Fiji Trade Unions Congress General Secretary, Felix Anthony said that they reject the Employment Relations Promulgation Amendments Bill.

The union made its stance clear yesterday during their submission on the Employment Relations Amendment Bill, before the parliamentary standing committee on Justice, Law and Human rights.

During their submission to the Committie, Opposition member, Semesa Karavaki then questioned Mr Antony if he had approved the Bill (Employment Relations Amendment Bill 2015) since a Bill could only be tabled in Parliament after it has been approved by the Employment Advisory Board.

Mr Antony said that they objected to the Bill being tabled in the first place.

“The real intention of tabling this Bill in a rush was that Government would be able to go to Geneva and say we’ve got the Bill in Parliament and therefore we have complied and therefore there is no need for further action and that is exactly what they did.

“Unfortunately the ILO doesn’t way that way and if you read the ILO report, they regretted that we did not have a joint implementation report and one of the reasons is because of the agreement that we signed required us that we ensure the laws comply with the four labour standards.”

He further highlighted several issues regarding the Bill, the definition of the Essential National Industry Services and also the right to strike by workers.

Mr Antony said it was one thing to repeal the Essential National Industry Services Decree and at the same time include aspects of it in the current ERP Amendments Bill.

Feedback: litia.cava@fijisun.com.fj