A stand-off involving 200 workers at Fiji's main international airport is into its fifth day.
The workers say they have been locked out by the company, Air Terminal Services (ATS), which provides baggage handling, catering and engineering services at the international airport in Nadi.
Fiji Airways and Air New Zealand at Nadi International Airport Photo: Alex Perrottet/RNZ
The government said a walkout by the workers on Saturday was illegal and the company is asking the workers to sign a declaration before it will allow them to return to their jobs.
Vilikesa Naulumatua of the Federated Airline Services Union said the workers wanted to return to work but without conditions.
He said meetings, mediated by the Ministry of Employment, to find a resolution were still going on.
"What (the workers) did was unfortunate but they had to make a point. They made a point for three hours. Now they go back to work. These guys hold them out for five days now. I don't know how five days is solving the issue here."
ATS board chair Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told Fiji One News it was a fact that the workers had abandoned their jobs on Saturday.
NC Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
"They left the operations of the airport in a very critical situation.
"If you leave you job and you come back when you want to come back, there has to be some sort of repercussions."
He said the workers had been asked to sign a statement acknowledging they had abandoned their jobs, apologising and agreeing to any disciplinary action by management.
