Fiji update – Military moves into sugar mills

As the anti-union actions of the Fijian military dictatorship continue (click here for details and link to urgent action), soldiers are now present 24/7 in all Fiji’s sugar mills.

The IUF has received reports that soldiers are supervising workers  and  dishing out military style punishments to workers such as making them  do  push- ups at the workplace or run around  the grounds.  In many cases the military is present in meetings between the IUF-affiliated FSGWU and the sugar mill management and decides on the disciplinary action to be taken. The military officers constantly remind workers that the FSGWU is no more and that workers need to listen to them only.

There is worrying evidence that the Fiji Sugar Corporation is taking advantage of the situation to breach both the CBA and the existing labour laws.  The company has recently made a unilateral decision not to pay overtime pay for but instead to give time off in lieu. Both the CBA and the law require payment.