Proposed Employment Relations Bill sparks concerns over workers’ rights

The consultative and good faith approach in employment relations exemplified by the Employment Relations Act of 2007 appears to have completely disappeared in the proposed Employment Relations Bill No 27 of 2025, University of Fiji Vice Chancellor Professor Shaista Shameem, said.

She said there was a fundamental flaw in the Bill, which affected the entire scheme of the proposed legislation, particularly the reference to compulsory unionism in Fiji.

The new section 6(5) of the Bill said workers must voluntarily join a trade union which was a contradiction and did not make any sense, since the word ‘must’ was mandatory but the word ‘voluntarily’ gave a choice, Ms Shameem said.

“The resulting confusion as to whether unionism would be compulsory in Fiji would lead to massive labour/capital instability and cause industrial chaos and conflict,” she said.

“Nothing can be mandatory if voluntary.”

The proposed section would violate the freedom of association provisions in the International Labour Organisation’s legal framework and Fiji’s constitution, Ms Shameem said.

“The major flaw in section 6(5) made the entire Bill difficult to understand, and impossible to apply if it became law,” she said.

“Clauses had become ambiguous and difficult to implement.

“A related problem is the ERA 2007’s Labour-Management Consultation and Cooperation Committees (LMCC) has also become a casualty of the proposed system because it has been deleted from the draft legislation.”

Ms Shameem said the original sentiment of the ERA 2007, namely, fair labour practices, good faith, structure of rights and responsibilities of both worker and employer and consultation between labour and management in the workplace, were diminished.