Freedom of speech Right to gather and peaceful protests

ciation, the freedom to choose.

“Today, there are workers in workplaces who would love to be part of a trade union, but they are too scared to lose their jobs.

“And they know they don’t trust the system because once they lose their jobs, it can take anywhere from two years to five years before they get any form of justice.

“And when justice is delayed, like they say, justice is denied and that’s what’s happening to all workers in this country today.”

Mr Anthony also spoke about cases where workers were terminated in the aviation and utility sectors and were still awaiting justice.

“And let me just say one thing, that when workers get terminated, it’s not about that individual worker, it’s one family, that’s suffering, it’s one family that that worker represents,” he said.

WORKERS should have their right to peacefully gather and show that they are unhappy about something, says Fiji Trades Union Congress national secretary Felix Anthony.

“Workers should have the right to gather,” he said at a rally held at the Fijian Teachers Association hall on Thursday.

“Workers should have the right to show that they are unhappy about something.

“Peaceful protests, should never be stopped.

“And here we have it (stopped) despite the Constitution which allows it.

“The police on all those occasions simply wrote to FTUC to say, well, we deny you permission to do so.

“I don’t know what they’re scared about, what they’re worried about.

“I don’t know what the intention is to deny the workers the right to even protest.”

Mr Anthony said they applied on six or seven occasions to march peacefully but their applications were rejected.

He said workers do not have freedom of assembly in the country.

“We have on many occasions, talked about the freedom of assembly.

“We as a trade union movement, have at least on six or seven occasions, applied for permit to march peacefully to raise awareness on the issues that we want to talk about.

“And they are basically the labour law review, which government promised many years ago. That should have been completed in 2013, and this is 2022, going on to 2023, and we’re still nowhere near completion of that.

“Again, a promise that they made is uncapped and they pretend as if it’s OK, it’s normal.”