the Disciplinary Committee of the bank found to have caused severe damage to the bank’s image and reputation.

“The Management of the bank wishes to assure all its stakeholders, customers and general public of its commitment towards working to maintain high discipline standards and efficiency to ensure that the bank continues to serve the Ghanaian public,” the statement said.