The Ministry of Employment has sought a tripartite dialogue with the ILO, the FTUC and the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation.

Minister Parveen Bala says, unfortunately, the contribution from FTUC General Secretary Felix Anthony during the meeting left the Ministry deeply concerned that he is not interested in working with anyone to uphold the interests of Fijian workers.

Bala says Anthony is instead singularly focused on derailing the direct economic benefits of the ongoing conference being hosted in Denarau, which is the 52nd Asian Development Bank meeting.

He says it’s his job to sustain and create jobs for ordinary Fijians and one of the best ways to do that is by marketing Fiji, Fijian products and the talents of the Fijian people to the rest of the world.

Bala adds during the meeting, Anthony claims that unions had not been consulted during the Government’s ongoing civil service reform programme.

He mentions that this is not true as the government has made every effort to consult regularly with all public-sector unions.

The Minister adds that Anthony cited the situation at the Water Authority as an unfair violation of workers’ rights, however, he failed to acknowledge that no permanent staff has been terminated from WAF and that all WAF contracted employees were paid out through the entirety of their project periods of employment.

The Ministry is confident that WAF has met with all legal requirements pertaining to project workers and that they have given current project workers the opportunity to be engaged in future WAF projects.

Bala is urging workers not to celebrate the occasion by sacrificing a historic opportunity for Fiji, all to prevent Anthony’s fizzling relevance.