[File Photo]

Energy Fiji Limited workers will go on strike from 25th February 2026 unless management engages meaningfully with the Construction, Energy and Timber Workers Union of Fiji over long-standing employment issues.

Union National Secretary J A Paul says a Notice of Strike was issued on 9th January, following a secret ballot conducted in 2025 among EFL workers. The union represents about 500 EFL employees, with membership continuing to grow.

Paul says the decision was made with regret, as EFL is an essential service and any industrial action will cause nationwide disruption to electricity supply.

The union says the strike notice was issued after EFL refused to negotiate 10 percent wage increases for 2024 and 2025, failed to pay shift allowances, live-line allowances for crane operators, and refused to upgrade pay rates for live-line workers.

Paul says the wage claims are “catch-up claims”, following more than a decade of erosion of workers’ conditions after EFL was declared an essential industry in 2011, which restricted collective bargaining.

He claims no collective agreement was concluded between 2011 and 2022, resulting in reduced wages, compromised benefits and the loss of hundreds of skilled workers to overseas and local opportunities.

The union has also raised concerns over pay inequality, alleging that nine senior EFL executives earned a combined $3.3 million in 2024, a 14 percent increase, while ordinary workers received no wage increase.

Paul says the situation worsened after EFL initiated legal action against the union, alleging defamation over communications sent to members — a move the union describes as unprecedented and an attempt to intimidate workers.

The union is now calling on the Prime Minister and Government to urgently intervene and direct EFL management back to the negotiating table.

Paul says the union remains open to dialogue but will not back down from defending workers’ rights, warning that failure to act will result in major disruption across the country.

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.