NINETY percent of Allied Bank’s employees have been sent on voluntary unpaid leave for four months as the financial institution embarks on cost-cutting measures.
BUSINESS REPORTER
The bank acting chief executive officer Florence Gowora said staff costs contributed significantly to operational expenses and the bank has considered short-term measures to deal with the situation.
“The bank offered all its employees an offer to take up “voluntary unpaid leave” for the period June to September 2014 as part of the many measures being implemented to cut costs. Under this scheme, employees would only accrue 50% of their salary as they work for two weeks only during the month. This has already been implemented and uptake to date is 90% across all grades,” Gowora said.
She said the process to implement short time working arrangement was also underway.
But the Zimbabwe Allied Bankers Workers’ Union secretary-general Peter Mutasa said the move by Allied Bank was unlawful.
“The employer is going down to individual workers and asking them to go for four months unpaid leave.
“The employees are being given 50% overdrafts of one’s salary that would be repaid by the employees. The action is unlawful,” he said.
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Mutasa said according to the Companies Act any company that would embark on a special measure to avoid retrenchment was obliged to pay workers’ salaries. He, however, said some workers have agreed to take the money being offered by management as they were desperate.
“Workers are desperate because they do not have money. The money is expected to be paid between (last) Friday and Monday this week,” he said. Mutasa said the banker’s union lawyers were preparing
summons for Allied Bank to pay the two months outstanding salaries for workers. Mutasa said the bank employs over 100 workers.