Some former workers of defunct UT bank and Capital bank, are demanding the payment of their End of Service Benefits (ESB) and severance packages, seven months after the collapse of the two banks.
According to them, even though there have been discussions with the Joint Receivers—PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC), on their ESB and Provident Fund(PF), they are yet to receive any cash.
In all, about 1,200 workers were affected after the two banks collapsed.
GCB Bank has since absorbed about 400 workers from the two banks.
This means an estimated 800 workers have been left off the labour force to seek for new employment opportunities.
Citi Business News understands an initial list of beneficiaries of former workers of Capital Bank was compiled but later changed by the receiver.
The former Capital Bank workers, numbering over 200 hundred told Citi Business News all efforts to get the PwC to engage the pension funds managers of the bank have failed.
Per the initial agreement with the Joint Receiver, as explained by the former workers, each worker would have access to two and a half months salary multiplied by the number of years the person has worked at the bank.
The Bank of Ghana appointed GCB Bank to assume ownership of UT bank and Capital bank in August last year after the banks faced severe liquidity challenges among other reasons.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show with Bernard Avle today [10th April, 2018], some of the former workers who called into the programme lamented over the delay in receiving their PF and ESB, among other entitlements.
Narrating their ordeal, some of the former workers stated that life has been difficult since the banks collapsed.
Banging their hopes on the ESB prior to their dismissal, they stated that life would have been a little bearable if their PF had been released.
“Before we were given the message to come home, there were speculations that we are entitled to severance packages, and it will be based on the number of years but we have not heard anything from it. We have heard that people are negotiating on our behalf, we don’t have details. There has been no communication afterwards”, one person said.
Another stated “We went for a negotiation with the PwC and they agreed that they were going to pay us two and a half months of our salary by the number of years that we have worked but we have not heard anything any we have been to the union and the union is working on our behalf”
Some of the former workers were surprised why the Joint Receiver has refused to atleast release their PF to them.
“We have the ESB. They were all our contributions that we gave but none of them have been paid to us and every time we hear stories, it is always back and forth since November 2017 and nothing concrete has been done”.
The workers have told Citi Business News that for now they are awaiting the cooperation of their representatives, the Union of Industry, Commerce & Finance Workers (UNICOF) and the joint receivers, PwC to get their entitlements paid to ease their plight.