Employees have been laid off at Sanofi Bangladesh following restructuring plans by the company.
Worker Rights
The French pharmaceutical giant announced in October last year that it planned to leave the country after 60 years, resulting in strikes by employees who were worried about their livelihoods.
The news was confirmed in a letter by managing director of Sanofi Bangladesh, Muin Mazumder, who wrote that the company was looking for a third-party buyer to transfer its stake in the company within 12-18 months.
Up to 1,000 employees went on strike following the news due to fears about working conditions under third-party deals. Employees argued for a full compensation package including earned benefits, gratuity and a provident/pension fund.
However, an anonymous employee at Sanofi Bangladesh told EPM that it has refused to pay out compensation and has started forcefully terminating employees in preparation for selling the company to a third-party buyer.
While terminated employees are being paid gratuity and their provident fund, they’re not being paid compensation. During the strike, employees argued for compensation as they are at risk of losing their jobs once a third-party buyer moves in, and now it looks like terminated employees are losing out.
“Sanofi didn’t agree to pay our compensation and other benefits. Now we are in normal work. They are trying to terminate us from the company. Already Sanofi [has] terminated four employees and is planning to terminate more,” the employee told EPM.
More so, employees are concerned that once a third-party buys Sanofi Bangladesh, they will lose out on the benefits currently being paid by the company – including their provident fund.
“They are planning to hand over us to [a] third-party without giving [us] our earned benefits, such as provident fund, gratuity and compensation,” the employee added.
One terminated employee told EPM that they are the only earning member of their five-person family and will struggle to afford house rent, as well as education for his daughter.
“My only daughter is just five, she is going this year [to] school. It is very difficult for me to bear her education and other expenses. Now I am very much helpless,” he told EPM.
Documents obtained by EPM do confirm that employees are being paid wages in lieu of their notice period and that they will receive a financial settlement once they’re cleared by the company.
EPM has reached out to Sanofi Bangladesh for comment.