“What is being forced now on civil servants is in flagrant violation of the right to collective bargaining guaranteed under the 2013 Constitution, the Employment Relations Promulgation (ERP) and the agreement reached between the Fiji Trades Union Congress and the government in the Joint Implementation Report following the complaint lodged by the FTUC with the ILO in 2014. Public Sector unions must insist that government comply with these agreements and respect their members’ right to collective bargaining. Failure to take strong action now will seriously jeopardise the rights and welfare of civil servants and render their unions totally ineffective” - Mahendra Chaudhry
Labour Leader Mahendra Chaudhry has urged Public Sector unions to take a strong stand against the arm-twisting tactics of Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum to force civil servants to sign new employment contracts to qualify for pay increments.
“This is sheer blackmail and no self-respecting union should condone it. The Attorney General is also misleading civil servants regarding the process governing salary increases in the past,” says Mr Chaudhry who led the Fiji Public Service Association for 29 years as General Secretary before he resigned in 1999.
Mr Chaudhry was referring to claims by Mr Sayed-Khaiyum, at consultations with civil servants in Nausori on Tuesday, that in the past civil servants had to wait up to 10 years to get salary increments of at least 10%.
“This is #absolutely #wrong. Civil servants, in the past, received annual cost of living adjustments with periodic salary reviews through job evaluation exercises. Grading reviews were an on-going process. If employees felt they had been wrongly graded they could take this up at any time to seek a review.
“Unions enjoyed full collective bargaining rights which effectively protected their members from becoming victims of unilateral action as has become so common under the FF government.
“What is being forced now on civil servants is in flagrant violation of the right to collective bargaining guaranteed under the 2013 Constitution, the Employment Relations Promulgation (ERP) and the agreement reached between the Fiji Trades Union Congress and the government in the Joint Implementation Report following the complaint lodged by the FTUC with the ILO in 2014.
“Public Sector unions must insist that government comply with these agreements and respect their members’ right to collective bargaining.
“Failure to take strong action now will seriously jeopardise the rights and welfare of civil servants and render their unions totally ineffective,” said Mr Chaudhry.