(L-R) Mr. Tony Elumelu, chairman Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc and Professor Ndi Okereke, former chairman, at the fifth annual general meeting of the company in Abuja

The bumpy road to recapitalisation for Union Bank of Nigeria Plc seems to be getting smoother as its over 5,000 workforce, represented by its dynamic workers union, may have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the on-going recapitalisation exercise which will enter a very crucial stage in the next few weeks.
This is coming on the heels of a desperate move by the Union Bank management, since the last few weeks, to reconcile their differences with various stakeholders who have given signals to the investors that the coast is still not clear. The investors had indicated that they will not pay a dime if such differences were not resolved. This is sequel to a number of cases that litter the courts against the bank’s recapitalisation.
Rising from a marathon meeting with the various investor groups and consultants representing certain interests in the Alliance Capital Consortium, the union told BusinessWorld that it will ask its workers to pick their proxy forms for the on-coming Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) and vote in support of all the motions leading to the recapitalisation programme. Last week, the Union met with representatives of Union Global Group from Netherlands, where they laid bare all that would be done by the new management if they want to run the bank without any hitch. The visitors, according to our sources, bought the position of the union in the programme and assured that the consortium will respect every agreement entered into in the course of the investment transactions. Previous visitors who are members of the consortium are said to have given the same assurance to the union. The visitors noted that they are highly interested in resolving the ongoing crisis between the Funke Osibodu-led management and the workers.
In exchange for the acceptance of recapitalisation by the warring union, they have sold the union’s Collective Agreement Code to the new investors who have pledged that they will respect the agreement and would sit down to enter a new negotiation or smoothen grey areas if the need arises rather than resorting to ambush resolution which has trailed the debate on this issue in the last two years.
While asking the staff to pick their proxy forms, the union also indicated that the Joint Action on Recapitalisation set up by the bank is expected to effect some of the resolutions passed earlier which includes the implementation of the withdrawal of some of the punitive transfers and suspensions or retrenchments.
The collective agreement entered into by the bank and its teeming workforce is believed to have been the biggest instrument of negotiation between the union and its management and has been the staying power of the workers since this crisis began two years ago. According to the union, one salient area of the agreement is the resolution that every Union Bank worker must be paid a total five years emolument as initial benefit in a situation of forced exit from the bank.
Speaking to BusinessWorld at the weekend, sources close to the bank noted that “if the investors want their money to be wasted they should decide not to honour the collective agreement”.
It is believed that much as the union has waved the olive branch to the management, it is still not likely to renege on its stand that the bank’s assets may have been under-valued by the management and the apex bank.
A good number of the shareholders and workers still believe that the recapitalisation is still shaky as many issues are being swept under the carpet, just to allow the recapitalisation to sail through.