Unionists Daniel Urai and Felix Anthony have returned after several weeks of meetings in Australia and New Zealand to rally support from unions there against the disempowering of public sector unions by the military--led regime.

Urai, the President of the Fiji Trades Union Congress and Felix Anthony, the General Secretary, arrived on Monday, 25 July.

FIJI TRADES UNION CONGRESS
32 DES VOUEX ROAD, P.O. BOX 1418, SUVA, FIJI
PRESIDENT: Daniel Urai
NATIONAL SECRETARY: Felix Anthony

DATE: 22/07/11
PRESS RELEASE ON ALLEGATIONS RE FNPF

The Regime continues to make personal allegations on Mr. Daniel Urai and myself. These allegations appear on all media outlets in Fiji and in the Fiji Sun, FM96, Fijilive, Fiji Village and FBCL with much vigor. Yet our media releases are not allowed to be published or aired on the radio. We ask what is there to hide from the public by disallowing our FTUC media releases.

If the regime is honest in its conduct, then there should be nothing to hide from the public. We now urge the Regime to allow free media so that we can have a constructive and open debate on all issues. The citizens of Fiji should be allowed to make a free and fair judgment on these issues.

In relation to the Regime's claims on payment of allowances to Board Members of FNPF and other related Boards, we say any payment that were made to Board Members were in accordance with the Rules and longstanding Government policy. We deny that we made payments to ourselves as claimed. All payments were handled by Management and were subject to Audit, hence the Audit Report to which the government is continuously referring to. No Audit Report cast any doubt or claims that payments were out of order. We understand that this debate can go on without any resolution and the public would never get to know the real truth.

In the public interest, I am prepared to disclose all my bank records and tax returns which must be subject to an independent audit to ascertain the real facts provided the Prime Minister and the Attorney General are prepared to do the same. Let’s find out where the real abuse is and who has been paying who what.

There is no value in attempting to defame people or fool people. The citizens of Fiji need the truth and its time the Regime opened its books to the people who pay. After all the regime was to clean up, and being transparent would be a good way to start, albeit five years late.

The real issue in question is the violation of workers’ rights. The regime is  sidestepping the issue by making baseless personal allegations. It’s time that we concentrated on real issues.

FELIX ANTHONY
NATIONAL SECRETARY

Fiji Sun's headline today, and Fiji 1 News' 6pm bulletin yesterday, carried condemnations of the Fiji union movement's attempts to prevent an erosion of workers' rights.

The Fiji Sun's banner headline on the front page reads: "OUT, UNIONS TELL SINGH" on Fiji Public Service Association General Secretary Rajeshwar Singh's trip to New Zealand to rally support from unionists there.

But the reporter Rachna Lal only ever quotes the Ministry of Information Permanent Secretary Sharon Smith-Johns as saying FPSA members want Singh to resign immediately because they never gave him the mandate to travel to New Zealand.

It's interesting that there was not a single disgruntled worker quoted in the article and no response from Singh or a representative of the unions to add balance to the story. The headline is also disingenuous, giving the impression that several "unions" want Singh's resignation when we are not told who these unions are or which members are disgruntled.

FIJI SUN EXCERPT:

OUT, UNIONS TELL SINGH
Civil Servants have expressed their fury over the conduct of the Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA) general secretary Rajeshwar Singh in Australia.
They have called for Mr Singh’s immediate resignation.
Permanent Secretary (PS) for Information Sharon Smith-Johns told the Fiji Sun that FPSA members, who are civil servants, have questioned Mr Singh’s actions in seeking support from trade unions in Australia and New Zealand.
“They believe Mr Singh does not have mandate to speak on behalf of the FPSA as there was no consultation carried out on the issue,” she said.
Her comments came in light of the threat to Fiji flights made by Australian Transport Workers Union which posed a direct threat to Fiji’s tourism, businesses, workers and the economy.
Ms Smith-Johns said the fact that Mr Singh had taken annual leave at the same time leaving the country to attend the trade union meeting, was an indication that this could have been pre-planned.
“The point is, from workers perspective, he is over there representing them, when they have not asked him to go and represent them.
“He is in Australia with a personal agenda and calling for a strike action there which will not help this country in any way. It will cripple this country,” Ms Smith-Johns said.
SOURCE: Fiji Sun

See the response to this article from the FTUC here.

FIJI TRADES UNION CONGRESS
DATE: 21/07/11

PRESS RELEASE (2) - RESPONSE TO RECENT GOVERNMENT ACTIONS REGARDING TRADE UNION

We, the FTUC, condemn the direct interference of the Government in the affairs of our affiliate, the Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA) through the media release by the Ministry of Information and the comments of the Attorney General.

Government has no business in the internal affairs of any Union. We remind the Government that Officials of the affiliates of FTUC are elected and therefore have full legitimacy unlike this Government. Unions have a mandate to speak on behalf of the workers they represent and are governed by rules and a Constitution. If any member is aggrieved by any decision of the Union, the Constitution of the Unions provide for process to address these concerns. It does not require Government to try and intervene in the internal affairs of the unions.

The FTUC clearly sees such intervention by Government as an attempt to weaken the solidarity of Unions and their members and to politically weaken Unions. This will not work. The FTUC urges Government to respect the rights of workers and their Freedom of Association. Such actions are also in breach of ILO Core Conventions which the Government has ratified and is obligated to respect and promote. It is our sincere hope that Fiji is not judged as a rouge state in the ILO.

The FTUC is also concerned at the comments attributed to the Attorney General which appear to be petty in nature where personal attacks are being made on various elected leaders of the Unions. We remind the Attorney General that these Unions and their Leaders are legitimate and legal and that the Attorney General has no standing in questioning the actions or decisions of these Unions for obvious reasons.

We ask, what consultations and mandate the Attorney General has to produce Decrees and impose them on the citizens. If the Attorney General wants accountability from Unions, he needs to start with himself. Can he tell the Nation what he is costing the taxpayers and why the taxpayers who did not choose him to lead, should pay.

FELIX ANTHONY
NATIONAL SECRETARY

Wed, 20 Jul 2011

Fiji's interim government has accused the head of the country's trade union movement of misrepresenting its plight to overseas unions.

Felix Anthony, the national secretary of the Fiji Trades Union Congress, has been in Australia, New Zealand and Europe seeking support from overseas unions to fight what he sees as draconian new laws restricting union rights.

Fiji Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khayum says Mr Anthony has misled overseas unions into believing the interim government is anti-union.

While speaking to Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program, he also accused the FTUC secretary of being disloyal to Fiji, and potentially putting the country's tourism industry in jeopardy.

"When we talk about the tourism industry, we're not just talking about the hotel owners," he said.

"You're talking about the lady in the village who makes handicrafts, you're talking about people who grow pawpaws from the village and sell it to the hotels. You're affecting tens of thousands of people, you're affecting their livelihood. This is what Felix Anthony is advocating."

SOURCE: Radio Australia News