Sanofi employees give 48-hour ultimatum

Employees of Sanofi Bangladesh Limited on Monday gave a 48-hour ultimatum to its top management to hold talks with them on their demands for compensation and benefit package.
Otherwise, staffers of the French drug maker would form a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club on October 24 and are likely to announce tougher programmes to realise the demands, they said.
The employees under the banner of 'Sanofi Bangladesh Employees' Welfare Council' have been demanding compensation as the multinational company plans to exit Bangladesh.
The Sanofi employees issued the ultimatum as the company's Country Chair Ramprasad Bhat and Managing Director Muin Uddin Mazumder did not pay heed to their repeated calls for compensation and benefit package.
"We will also observe work abstention like other days. I hope the management will sit with us to reach a fruitful solution," said President of the employees' council Anwar Hossain at a press conference in the city.
Citing the example of another multinational company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which wrapped up its operations in Bangladesh recently, he said the GSK paid all benefits and compensation to its staffers even though it was a losing entity.
But the situation is different for Sanofi which has been making consistent profits over the years and the value of the company has also increased manifold, he added.
"We took the company to that height where now it is. We hope the company would accept our logical demands and remove tensions now prevailing among its workforce," said Mr Anwar.
ABM Morshed Alam, who has been working with the globally reputed pharmaceutical company for the last 26 years, said he like his other colleagues continues to serve the drug manufacturer.
He said the Sanofi management told them on October 14 that the company would not wind up its operations but transfer its stake to another party and hand over the financial responsibilities like provident fund and gratuity to them also.
"But as an employee, I will have no relation with the Sanofi after the transfer of the stake. So, it will be the wind-up of the company for us. Therefore, the company must give us compensation in addition to my provident fund and gratuity," he added.
The agitating staffers, at the same time, refused to accept the 'employment guarantee clause' proposal of the company in the share-transfer agreement with the new buyer.
Managing Director of Sanofi Muin Uddin Mazumder had earlier said the worker-friendly company is trying to negotiate a collective employment guarantee clause in the agreement with the new buyer for at least 12 months after Sanofi transfers its stake.
Sanofi staffers have been demanding compensation and other financial benefits since September 14 when the report of the Paris-based multinational company's exit plan was first published in The Financial Express.

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