Business Desk :
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.”
