Over 75 per cent of workers in the banking sector are casual staff, Oyinkan Olasanoye, National President Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), has disclosed.
Olasanoye disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television‘s Sunrise Daily on Monday which focused on the state of Nigerian workers in commemoration of the International Workers’ Day celebration.
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She said while the casual workers are the majority in Nigeria, no law specifically protects them.
Olasanoye, who is the 2nd National Deputy President, Trade Union of Nigeria, called on the government to step in and protect casual workers in the country.
Also speaking, Prof Akeem Akinwale, a professor of employment relations and labour studies, at the University of Lagos, lamented that Nigerian workers were being exploited.
He said while casual workers’ salary range is usually between N50,000 and N80,000, they are made to come to work early and close late.
He added, “When you break it down, what they earn is not up to N4000 per day but ordinary labourers who have never gone to school earn up to N3,500 per day in Nigeria for working for three or four hours.”
He said though the Central Bank of Nigeria discouraged the excessive use of casual workers in the sector, most banks were cutting corners.
Akinwale said the CBN’s directives seem to be working on paper but noted that banks were cutting corners by engaging casual workers through a third party.
He said the law stipulates that contract staff should be converted to full staff within a period but only less than 10 per cent of them had been converted so far.
He said casual workers’ contracts are terminated within a stipulated period usually two years and reengaged afresh after that, just to avoid converting their appointment to full workers.
Speaking about the long hours of work, he said no staff is expected to work more than eight hours per day, adding that organisations must pay for overtime for those working above the stipulated hours.
He also disclosed that the law is applicable to both government and private employees.
The professor called on casual staff to unionise and speak out against the ill-treatment they are facing.
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