Over 500 people have applied for the jobs advertised by the Water Authority in the last 48 hours.

WAF Board Chair Bhavesh Kumar says this includes many temporary workers whose contracts ended on Tuesday.

“Many of the temporary workers whose contracts have expired are well aware of how things work and instead of being misled by the union to protest, have applied for positions from all locations the country.”

He says the union is going around harping on about unhappy workers, but the high numbers who have applied indicate that many of them have not been fooled by their false information.

WAF General Manager Legal Talei Ligairi says in the past years, their management team gives preference to those who have experience working on their projects, especially those who have performed well.

Ligairi says they are important to them and many of them are aware and already applying.

She says contrary to the Union’s claim on April 1st, workers were given a reminder that their contracts were coming to an end on April 30th.

She is pleading with the temporary workers who are relying on the bad advice from unions too, please, seek advice from independent sources, lawyers and even their HR team.

Ligairi adds termination on its own can be misinterpreted as it can also refer to someone being fired and this is not the case here.

Meanwhile, more than 300 Water Authority staff gathered at the Fiji Trades Union Congress Head Quarters yesterday afternoon after they were told not to protest at the Wailoku depot.

Unionist Attar Singh informed the employees of a tribunal hearing today.

He also spoke out against the action of police officers who interfered and told the workers not to protest.

“It is very very unfortunate that police decided you are committing a crime and you got chased away from a place where you have a legal right to be.”

The WAF and the National Union of Workers are due to reconvene before the arbitration court next Tuesday to sort any issues out.