GCB At War

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*Board Chairman Threatens Arrest*

The nation's biggest bank, Ghana Commercial Bank is facing serious crises following the decision of the Management of the bank to outsource the Salaries Department to the Auditors of the bank, KPMG to manage its salaries, while the bank pursues an aggressive redundancy policy to lay off one thousand employees. This development is also at the time the staff have rejected a proposed 20 per cent salary increase.

The Unions, speaking for the bank staff, have accused the Managing Director of conflict of interest, being a former employee of KPMG. They also see the decision as "a deliberate attempt to hide the remuneration of directors whose salaries and allowances have had astronomical increases" and have requested Management to withdraw the services of KPMG forthwith.

The Unions' stance has however drawn a sharp response from the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Kojo Thompson accusing them of being "disrespectful and disingenuous" and resorting to threats. " The Board would like to advise the Unions that in future threatening behaviour or communication would be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agencies, for further action without any hesitation", was the strong warning from Board Chairman Thompson.

But in a letter of 7thJuly, 2011 the Union of Industry, Commerce and Finance (UNICOF of GTUC). the mother Union of GCB Unions, have descended on the Board Chairman accusing him of assuming the role of the Managing Director without addressing the issues . According to UNICOF, " though we would have preferrred that these matters be decriminalized (as is the approach of the new Labour Law, 2003, Act 651), we are happy that you have the option to report such industrial relations matters to the law enforcement agencies because it gives us an opportunity to clarify issues with these authorities who we know are not just ' trigger happy' but aim at ensuring economic development and human security for all aspects of the Ghanaian population, including you and the workers of Ghana Commercial Bank."

Meanwhile, the leadership of Unions of the bank have informed staff that the Unions have not accepted the 20% salary increase, describing it as a non-starter and accusing management of taking an entrenched position. "We can assure you again that the Unions cannot be made to accept 20% under duress or undue influence. We are solid",stated the leaders who have warned that they will convene a general meeting of staff in Accra and Tema at the forecourt of the bank's head office to announce a plan of action against authorities of the bank.

The Union have also drawn the attention of staff members to the installation of CCTV cameras at the branches and departments to watch whatever is being discussed and pursued by the aggrieved workers. In an interesting twist, the new boss of CHRAJ, Ms Lamptey is a board member of GCB who had not resigned as at the time of her appointment and may be caught in a conflict of interest situation if the fight at GCB should end at CHRAJ, even though such labour issues are best handled by the labour commission.