Parliament has passed the Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2023.

Attorney General Siromi Turaga emphasized the pressing need for parliamentary approval during the motion, underscoring the urgency due to widespread concerns regarding the compliance of the Employment Relations Act 2007 with international labour standards.

He says the bill is just the beginning of the work that the government seeks to carry out in order to upgrade Fiji’s compliance level.

“Mr. Speaker, there was widespread criticism of the ENI decree and ENI regulations by Fiji unions, including the Fiji Trade Union Congress, the Fiji Island Council of Trade Unions, and internationally by the International Trade Union Confederation, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Commonwealth Trade Union Group, and the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions, in its observation of Convention 87 of 2012, urged the Fiji government to take the necessary measure to amend the ENI decree without delay in full consultation with the social partners, so as to bring into conformity with Convention number 87.”

Turaga highlighted that Clause 1 of the Employment Relations Amendment, Bill 23, makes provision for the short title and commencement, which is amending legislation, to come into force on a date or dates appointed by the Minister by notice in the gazette.

Clause 2 of the Bill amends Sections 1(8) and 5(5) of the Act, introducing a new definition for essential services and industry or essential services and industries in order to revert to the original list of services in Schedule 7 by deleting reference to national industries designated under the Essential National Industries Decree.

Employment Minister, Agni Deo Singh

He adds that Clause 3 of the bill amends Section 1(8)(a) of the act to increase the time limit for workers in essential service to lodge or file an employment grievance from 21 days to six months, the date on which a grievance first arose.

Employment Minister Agni Deo Singh while supporting the bill, highlighted that it will bring changes to the workers of this country.

“All was fine until 2011, when everything was fine. There were no complaints because the law was catering to everybody’s rights. It was only when they were tinkering with this in 2011 as an interim regime where nobody had any right to protest or be opposed, and if they did, you know what happened.”

27 parliament members voted for the bill, 23 voted against it, and 4 abstained.