By Norm Dixon
Fiji's trade unions on April 23 staged a widely observed general strike to protest against the government's attempts to impose wage restraint and its refusal to stem the loss of jobs associated with economic "restructuring". More than 40,000 workers took part.
On April 2, the government imposed an order limiting wage rises to 3% this year and 3% in 1999. Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and finance minister Jim Ah Koy made it plain that the measure was designed to ensure that workers' wages would not rise enough to cover price increases caused by the 20% devaluation of the Fiji dollar in March.
"Our devaluation would be meaningless if we do not consider the follow-up actions, and one of them is the restriction on wage increases", Rabuka declared.
Ah Koy also announced that after 1999, wage increases could be based only on increased productivity. Cost of living adjustments would be stopped.
The Fiji Trade Union Congress (FTUC) threatened a general strike unless the order was withdrawn. "This is a do or die situation. There have been very strong assaults on workers recently. Our very survival has been threatened", said FTUC secretary Pratap Chand.
In an effort to head off the strike, Rabuka delayed the implementation of the order — due to come into effect on April 17 — pending talks with the FTUC and the employers.
Talks broke down on April 22 after the government refused to withdraw completely the wage restrictions, and employers ruled out the FTUC's demand that sackings due to "restructuring" be ended. The bosses also refused to allow automatic deduction of union dues from workers' pay.
The Fiji Times reported on April 24 that the government was considering a mass prosecution of union members employed in essential services. It claimed that workers had breached a law requiring them to give 28 days' notice of a strike in government-defined essential services.
The industrial relations department is to refer complaints made by employers and government department managers to the police commissioner and the director of public prosecutions for investigation.