Fiji’s military regime has refused to allow an Australian and New Zealand trade union delegation to enter the country on 13 December. Representatives of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) were denied permission to enter the country on arrival at Nadi airport, and deported without any access to consular assistance.
The New Zealand and Australian unions had planned to meet Fiji Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, to seek to open a fresh dialogue on human and trade union rights. They had also planned to meet Fiji trade union counterparts, church leaders, and other civil society and business representatives.
The ACTU/NZCTU Mission to Fiji follows on from the August 2011 ILO Fiji Mission and other local and overseas scrutiny of the on-going and worsening human and trade union rights situation on the Pacific island.
The Fijian government has issued a series of laws and decrees that violate fundamental workers’ rights. For instance, The Essential National Industries Employment Decree, issued on August 2011, voids existing collective bargaining agreements and eliminates the right to strike in any industry government may designate. The Decree also authorises employers in government designated enterprises, to dictate working conditions, while denying their workers the right to a voice through independent unions.
Referring to the union delegation’s expulsion, EI President, Susan Hopgood, stated: “The Fiji Regime had openly invited the Australian and New Zealand Trade Unions to come and see for themselves the reality on the ground. It now appears that the regime did not expect the unions to take up the invitation and is now making outrageous claims of them.”
Henry Rajendra, member of the Australian Education Union, which is an EI affiliate, also underlined that the Fiji government was failing in its duty to deliver decent work to its people: “Fiji’s military government has been engaged in an all-out assault on trade unionism. In a country which is officially declared to have 45% of the population living at or below the poverty line, these actions will continue to aggravate their already marginal living standards. Independent trade unions are badly needed.”
EI remains seriously concerned about the continued violation of international labour standards in Fiji which are directly impacting on its affiliates, the Fijian Teachers’ Association (FTA) and the Fiji Teachers’ Union (FTU), as well as the repression of the entire labour movement in Fiji.