JOB CUT
Labour court issues notice on Banglalink CEO, 5 others
A labour court has issued a show cause notice on six high officials of Banglalink, one of the leading telecom operators in the country, asking them to explain within 10 days why the companys voluntary separation scheme should not be stopped. The six officials, including the Banglalink chief executive officer (CEO), chief technical officer (CTO) and chief commercial officer (CCO), have also been asked to explain why their move to sack some leaders and activists of a workers union, and their transfer, harassment, and halting the disbursement of salaries should not be declared illegal.
The labour court also ordered the Banglalink authorities to halt their voluntary separation scheme temporarily. In response to a joint petition filed by Ujjal Paul and Bakhtiar Hossain, respectively the president and secretary of the Banglalink employees union (proposed), the first labour court Chairman Tabassum Islam issued the show cause notice on February 29 asking the respondents to come up with their explanation within 10 days.
The three other respondents are senior directors of human resources, regulatory affairs, and legal departments.
Banglalink, in an order, fixed February 29 the last date for its employees to opt out for voluntary retirement under the voluntary separation scheme.
Confirming that Feb 29 will be the last date for opting voluntary retirement, Banglalink CEO Erik Aas had earlier said that the deadline will not be extended and that the workers must decide by the period announced.
As per his announcement, the deadline was not extended for the voluntary retirement. On February 29, the telco, as per its previous decision, closed the option for its employees for opting retirement under the voluntary separation scheme. Earlier, at a press briefing, Erik Aas said that he saw no problem over the job cut at his organization. The company is going digital. The concept of old mobile companies does not exist anymore. This is the time for a change. We must enhance our capacity for customer compliance, he said.
He also said that the window of opportunity exists for those who will be able to contribute to the companys new course of progress. When asked about the number of employees who will lose their jobs as per the Banglalink policy, CCO Shihab Ahmad said the figure was yet to be specified. The necessity of the company in its course of conversation to a digital one will determine the number of employees to be sacked in the future, Ahmad said.
He also said that no one, who decided against voluntary retirement and would lose their job after February 29, would get the benefits of the voluntary separation scheme. Employees of Banglalink have demanded that the telco extends the deadline for opting for the separation scheme until June.
