ANF supports rally for Fiji workers' rights

Published: 5 September 2011

Nurses and midwives will join other Australians in protests held today against Fiji’s military regime which has enacted laws and other measures to weaken trade unions and disadvantage working people.

Two protests, in Sydney and Canberra, will be held as Daniel Urai, President of the Fiji Trade Union Congress and General Secretary of the National Union of Hospitality, Catering and Tourism Industries Employees, and his union organiser Nitin Gounder are scheduled to appear in Nadi Magistrates Court in Fiji charged with unlawful assembly.

ANF Federal Secretary Lee Thomas said Fiji’s military regime led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama has introduced decrees that have removed workers’ rights, including the cancellation of collective agreements within 60 days, bans on strike action, and bans on union representation for workers.

“The ANF condemns the decision by the military regime in Fiji to attack the rights of Fijian workers, including those of nurses and midwives,” Ms Thomas said.

Ms Thomas said the most recent example was the pronouncement that payroll deduction arrangements for public sector unions were to cease.

The ANF has written to the government with its concerns for the Fiji Nursing Association (FNA). “As the professional and industrial representative of nurses in Fiji, FNA relies almost exclusively on payroll deductions to fund the range of services it provides to nursing groups across the country,” she said.

FNA is also heavily involved in the provision of education and professional development activities to promote the role of nursing and nurses in Fiji, Ms Thomas said. “In the absence of sufficient funds to provide these services, they will cease and this will have a detrimental effect on nurses and ultimately the provision of health services in Fiji.”

For more information on the protests, visit: http://www.rightsatwork.com.au/Home/Campaigns/Human-Rights-for-Fiji.aspx

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