15 August, 2011
The ICEM has joined trade unions of Australia, New Zealand, and the UK in protesting flagrant trade union abuses by the military dictatorship in Fiji. On Saturday, 13 August, just two days after dictator Josaia Voreque Bainimarama tried to assure a high-level ILO delegation, including Deputy General Director Guy Ryder, that trade union rights in Fiji were being upheld, police showed up at the opening of Fiji Trades Union Congress’s (FTUC) national council meeting and revoked the national centre’s meeting permit.
That came ten days after Daniel Urai, formerly of the ICEM-affiliated Fiji Electricity Workers’ Union, who is President of the FTUC, and union activist Dinesh Gounder were arrested under Fiji’s new Public Emergency Regulation for meeting with trade unionists without a permit. They were charged with unlawful assembly in meeting with hotel workers over a pending collective agreement.
Daniel Urai, Dinesh Gounder
Both were released on bail on 4 August and are due to appear in the Nadi Magistrates Court on 2 September on those charges. (See ICEM protest letter here.)
The arrests, along with broader trade union repression, specifically against FTUC National Secretary Felix Anthony, are seen as recrimination against Fiji union leaders visiting Australia and New Zealand to speak out against the military dictatorship of Commodore Bainimarama.
Australian unions, led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), have begun a number of direct actions against Fiji, which have raised the stakes against Bainimarama’s strong-armed tactics. For example, the Australian Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) has threatened to not load or refuel Qantas air flights headed to Fiji, which would severely impact the Pacific country’s tourism trade. The blockade would also include Air Pacific, a Qantas partner and Fiji’s flag carrier.
On 2 September – the date that Urai and Gounder will be in a Fiji courtroom – the ACTU will organise two manifestations in front of Fiji consular offices in North Sydney and in Deakin near Canberra.
Dictator Bainimarama with ILO Representatives Last Week
On 8 August, UK’s Trades Union Congress and ICEM affiliate GMB called on British sugar multinational Tate & Lyle to challenge the Bainimarama regime’s abusive tactics. Tate & Lyle purchases 100% of Fiji’s sugar exports and the illegitimate Fijian ruler has a controlling stake in sugar production.
On the same day that Urai and Gounder were arrested, 3 August, a dictum was issued by Bainimarama – Fiji’s self-appointed Prime Minister following a 2006 coup – called the Essential National Industries Employment Decree. It bans all industrial actions, will ban workers from being covered by collective agreements in 60 days time, and restricts wage and benefit growth.
Despite this, Bainimarama told the ILO delegation last week he was not trying to ban unions or take away workers’ rights. Not many in the international community believe this, least of all the government of Australia, which has recalled its envoy from Fiji.
On 4 August, the day Urai and Gounder were released, Australian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Martin Ferguson, issued a statement saying: “Since 2006 the Bainimarama regime has abrogated the constitution; detained political leaders; sacked the independent judiciary; censored the media; and restricted meetings of civil society, including church groups.
“Despite commitments to hold elections in 2014, it is not clear the regime intends to make good on its promise.
“The restriction of labour rights is part of a concerted campaign to curtail the human rights of the people of Fiji. The rights of workers in Fiji have been targeted through a series of decrees restricting labour rights, the most recent of which was aimed at essential industries.”