Seventy-six permanent staff members and 177 registered relief workers of Fiji Ports Terminal Limited shared a bonus payment of $283, 870.66 for 2015 yesterday.

The Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, said three years in a  row the employees have been receiving bonuses, which is wonderful.

“What we hope to do obviously is to keep up this momentum,” he said.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said previously on these various occasions that when they started the partnership with Aitken Spence about three, four years ago, it brought about a lot of synergy.

“A lot of new ways of doing business that were not done in Fiji before and it is very very critical for us to understand we sometimes need to partner with people outside of Fiji to be able to give us that edge.”

Using the example of the famous Fijian Rugby 7s coach Ben Ryan, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said nobody had complained about Ben Ryan being an expatriate.

In the same way, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said  we need to get the best people to do the right job.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said when Fiji as a country benefits, we all benefit.

He told staff and management that everybody is very important.

“Whether you are a driver, a port handler, a secretary, an accountant, or whoever you are in any team- everybody is important.”

More productivity

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum stressed that productivity is very important.

“If we have increased levels of productivity in Fiji- the total output will increase,” he said.

“Our GDP levels will increase which is the total gross domestic product will increase, which is basically the value of the goods and services we produce.

“It means the government has more money to be able to spend to provide better services.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum added at the moment Government is giving free education, free medicine and subsidising electricity cost.

“Some of you may not realise this but that if your household income is less than $30,000, we pay 17 cents for each unit cost for you. The Government does that,” he said.

“Now, how is Government able to do that is when the GDP increases, we have a greater productivity.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum added the reality is: “If you do not have the level of productivity and the kind of focus we have in management, we won’t be able to get bonuses.”

He pointed out that our ports can be a truly international port and the Government believes that there are a lot of opportunities.

“The chairman talked about bringing in $5 million worth of equipment, also looking at the development of a modernised port,” he said.

“All of that will help you not just keep your jobs, increase salaries but it also would mean we can create more jobs.

“Lot of people who talk about the economy forget the fact that we have to constantly create jobs.

“Nearly 70 per cent of our population are below the age of 40 which means there is a lot of challenges but we have to create opportunities for the young people too.

“This is why we are investing in education and infrastructure.”

Looking after employees

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum further said certain Governments when they got elected – they only looked after the businesses and didn’t look after workers.

“You can look after all sides and make everybody happy as long as you have a focus and increasing the productivity in our country and doing well as a nation.”

Edited BY: RACHNA LAL

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