Why We Introduce Early Retirement Policy- Media Trust….say ‘We Can No Longer Afford Our Wage bill’
Following a media report yesterday that the management of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust, Daily Trust Saturday, Daily Trust Sunday, Aminiya and Kilimanjaro plans mass retrenchment, the management has come out to explain why the Board plans ‘early retirement of some staff’
Investigations revealed that the Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of the company, Malam Mannir Dan-Ali on Thursday met with all the staff at the head office to explain rationale behind the Board’s decision.
Daily Dispatch had reported yesterday that the management of media trust plans mass sack of its workforce.
A close source to the meeting informed us that the CEO explained that it is the wish of the board that everybody stays, but the situation in the country does not permit.
The CEO was said to have informed the staff that the organisation is not pursuing anybody, but “it will be unfair to introduce a policy that has direct effect on the staff without first notifying them”.
According to our source, he (E-in-C) further explained that the organisation is also careful of law of the land, adding that before now, salaries are paid as at when due, “but right now we can no longer afford it.
“We have to abide by the Federal Government’s policy which says that we should contribute certain percentage into pension scheme, which we have been doing up to date”, Mannir was quoted.
He, therefore, officially informed the staff of the board’s decision that any staff who have spent ten years and above can tender his retirement letter, adding that they have been given a year grace which is already effective.
If after that anybody who wishes to stay will be accommodated, stressing that the policy is not a mass sack rather it is called early retirement.
We, however, gathered that staff are not happy with a blanked policy, according to them, it is a way of witch-hunting.
They argued that the policy was a ploy to ask some people to go, though they are afraid that with the new policy some department will be greatly affected, because almost everybody in such department have spent ten years and above.
