ACTU President
Ged Kearney said the conference in Geneva was this week set to hear from
Fiji union leaders about the military regime’s restrictions on worker
and human rights. It was also to hear cases of 24 other countries where
violations of workers’ rights are considered to be extremely serious. But
Ms Kearney said the International Organisation of Employers had refused
to allow discussion about any cases of abuse of labour rights,
including those occurring in Fiji.“This
shocking and self-interested action from the international employer
group is nothing short of irresponsible and the only purpose it serves
is to prevent international scrutiny of the atrocities that are
occurring against workers around the world,” Ms Kearney said.
Fijian
authorities were this week to appear before a tripartite committee at
the conference to explain their serious and persistent failure to
respect freedom of association as required by ILO Convention 87, their
mistreatment of workers and trade unions and their failure to respond to
ILO requests for change.The
committee presented an important and rare opportunity for the Fiji Trade
Union Congress and other workers, governments and employers, to tell
the international community what is happening in the island nation. It
would also have been an opportunity for the international community to
call on Fiji to immediately repeal the offensive decrees that restrict
worker and union rights, and to fulfil their obligations under
fundamental ILO conventions.
Fiji Trade Union Congress Secretary Felix Anthony said workers in viewed the ILO as a glimmer of hope.“But
this hope has been dashed by employers who failed to see the bigger
picture and to understand the real role of the ILO,” Mr Anthony said.
“These employers are obsessed with their own interest rather than that
of labour around the world who pin their hope and aspirations on the ILO
to ensure dignity at work.”
Ms
Kearney said unionists from around the world had travelled to Geneva,
some risking their lives in doing so, because it presented an
opportunity to draw the attention of the international community to the
abuses of workers’ rights occurring in their countries. This is the
first time since the Committee was formed in 1926 that cases of serious
non-compliance with ILO conventions by member-states have not been
heard.Fijian workers’ rights have
increasingly been violated under Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s
unelected government, which over the last year has stepped up its attack
through the introduction of new decrees that place even greater
restrictions on human rights.“Fijian
workers not only deserve for their story to be told to the ILO, but the
world has an obligation to stand up for them and to condemn the Fijian
authorities for their actions,” Ms Kearney said.The
action by employer groups comes as the annual survey of violations of
trade union rights by the International Trade Union Confederation said
the Fijian “military junta launched an aggressive campaign to dismantle
the trade union movement” in 2011.
Advice from ACTU we site www.actu.org.au
