The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Council of Fiji has revealed that no political parties have sought consultation with them before making claims to increase the National Minimum Wage.
Council President, Michael Towler has raised his disappointment against some political parties who have gone ahead making reckless and dishonest promises to Fijians.
Towler says most of the promises about increasing the National Minimum Wage to $4, $5 or even up to $10 an hour has been repeatedly made during political party campaigns.
“We would like to have a discussion with them. We would like to put our case to them but they have already gone out there with those figures. There has never been any consultation with us – nobody has very come and asked us.”
Towler is calling on political parties to do their homework before making farfetched promises.
He says an election campaign is not the right time and place to have a national minimum wage debate, but the responsible act for political parties is to seek dialogue with the council in determining the appropriate mechanism in settling the minimum wage.
The council believes an increase of this magnitude cannot be manageable with claims that 7,000 Fijians employed in the industry would be unemployed.
The National Federation Party is advocating a minimum wage rate of $5 per hour, while the Social Democratic Liberal Party and HOPE are fighting for $4 and $10 per hour rate respectively.
