Labour, IGI Insurance Workers Protest Mass Retrenchment

Employees of Industrial and General Insurance Company Limited (IGI) in Lagos at the weekend warned the management to rescind its decision to retrench many of them or face industrial action.

The protesters urged the management under the leadership of the Managing Director, Mrs.Rachel Emenike, to “withdraw all such sack letters immediately through the same medium they were disseminated to avoid any chaos in the company.”

The workers, who pleaded for anonymity, alleged the company’s managing director, Mrs. Emenike of being biased, pointing out that those affected by the retrenchment exercise were mainly members of the ASSBIFI and NUBIFIE under the umbrella of the Coalition of IGI Staff.

“The exercise which was largely executed on the social media of WhatsApp on 15th October, 2019 is hereby rejected in its entirety as it has been done in very bad faith, being the fall out of our letter to the Board of Directors on your anti-staff management style since you assumed the position of MD in the company coupled with the quiet but formal inauguration of our membership of the NUBIFIE and ASSBIFI.”

“Also as pointed out in our letter to the Board under reference, of a vital note is the fact that since you assumed your position in the company as the supposed Chief Marketing Officer, you have not used your position to add any financial value (not even N5, 000 MotorThird Party premium) to assist the staff struggle toward easing the liquidity stress of the company”, the staff said.

The employees said that the MD has depended largely on the fund generated by the same staff she met in the company and now wants to sack to satisfy her personal financial needs through alleged frivolous allowances and estacodes.

According to the employees it is injustice as the staff who made the money are deprived of their salaries, which has accumulated to about 20 months as at date.