Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, 17 October 2024 – A critical element of doing business globally is a conducive business environment.
One that allows you to hire staff, offer a service or products you believe is or will be demanded by potential customers, and a tax regime that allows you to make a profit – because if you cannot make profits after paying staff, bills and buying more raw materials to complete your product or service, why would you be in business in the first place?
The underlying elements other than competition to ensure fairness in pricing, are employment conditions that support staff happiness, loyalty and retention, and employment laws that support decent wages for fair work.
Elements that ILO notes “involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for all, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organise and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men”.
In Fiji, the Ministry of Employment notes its Mission is to “Promote decent work opportunities, ensure safe and healthy workplaces, enhance productivity and encourage good faith employment relations”.
Those good faith employment relations took a step backwards when unions in Fiji were harassed, intimidated, and forced to have a lower profile with the government at the time choosing to ignore its important role in employment and industrial relations.
On the 25th of March 2015, the Minister for Employment, the General Secretary FTUC and the CEO of the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) signed the Tripartite Agreement in the presence of the Director General ILO at the ILO Headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland.
The parties agreed that the review of the labour laws conducted under the Employment Relations Advisory Board (ERAB) mechanism should ensure compliance with the ILO Conventions and that any further issues and recommendations identified by any of the Parties in respect of the Review would only be raised and negotiated through the ERAB mechanism.
Any such issues and recommendations were to take into account the findings of the review to be presented by way of a Bill to the Fijian Parliament no later than the August 2015 session.
ERAB was tasked to vet the Bill before it was presented to Cabinet and then to Parliament with the expectation that this was implemented no later than the end of October 2015.
The significance of this signing and agreement was that it averted the ILO Commission of Inquiry into Fiji being prepared for in 2015 – which was the basis of restoring tripartite consultations outlined in the Agreement.
This included urging the ILO governing body to defer the decision to consider the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to the November 2015 Session of the ILO Governing Body and reaffirming the tripartite principles established in Convention 144 Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No.144), specifically Articles 1-3 of the Convention, and is the foundation for why ERAB was established in the Employment Relations Act in 2007.
In ERAB, the role of the Ministry of Employment acting as the Secretariat is to facilitate the composition and resolute of the Tripartite and execute the confirmed resolutions.
The Employers Reps, nominated by FCEF, Workers Reps or Unions and Government Representatives from several ministries for the Employment Relations Advisory Board (ERAB) with the Ministry of Employment forming the Secretariat.
Having waited this long, the Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, Agni Deo Singh had noted at the reconvening of ERAB in February 2023, that past hindrances for the convening of ERAB meetings, including the composition of its members and the absence of the consultative process between the tripartite members had resulted in a bad image of the tripartite process under the Employment Relations Act 2007.
He also noted at the time that they would ensure this change was managed through the set-up of a genuine tripartite body that would consult all their stakeholders and would “maintain its essence and principles to ensure that the employment-related policies and processes are equitable and inclusive through effective social dialogue and good faith employment relations”.
The Employer Reps were therefore understandably concerned when their initial consultations that commenced in February, with agreed-to amendments from these first tripartite meetings were tossed out without notice and replaced by 4 consequent versions of amendments leading up to October 2024 for which Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) were demanded before the Ministry allowed hard copies of the amendments to be provided.
NDAs that did not allow the hard copies to be copied or shared with the amendments referred to as “confidential information”, for an Employment Act that would soon be Fijian law.
That this was done without further tripartite consultation process with clear indications in the subsequent amendments that the Unions and the Ministry had agreed to those inclusions and changes, was simply responded to by the Ministry that the Employer Reps could simply send in their own submissions.
What happened to the agreement to consult and meet as a tripartite body?
Who would be the independent body that decided which amendments were selected, tossed out or included?
The Ministry of Employment as the ERAB Secretariat cannot and should not be leading the advocacy of both the Union and Government sides and at the same time projecting itself as an independent facilitator, adding to the already difficult situation for Employer Representatives to ignore the fact that the presiding minister has been an experienced unionist for far longer than he has been a minister in the Coalition Government.
The role of any employer within any industry or sector cannot be overstated because the private sector is rightly recognised for driving economic activity and a country’s continued growth, with SMEs contributing over 60% to the employment workforce.
Our tourism industry is not just a key economic driver with SMEs at its heart; the nature of tourism and its multiplier effect through the large supplier networks and flow-on impacts on communities provides thousands of jobs and supports countless families.
More than 70% of tourism businesses are locally owned, while the Fiji National Provident Fund’s (FNPF) role as a significant investor in tourism represents worker ownership indirectly.
The Coalition Government’s recently launched National Development Plan (NDP) outlines how it plans to catalyse economic growth and the diversification of the economy by “promoting greater private sector participation across all sectors to become the driver of growth”.
The NDP further notes that “In this regard, the Government will reduce policy and regulatory impediments to private sector investment, create a conducive ecosystem for efficiency-seeking investment, reduce bureaucratic red tape, address labour and talent constraints and improve access to land. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will be given special attention to increase their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through initiatives to improve access to finance, capacity building and transition of more businesses to formal economy.”
The NDP’s success will be severely undermined by the erosion of employers’ and investors’ confidence in an environment that threatens their freedom to operate without fear.
We are committed to creating a dynamic work environment where our employees feel appreciated and involved, which in turn improves the experience for our visitors. As employers, we recognise the critical importance of offering work settings in a market where the demand for skilled labour requires a more pragmatic approach to staffing.
This is an industry that operates 24/7, is almost always open through shift work, competing fiercely at a global level from a small developing Pacific Island Country that because of a high reliance on imported goods and fresh produce; does so at higher than normal operational costs.
This includes labour costs going up between 20 – 30% post-COVID.
The Employment Relations Act plays a crucial role in shaping the landscape of workplace relationships in Fiji, providing a framework that governs how employers and employees engage.
Central to this framework is ERAB, which serves as a vital conduit for dialogue, ensuring that the perspectives of various stakeholders are considered in the development and implementation of employment policies.
However, the lack of transparency and inclusivity in the current consultations has raised alarm among the Employer representatives.
We remain committed to advocating for a collaborative approach to ensure that our concerns are addressed effectively.
As the CEO of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, and the representative on ERAB for the most significant contributing industry to taxes, foreign exchange, GDP and employment opportunities; I urge all stakeholders to engage actively in discussions that will raise and actively address these concerns.
If we are to achieve our vision for Fiji of economic resilience, people empowerment and good governance then we must first ensure we provide the transparency and consultation to get the foundations right.
Fantasha Lockington – CEO, FHTA (Published in the Fiji Times on 17 October 2024)
Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association
The Voice of the Industry
