Rights deal month-end or mid Feb
A TRIPARTITE agreement guaranteeing worker rights while maintaining business sustainability will be signed between unions, employers and Government by either this month-end or mid-February, says newlyappointed Employment Minister Agni Deo Singh.
Once inked, the deal will bring to an end a decade and a half of uncertainty over the right to assembly, expression, association, and the right to strike or picket at a worksite if negotiations between management and employees fall through.
Workers rights, or the inability to exercise them, caught the attention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) — which was ready to send a contact mission to investigate whether employees’ rights were being trampled upon.
Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations Minister Mr Singh said they were stepping in the right direction by first working to reconstitute the Employment Relations Advisory Board (ERAB).
“We are targeting the first week of February for ERAB to meet and then the sub-committees of ERAB will also be appointed again together,” he said.
“We will aspire to come to consensus decisions in all areas so that we are able to afford a decent living for our workers as well as sustain our businesses.
“It is all about working together to grow the economy and then equitably share the rewards.”
Last week, Mr Singh held meetings with representatives and executive members from the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) and Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) to discuss a positive way forward.
“We have discussed numerous issues that we will further deliberate on during ERAB and this we need to achieve in the first 100 days of being in office.
“The main priority after ERAB is to straightaway get into the labour law review. This is part of the joint agreement that was signed by the tripartite partners facilitated by ILO in Geneva in 2015.
“That clearly stated that all the laws that are in breach of the ILO Conventions that Fiji is signatory to and the fundamental rights of workers including rights of union leaders will all be restored. Unfortunately the FijiFirst government deliberately procrastinated on that.
“That is a priority because we also have an ILO contact mission looming over our heads. It is overdue because ILO decided that a contact mission must come and do some fact finding on the serious breaches that continue to take place as far as workers rights are concerned.
“So all the three social partners, we have now agreed that we will make sure that by the end of January and mid-February we will have a joint agreement done to say now we are moving forward in a positive direction.”
Mr Singh also said they would report to the International Labour Conference in June regarding all outcomes in terms of Fiji’s compliance with ILO conventions. This, Mr Singh explained, would not only put Fiji in a good light internationally and regionally, but also change the country’s perception as “rogue” in terms of human and trade union rights.