The Minister for Employment Parveen Bala says he is confident that the Water Authority of Fiji has met with all legal requirements pertaining to project workers.
Bala says they also know that the Water Authority of Fiji has given current project workers the opportunity to be engaged in future WAF projects.
The Employment Minister says FTUC National Secretary Felix Anthony has failed to acknowledge that no permanent staff have been terminated from WAF, and that all WAF contracted employees were paid out through the entirety of their project periods of employment.
The Ministry of Employment had a tripartite dialogue with the International Labour Organisation, the Fiji Trades Union Congress and the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation yesterday.
Bala says the contribution from Anthony during the meeting left the Ministry deeply concerned that he is not interested in working with anyone to uphold the interests of Fijian workers.
Police and protesters at the WAF Reservoir Road depot
The Employment Minister says Anthony is instead singularly focused on derailing the direct economic benefits of the ongoing conference being hosted in Denarau, the single largest international gathering ever held in Fiji.
Bala says he met with Anthony because he wanted to make sure this meeting was a success but Anthony wasn’t interested in any of that. He wasn’t interested in helping Fiji create and sustain more jobs and produce higher salaries for ordinary people – the only job he is interested in sustaining is his own.
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