The Suva City Council Management had a good discussion this morning with the Fiji Trades Union Congress on the issue raised by the employees of SCC Health Services as to why they have not been paid for their extra hours for the past 3 weeks.
Special Administrator and Acting CEO Tevita Boseiwaqa acknowledged the staff's efforts and emphasised that the management is looking into the issue.
Boseiwaqa says the management is responsible for resolving this issue and indicates it was not the workers' fault.
During their meeting, the CEO informed the workers that the old process had not been followed, and resulted in the excessive amount of extra hours the employees have and there needs to be a balance between work and family time.
Boseiwaqa says for the past administrations, the approval of extra hours of work was approved by lower-level supervisors but this was supposed to be approved by the CEOs because they are still governed by the union collective organs and by the laws and the Employment Relations Act.
He adds what they want is for their staff to work within the laws so that there is productivity at the workplace, not forgetting at home, and they believe that ending this will balance this out.
Meanwhile, an anonymous staff member told fijivillage News this morning that they informed the CEO about their overdue overtime pay, and are awaiting the results of the Management discussion.
As of this morning, the staff at the Health Depot are only working their standard 8-hour shifts from 8am to 4pm and will no longer have to work extra hours if it is approved by the CEO.
The staff members added that the workers plan to collaborate with unions to address their concerns at the next Annual General Meeting, potentially calling for the new administration to step down or consider a strike. Assistant General Secretary for the Fiji Trades Union Congress, Attar Singh, confirmed that the workers have raised the issue with the CEO and it is under consideration.
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