I am informed the Fiji media has not reported anything on this submission, and I cannot see why. It is critical of government inaction in recent years but its recommendations to the Commission are sound, and the root of the unresolved problem goes back to 1991. The union's concerns seem to have fallen between the cracks created by the demise of the Ombudsman's Office and the Fiji Human Rights Commission and the Abrogation of the 1997 Constitution in 2009. I trust my publication of their submission will remind Government of its promise to the mine workers in 2007, and of the right of all workers to expect fair treatment.
Vatukoula Gold Mine in Ba Province
Date Dated 31/8/12
Honourable
Members of the Constitution Commission,
1.0 Introduction
We,
members of the Fiji
Mineworkers Union (FMUW)
who have been on strike in Fiji since 27th
February 1991-
that is for 21
years
and
6 months,
make these submissions to the Honourable Constitution Review
Commission.
Our
strike is considered to be the longest in history and is mentioned in
the Guinness Book of Records.
- Background
The
reason that we are making these submissions to the Commission is
because in 2007, when the current Government took over, we were
promised resolution of our strike by the following government
representatives at a meeting held at the Fiji Human Rights Commission
on 23rd
April 2007. These representatives were:
Captain
Teleni (former Deputy Commander of the RFMF);
Captain
Leweni (former Military spokesman);
Interim
Attorney-General Mr Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum
After
that meeting nothing much eventuated and the former Director of the
Human Rights Commission, Dr Shaista Shameem, wrote regularly to the
Attorney General seeking up-dates to which there were no responses.
Subsequently,
our Union and the Human Rights Commission had decided to take the
matter to the court through the mechanisms of Chapter
4 of the 1997 Constitution
and specifically under section
33 on Fair Labour Practices
and also the Human
Rights Commission Act 1999.
However
before
our application could be filed in court, the 1997 Constitution was
thrown out. That was in April 2009. At the same time the Human Rights
Commission and Ombudsman’s Office became defunct.
The Human Rights Commission is now open
in
name
only.
In
2009, the Fiji Mineworkers Union formally withdrew our case from the
Human Rights Commission. Instead we decided to send our complaint
directly
to the International
Labour Organisation
in Geneva. Our complaint was drafted in the form of a Communication,
and sent to the Committee
on Freedom of Association
and to the Committee
of Experts
of the ILO.
A
copy of the ILO communication with attachments can be made available
to the Commission if it would like to have a copy.
However,
we will just outline a
few points
because this has a connection
with our submissions today.
3.0
FMUW
Complaint to the ILO and the Committee of Experts on the
Application of Conventions and Recommendations, and the Committee on
Freedom of Association.
A
short
summary
of the FMWU complaint to the ILO Committee of Experts is as follows:
- that our 1991 strike action had not been resolved despite the current Government’s undertaking in 2007.
- that the current Government has not communicated properly with the FMWU about how they would deal with our community’s problems at Vatukoula, including problems faced by women and children.
- that the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution and the Human Rights Commission Act has interfered with the just rights of the Union members to seek redress in the courts under the Bill of Rights.
- that the promulgation of the new Human Rights Commission Decree in 2009 removes important protection of rights of union members and employees in Fiji because they find it very difficult to seek redress from the courts.
- that there is a perception that employment rights are no longer protected in Fiji.
- that our members are being victimized by the Government and the Commissioner Western’s staff for expressing our right to strike; including by threats of eviction in Vatukoula where the striking miners still occupy some company houses. We can elaborate on this victimization with examples if the Constitutional Commission would like us to.
- that new anti-union decrees have made the situation of striking miners even worse than before since the law has become very strict in relation to protest by workers in Fiji.
- Up-date on the ILO complaint
The
ILO Committee of Experts is investigating
our complaint and has been asking the Fiji Government to reply to the
complaint.
We
say to
this Constitutional Commission
that the Fiji Government recently mis-informed
the
ILO
about our situation.
But
the ILO Committee is seeking further
Government views
in light of our response to the Fiji Government statement
to the ILO
on our grievance.
- Our Recommendations on a new Constitution
Because
of our experiences in the past 21 years and also after 2009, we of
the Fiji
Mineworkers Union
strongly make the following six
(6) recommendations
about a new
Constitution for Fiji:
- Protect and Promote labour rights as Fiji is a signatory to the ILO Conventions
One
of the most
important
aspects of any Constitution in Fiji is that it should respect the
rights Fiji has undertaken to protect under the ILO.
This
international
law,
namely the ILO Convention, should be protected by Constitution.
- Include 1997 Constitutional protection for trade unions and fair labour practices
Protection
of labour rights
should be based on the Bill
of Rights
provisions of the 1997 Constitution. We specially
emphasize
that sections
32 and 33
should be included in a new Constitution. Section
32
protects Freedom
of Association
and section
33
gives workers the right
to form trade unions.
Section
33 also
states that every person has the
right to fair labour practices.
These
above are very important rights. After 2009 we were prevented
from making an application to the courts for protection of our rights
in relation to our long-standing strike and after
that
we faced harassment
by the Commissioner Western’s Office and the security forces.
(iii) The
Constitution should have the requirement for a robust and independent
Human Rights Commission and Ombudsman’s Office
In
the past, the striking Fiji Mineworkers Union had gone to the Human
Rights Commission and Ombudsman’s Office for assistance.
However
with the abrogation
of the Constitution in 2009 the Ombudsman’s Office has remained
empty
and the Human Rights Commission has come under the influence
and direction
of
the Attorney General’s Office.
A number of staff of the Commission have been incorporated into the
Attorney General’s Office.
This
needs to be changed in the new Constitution as Fiji’s
Human Rights Commission and Ombudsman’s Office need
to be truly
independent.
- Independent judiciary
For
workers’ rights to be properly protected there needs to be an
independent
judiciary and labour tribunals.
At present there are only 2
members
in the Employment Tribunal and decisions take too
long
to be handed down.
The
Tribunal members should also be independent
of business interests.
An
independent
judiciary, which includes an independent employment Tribunal,
and cannot be compromised
by the Government or business interests, is important for labour
rights to be protected in Fiji.
(v) Protect
the Employment Relations Promulgation from interference
New
decrees have undermined
the Employment
Relations Promulgation 2007
which protected rights of workers. These new decrees should be
repealed as they are not in compliance with the ILO Convention.
- The Bill of Rights provisions in the Constitution
The
Bill of Rights provisions in the 1997 Constitution should remain in
place, especially the avenues
of redress
in section
41 Enforcement
provisions
which allow a person to go directly to the Court if he or she feels
that rights are being violated or likely to be violated by the State.
The
Bill of Rights in the Constitution should also be the most important
part of the Constitution and all state officials at all levels should
abide
by the Bill of Rights.
Honourable
members of the Commission,
we make our submissions
after suffering
serious
labour rights violations
over the past
21 years.
If
there are any questions
you would like to ask about our
strike,
we would be happy to answer to that.
Thank
you.
Joe
Sedreu,
President,
On
behalf of the Fiji Mineworkers Union Executives and members.
No comments:
Post a Comment