Staff at Cameroon’s branches of Standard Chartered Bank end strike over payment of bonus

Workers at Standard Chartered Bank in Cameroon have ended a several-day strike over the payment of a severance bonus amounting to more than one month’s salary per year of service, with no ceiling, and the payment of a bonus that does not include any discrimination or consideration based on performance and/or quality of service, Journal du Cameroun reports.

The strike started May 22 and lasted for two days after workers in capital Yaoundé and Douala sent on May 2 a letter to the bank management, describing the reasons for their frustration.

The reasons include the mystery on the information on who is to take over Standard Chartered Bank Cameroon, following the group’s announcement that it is to sell off its Cameroonian subsidiary; the wage cuts announced in the event of a takeover by a new shareholder; and the uncertainty surrounding the preservation of their jobs and social benefits, the media noted.

“We have learned that the buyer of the business intends to reduce our salaries for those who wish to continue the adventure, and we are going to reapply for our positions as new people in the same way as external profiles, after the conclusion of the agreement between the buyer, which they are voluntarily refusing to reveal to us, even though it was selected through a call for tenders”, one worker on strike who asked not to be named told the media.

The United Kingdom-based bank in April 2023 announced plans to pull out from several countries including the central African country. The bank then said the move is meant to strengthen its presence in some of the largest and fastest-growing economies.