Anti-union laws retained

Fiji's finance minister, Paul Manueli, says the country's controversial labour reforms will not be revoked. The laws, introduced by the previous interim government in 1991, severely curtail trade union rights.

Manueli said on April 29 that cabinet had discussed demands from union leaders for the complete rescinding of the laws and they were in the national interest.

The government would be responding to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on its criticisms, said Manueli. The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association has condemned several of the provisions of the labour laws as a violation of “fundamental human and trade union rights”.

The leader of the opposition Fiji Labour Party, Mahendra Chaudhry, has criticised the government in parliament for failing to rescind the laws. He said their contravention of ILO conventions was the reason the government was not sending a delegation to the ILO's annual conference in Geneva this year.

A review of the laws was promised by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in return for Fiji Labour Party support in his bid for the prime ministership after last year's general elections.

The Fiji Trade Union Congress has threatened a national strike if the government fails to abolish the controversial labour laws.
[Pacnews via Pegasus.]

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