Labour group reminds Fiji of its obligations

suva – The International Labour Organisation has reminded the Fiji government that a commission of inquiry into the country’s labour practises could be launched if an agreement it signed earlier this year is not fulfilled.

In March, the ILO put off until November any decision on whether an inquiry should be established after the

government, the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation

and the Fiji Trades Union Congress signed a tripartite agreement to discuss amendments to labour laws.

But talks between the parties have disintegrated, with the government and the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation submitting one progress report to the ILO, and the Fiji Trades Union Congress submitting one on its own.

The General Secretary of the Fiji Trades Union Congress, Felix Anthony, said the parties failed to submit a joint implementation report to the governing body.

“As a result the governing body once again reminded the Fiji government that it ought to enter into direct talks with the social partners and amend its labour laws to comply with the core conventions.

“And that it must submit a joint report before the November governing body meeting. And if that should that not happen, then the governing body will consider a commission of inquiry into Fiji.

“So that is the resolution at the moment. And Fiji has been once again told by the ILO that it has not honoured the agreement it has signed with the social partners in March and that it must honour that agreement.

So why was there no joint report? Why was the decision made not to do it together?

“Well the government drafted a report which we had serious disagreements with, and this was more in relation to the fact there were parts of the report that were factually incorrect.

“And also there were omissions in the report and more particularly in regards to the disagreements that we had in the course of our talks in the country.

“Quite apart from that, the report did not indicate, there were no real negotiations between the parties, and the fact the government actually attempted to dictate to the parties as to what we should be doing and what report we ought to be signing.

“So the FTUC has decided that it will not be a party to any such dictatorship by the government and that there ought to be some dignity in the process as well, not only that but mutual respect amongst the parties to ensure that we have a desirable outcome.

On the way forward Athony told Radio New Zealand: “We are prepared to continue talks with the government on the amendments to labour legislation, we will await the government to indicate when they would be prepared to meet.

“And if they’re prepared to meet we expect that there will be genuine discussions in good faith, and that we have a common goal, that is to honour the agreement we have signed in March this year and ensure we restore the rights of workers in this country.”