Felix Anthony taken in for questioning

Fiji Trades Union Congress National Secretary Felix Anthony has been taken in for questioning by Police.

Acting Police Chief of Intelligence, Bitukula Waqanui says Anthony was taken in this afternoon in relation to an alleged breach of the Public Order Act.

Anthony was in a tripartite meeting with the Minister and employers representative when he was taken in for questioning by Police.

Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho states that Police carried out their work under the Public Order Act today when it handled the unlawful gathering of FTUC members at the Water Authority of Fiji depots in different parts of the country.

While FTUC National Secretary Felix Anthony says that Police have no role to play in this issue, Commissioner Qiliho says the law is clear.

Qiliho says they are also ready for the FTUC’s planned nationwide protest on Friday and will deal with any unlawful gathering.

Anthony says today is a day they recognise that Fiji is a Police State after police intervened in the planned gathering of Water Authority of Fiji workers whose contracts expired yesterday.

While addressing more than 200 of those workers at the FTUC Headquarters in Suva this afternoon, Anthony says the 2013 Constitution gives them the right to assemble.

He says in Lautoka they removed workers from the depot and when the workers were moved to a land that belongs to the union, Police came and removed the tent and arrested some people.

Anthony also says that when the lawyers went to represent those arrested workers they were not allowed to be present when the workers were being interviewed.

He says it is not the job of the police to intimidate and instill fear in people.

Anthony says they now have more than 2,075 families who have been deprived of an income with only a few days notice.

Anthony says till today, neither the Water Authority of Fiji nor the Ministry has explained why they have terminated so many people.

He says they have filed a motion in the Employment Tribunal and it will be heard at 2pm tomorrow in Lautoka.

Earlier Today:

Anthony had earlier said that people will find out today whether Water Authority workers will have a nationwide protest before the planned FTUC protest on Friday.

We are also trying to get comments from the Chairman of the Water Authority Bhavesh Patel on the status of the contracts of the people gathered outside the depots. He is expected to issue a statement later this morning.

Patel had earlier said that it is quite disturbing that Felix Anthony is ready to mislead the workers into a strike based on a Facebook page which contains news and events which never happened.

The press conference that Anthony mentions in his release that the Minister for Infrastructure had announced the restructure and job losses, did not happen.

Patel stresses that Minister Usamate never gave those comments, and he can assure the people of Fiji that 300 projects have not been stalled, or are in limbo.

Patel says this is completely incorrect information.

The Water Authority of Fiji has reiterated that, contrary to the union’s claims, about 600 staff have successfully passed their performance assessment and will be receiving contract renewals.

Patel says as the Water Authority does every single year, the upcoming projects have been identified and advertised.

Operations Manager Sekove Uluinayau says this is standard practice in the Water Authority of Fiji in regard to temporary workers, and staff are well aware of this. Uluinayau says it is quite unfortunate that the unions have spread this information and this has negatively affected the Water Authority family who are a close unit.

The management met with staff at Wailoku Depot to address their issues and receive their applications for temporary workers’ project placements.

In a statement, Anthony is asking Water Authority Chairman Bhavesh Patel to confirm how many workers’ contracts are being terminated and the real reasons for the mass terminations.

He claims the union is aware that more than 300 projects are incomplete and left in limbo.

Anthony is also refuting comments from the Water Authority Chairman that no one is being terminated.

He claims that the Minister for Infrastructure had said to the media that the contracts of 600 permanent staff and 2,300 temporary workers were going to be terminated.

Anthony further says in the statement that the Water Authority Chairman should know that in companies where unions exist and a Collective Agreement is in place, no individual contracts are signed.

He also says that no worker has signed a contract ending yesterday nor is there any such provision in the Collective Agreement.

The Water Authority of Fiji says nobody’s contract is being terminated in their response to claims by the FTUC that termination notices have been given to about 2,600 Water Authority of Fiji workers.

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