Severance payments to GNCB staff begins
-have to wait for pension contributions
Stabroek News
March 22, 2003
The payment of severance packages to employees of the recently taken over Guyana National Co-operative Bank (GNCB) has begun.
But they will have to wait until September to receive monies deducted towards their pension scheme which have been invested by an insurance company.
The takeover of GNCB by the National Bank of Industry and Commerce (NBIC) on Saturday has left an estimated 200 people unemployed.
Contacted yesterday a source within the former GNCB told Stabroek News that the payment of severance benefits would be ongoing once employees had cleared a number of issues with their former employer.
Staff at GNCB’s Linden branch which is one of those earmarked for closure told this newspaper on Thursday that they had been experiencing difficulties obtaining their March salaries, although these had been promised on Wednesday.
A single mother of five further claimed that officials of both the outgoing and incoming administration of the bank had failed to adequately brief staff on issues relating to their severance.
The woman was also less than complimentary about their staff association which she said had not looked out for the interest of its members.
“What do I say to my children... that [an insurance company] invested my money?” the woman asked, while relating that employees were only told that they might be able to get their contributions from their pension scheme in about six months.
With the takeover of GNCB of the 27 staff that were at the Linden branch, twelve have been retained.
They have been given six-week contracts at the end of which further extensions were to be considered.
The former GNCB employees being kept on an interim basis by NBIC, are the branch manager and deputy, clerical staff including tellers and proof and customer service staff.
For now the branch in Linden is acting as a sub-agency for NBIC until current renovations are completed to NBIC’s offices to cater for the increase in customers. NBIC is currently the only commercial bank with a branch in Linden.
This newspaper saw evidence of construction at the NBIC branch where according to officials a new ATM machine was being set up. The old GNCB office which is more spacious, according to retrenched staff, is expected to be closed in the near future.
The closure of GNCB is seen by many as deepening the economic crisis plaguing the town.
