The FijiFirst Government has reneged on promise it made to the International Labour Organization (ILO) regarding striking Vatukoula Gold Mine workers.
Fiji Trades Union Congress national secretary Felix Anthony said this at a rally at the Fijian Teachers Association hall on Thursday last week.
“The ILO recognises the striking workers in Vatukoula as the longest running strike in the world,” he said.
“And this government, at the ILO, made promises, made commitments – that it was going to come back home and settle this strike with the workers.
“Well, they’ve come back home a few times since and nothing has happened. “Those workers are still in limbo, many have actually died. And, again, this remains unresolved.”
Mr Anthony said the striking Vatukoula workers were still waiting for “some kind of settlement or compensation.”
“But it’s not happening and it’s not going to happen with this government, if this government were to stay on.
“We’ve talked about the right to strike, while the law says that we do have a right to strike, but there are other laws like the internal security decree that disallows any form of action.
“We saw that during the termination of CAAF workers, where the police were all over the place.
“In fact, stopping workers from even sitting down having some grog, stopping workers from even sitting in the office at FTUC.
“Now that doesn’t happen in a democracy.”
