ANA reports that Andile Mngxitama's Black First Land First (BLF) movement on Monday marched to the headquarters of FNB in a bid to petition the bank to reinstate four employees who were dismissed for discussing politics in their work social media and professional email platforms.
About 100 BLF members marched from Gandhi Square in the Johannesburg CBD to FNB Bank City. This followed failure to meet with FNB chief executive, Jacques Celliers, two weeks ago. Last month, the four employees were fired for "political talk and using insulting language" after the bank monitored their business e-mails and WhatsApp group conversations for several months last year. They believe that they were unfairly dismissed for exercising their right to freedom of expression and their right to privacy. BLF general secretary Thandiswa Yaphi accused Celliers of not respecting black people and of being a "regime change agent", saying that the axed employees were fired for raising transformation issues within the bank. It was not immediately clear if the BLF succeeded in meeting Celliers on Monday. FNB declined to comment on specifics relating to the dismissal of the employees.
- Read this report in full at Business Report
- See too, BLF seeks justice for dismissed FNB employees, at The New Age
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