GP Employees Union demands reappointment of 159 sacked employees

Highlights:

• GP offers Voluntary Retirement Scheme to 100 employees on 19 June
• It retrenches 159 employees on 20 June
• The move is aimed at replacing redundant skills, facilitating talent acquisition
• GPEU says announcing permanent employees redundant by outsourcing their work is illegal
• GP authorities say 82 out of the 159 retrenched employees have already applied for voluntary retirement

Grameenphone Employees Union (GPEU) has urged the company to reappoint the 159 employees who were retrenched on 20 June this year.

In a press conference held on Saturday at Dhaka Reporters Unity, the workers' organisation claimed that the Grameenphone authorities were in talks with the GPEU about reinstating 167 terminated workers, but they illegally sacked 159 employees this month.

GPEU General Secretary Mia Masud said retrenching permanent employees and outsourcing their work is not a legal practice.

The company has given the jobs of its permanent employees to vendors without a licence, he said in a press statement, adding, "It is illegal to outsource the work of a permanent employee and declare that employee redundant,"

Grameenphone, however, said as a technology service provider it has been continuously upgrading and acquiring advanced capabilities to support digitalisation to cater for rapidly-changing customer needs.

"Roles and responsibilities will differ over time, and recently Grameenphone retrenched redundant employees who had no role in the organization for more than 13 months," said Md Hasan, head of External Communications at Grameenphone Ltd.

Mentioning that the matter of 167 terminated workers is currently pending in the High Court, the GPEU said, "While the matter is under trial, the incident of dismissal without showing any respect to the court is very tragic and sad."

The union also warned of waging a stricter movement if their demands are not met.

The Grameenphone authorities, however, claimed the writ petition is involved with other issues – whether the GPEU is a Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA) or not and the existence of any industrial dispute before the Department of Labour.

Meanwhile, sources at Grameenphone said 82 out of the 159 retrenched employees have already applied for voluntary retirement.

Earlier on 19 June, Grameenphone provided the Voluntary Retirement Scheme to 100 of its employees in a bid to replace redundant skills and facilitate talent acquisition.