Sacked 670 Mainstreet Bank Workers: Reps Threaten To Order MD’s Arrest

ABUJA — THe House of Representatives, yesterday, threatened  to issue a bench warrant on the Managing Director of Mainstreet Bank Plc, Mrs Faith Turduo Martins, for allegedly sacking 670 staff of the bank without due process.

Chairman of the House committee on Banking and Currency, Jones Chukwudi Onyereri, said  a bench

warrant awaited Turduo Martins if she failed to appear before the committee on October 2 to explain why 670 staff of  the bank were sacked under anonymous circumstances.

Onyereri, whose committee met on the issue  to probe the allegation of highhandedness levelled against the management of the bank by the affected workers, insisted that Mr Anojwi Anyanwu who stood in for Turduo Martins could not provide the committee the requisite information to get to the root of the matter.

”In the wisdom of members of this committee, the representative of the MD of Mainstreet Bank is not able to give us all the information we need to get to the root of this matter.

“We will postpone this meeting to the 2nd of October for the M.D to appear before us and offer explanation on this issue. If she fails to appear, we would be compelled to issue a bench warrant against her,” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Eyo Usanga, who spoke on behalf of the affected workers of the bank, claimed that the bank breached laid down rules when they were relieved of their jobs.

Eyo, who was one of the management staff affected, sought the intervention of the lawmakers to force Mainstreet management to pay them their terminal benefits (redundancy) according to collective agreements, that is 16 weeks of total emoluments on terminal grade per year multiplied by number of years spent by staff.

The workers also asked for payment of 2012 annual leave and passage allowance; payment of outstanding housing allowance up to December 2012, since they had committed their personal monies in paying landlords in anticipation of the payment and commutation of all outstanding annual leave days to cash.

They equally asked for payment of July 2012 salary in full, including allowances, as the salary for 2012 leave period, that is terminal leave, conversion of the termination letter issued to them to retirement/resignation letter.