The FPSA members who are civil servants say Mr Singh has no mandate to speak on behalf of them when there was no consultation done on the issue of seeking support from fellow unions in Australia and New Zealand.
“We will also be writing to the Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama to express our support for the Government and to also take action against these anti-Fiji union leaders,” the FPSA members said.
The Ministry of Information permanent secretary Ms Sharon Smith-Johns confirmed that a group of civil servants who are union members have raised concerns regarding the conduct of Mr Singh.
“I am not surprised by this because concerns expressed by this group of union members are genuine and I understand their frustration and the call for resignation. The group will meet soon to discuss further action against Mr Singh,” she said.
The concerned civil servants said: “We are paying Mr Singh a salary of more than $200,000, apart from provision of executive BMW X5 car, housing and other perks”.
“We expect Mr Singh to dialogue with the Government on various issues affecting civil servants but he is in Australia spreading lies about Fiji.
“We are very surprised as how can Mr Singh represents government workers yet work against the nation and people of Fiji who are his members – the civil servants are supposed to serve.
“On many occasions the Public Service Commission has requested Mr Singh for discussions on civil service reforms he has not turned up. What kind of attitude is this?”
The members questioned the role of Mr Singh whose actions are hurting the economy of Fiji with possible job losses to FPSA members.
“We call on all union leaders like Mr Singh to resign immediately and not to return to Fiji.”
The members have also expressed support for the Government saying that “the current Government is doing what no other Government has done for the workers before”.
The Government is biggest employer in the country with more than 27,000 civil servants and a salaries and wages bill of more than $750million.
“There has been no erosion of workers rights in Fiji in fact the workers are benefiting from the Labour reforms, which are now becoming a model to other countries in the world,” FPSA members said.
“The Employment Relations Law allows anybody to join a union and all union deductions for subscriptions are allowed by the Government and other employers.
“It is only the disgruntled union leaders who lost their perks when removed from the boards of the statutory bodies such as the Fiji National Provident Fund.
“The union leaders had also accompanied the Labour Minister to the International Labour Organization Meeting in Geneva and have endorsed the labour reforms.’
FPSA is the largest trade union in the country representing the biggest employer, the Government with more than 5000 members contribute more than $1million in subscription to FPSA
The civil servants have called on the Australian and New Zealand Council Trade Unions to re-think their stand on the support for former Fiji union leaders
-- No:1473/MOI
5 comments:
This whole article is from the Ministry of Information. I would rather here from the Union members themselves before believing this is true.
Since when has Smith Johns been the spokes person for the union?
Why would anyone with any intelligence pay this comedian a single dollar? Let alone several hundred thousand? What does this say about the Fiji Public Servants? Whose interests have they been serving all these years permitting such obscene profligacy in an economy which is daily imploding and will escalate down as a new global recession approaches? No one is paying any attention to the global indicators which are dire. Too preoccupied with insignificant bickering. Sheer folly and in the meantime Union Leaders have run away with even more loot! Watch the goldprice daily.
Remember Arthur Scargill? Leader of the UK Mineworkers Union. He used to drive around Yorkshire and the rest of GB in a loaded Jaguar paid for by the Soviet Union. Margaret Thatcher, Sir Ian McGregor and Rupert Murdoch (yes!) eventually saw him off. A traitor to the miners, the working class and to the country of his birth. A Class Traitor - as the Soviets would have it but in someone else's yard: so they underwrote him, handsomely. The lessons of history are there for all to glean.
Hey Under Pressure - Smith Johns became a spokesperson for the country when the unions decided to become political. Think about it for a minute. These thugs are in Australia supporting a Pro Democracy movement, thats politics, and thats not their mandate.
@ Under Pressure....
There is no hope for you! Whatever makes you believe for one minute that any greedy, grasping trade union leader who milked the FNPF pension fund for obscene board fees and benefits would not LIE to you through his teeth? These are not honest, respectable people. These are what is commonly known as 'scumbags'. They live off some of the most credulous people imaginable until they are found out.
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