A one day national protest has been planned by the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) for May 3 at several venues across the country.

Given that Government and other statutory bodies have been giving unprecedented levels of pay increases without union intervention, this seems to be an attempt to remain relevant.

Their planned national strike will fall during the big Asian Development Bank’s annual meeting in Nadi from May 2 to May 5, the first time the development financier is holding this meeting in the region.

The protest venues have been identified as Nadi, Suva and Labasa. FTUC national secretary Felix Anthony is out of the country and he had yet to respond to queries emailed to him by the Fiji Sun when this edition went to press last night.

Other trade unionists contacted yesterday declined to comment on the matter, saying Mr Anthony was the best person to talk to.

Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations Parveen Bala declined to comment on the planned protest by the unions.

Mr Bala said he would need to know further details about the planned protest before he could comment.