Pay boost for Fiii sugar workers "vote-buying"

Transcript

Fiji sugar workers say they'll accept a pay rise they've been offered but they've dismissed the increase as a mere vote-buying exercise.

The regime leader Frank Bainimarama announced at the weekend employees of the Fiji Sugar Corporation will get a five percent pay increase backdated to the beginning of the year.

The acting General Secretary for the Fiji Sugar and General Workers' Union, Mikaele Mataka told Sally Round the workers turned down a 5.3% pay increase last year and threatened to strike, saying their wages had declined in real terms by 40 percent.

MIKAELE MATAKA: The 5% is not enough because the workers have actually lost the value of the money by 40%. For the last eight years there hasn't been any pay rise.

SALLY ROUND: So how do you feel about this 5% being offered?

MM: This 5% is long overdue. It should have been more.

SR: So will you accept it?

MM: You have to understand what the members are going through. They will accept it but we still want more.

SR: Will you be trying to press for more?

MM: Well the problem is the management is not talking with us at the moment.

SR: So you'll just have to accept this.

MM: We will accept it yeah, but it's not enough.

SR: What happened to that threat of strike action last year?

MM: We were not allowed to conduct meetings at the workplace and our members were victimised or threatened by the security and the military.

SR: So how come this pay rise has come now?

MM: It's come now because the election is just around the corner in September. A vote-buying gimmick.

SR: It was announced at a sports day in Lautoka. What was the reaction from the workers?

MM: The members feel that they have been sold out because they were expecting more than that, because they have toiled for the last seven, eight years with no pay rise. They will accept it but they were expecting more.

SR: So they feel like there's nothing more they can do, is that the case?

MM: Yes because we feel helpless because the management is not talking with the union. There's no freedom of negotiation or whatever. The workers rights in this country are not being practised.

SR: (The workers) will be receiving the pay rise in the next pay packet, how much does it equate to?

MM: Just a couple of dollars extra. They are not very highly paid. Most of them are getting $3.40, $3.50 an hour.

SR: So just a drop in the bucket?

MM: Exactly. Exactly.