Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Professor Biman Prasad says the Fiji Government will not intervene in the governance structure of the University of the South Pacific.
Yesterday, Prof Prasad, Education Minister Aseri Radrodro, and Education Ministry permanent secretary Selina Kuruleca, attended the 96th USP Council meeting in Suva.
They were greeted by USP staff, who gathered to protest the exclusion of the USP Staff Paper from the meeting agenda.
Speaking to The Fiji Times, Prof Prasad said staff were free to air their grievances.
“The Government obviously has a mechanism, we are a member of the council, and we believe in solidarity and collective decision making, consensus decision making within the university council,” he said.
“So, whatever the position the Fiji Government will have, will be articulated in the council. That’s the governance.
“Fiji Government is not going to interfere in the governance structure of the USP and we respect that.
“Obviously staff and management – if there are issues – they need to sit down and resolve these to the satisfaction of both the parties.”
He added that Government believed in workers’ rights, and this showed with the passing of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2023, which gave freedom to unions, leaders, and workers.
“As the Government, we don’t have any issues of workers making their demands to their respective employers and we would like to see industrial harmony.
“We would like to see productivity enhanced, we would like the tripartite to work, we’d like unions and employers to sit down and resolve issues,” said Prof Prasad.
Queries sent to Mr Radrodro yesterday remained unanswered when this edition went to press last night.
