3 Feb 2016

Fiji govt says ILO complaint sorted

2:51 pm on 3 February 2016
Minister Semi Koroilavesau, (right), meets ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.

Minister Semi Koroilavesau, (right), meets ILO Director-General Guy Ryder. Photo: Fiji Government

Fiji's Minister of Industrial Relations says a dispute over worker's rights that has reached the International Labour Organisation and lasted many years, is essentially over.

Last month an ILO mission to met representatives from government, employers and unions in an effort to resolve issues and avoid a Commission of Inquiry or the highest investigative procedure.

Semi Koroilavesau said the situation is now positive with the government moving to address union concerns.

Mr Koroilavesau said this includes the reduction of strike notices, the reinstatement of grievance processes, the ability to deduct union fees from pay and concessions to pay over 17-thousand US dollars to aggrieved parties.

He said government was always willing to act but there had been communication problems between the various unions.

The Minister said the ILO will be asked to cease its work into contraventions of their standards.

"The parties have agreed that they'll ask the ILO to discontinue the pursuance of the Article 26 complaint and that any other comments or discussions will be agreed in the tripartite discussions."

Mr Koroilavesau said concerns over restrictions regarding political affiliations were not part of the ILO concerns and should be dealt with separately.