Employment Tribunal Magistrate Andrew See has recommended that the representatives of the National Union of Workers and Water Authority of Fiji including its senior management officials hold an extensive review of issues between the two parties.
This is after the matter of dispute between the Water Authority and it’s former employees was brought to the Employment Tribunal.
He has also recommended that they solve all compliance issues that may have arisen within the dispute.
The National Union of Workers is represented by its General Secretary, Felix Anthony, Mark Anthony and Latelita Qaqa while the Water Authority of Fiji is represented by Devanesh Sharma and Gul Fatima.
Devanesh Sharma revealed in court that in an earlier sitting of the Employment Tribunal, the National Union of Workers had agreed that the workers whose employment was in dispute be given interim contracts which came to an end on the 30th of April 2019.
Felix Anthony then stood up and said that the union had challenged this.
The tribunal used the example of a worker who was employed as the clerical officer, and it was established that this worker was given the notice of her contract coming to an end on the 25th of April.
Magistrate Andrew See then told Sharma that the worker, given the fact that she has been employed by the employer for more than 12 months, be given the notice at least two weeks in advance.
Sharma agreed to this after citing clause 4, section 29 of the Collective Agreement.
Felix Anthony then raised the issue that this particular worker was not part of a project and that her position was part of the company’s ongoing operations.
Sharma then told the tribunal that these matters could have been resolved through meditation and said that there was a right time and place to talk about these issues.
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