Any industrial action is the last resort for the union - Naidu

The Fiji Bank and Finance Sector Employees Union says any industrial action is the last resort for the union in their deadlock with BSP in terms of staff remuneration while BSP says any adverse impact from industrial disturbances will no doubt have unintended consequences on staff rewards in 2020.

Union National Secretary Sailesh Naidu says they are open for discussion to amicably resolve this matter at the earliest.

Naidu says if they do decide to take industrial action, they will follow the guidelines in the Employment Relations Act 2007.

Part 19, Division 8, Section 191BN and 191BQ of the Act states that if a strike is contemplated by a trade union in respect of workers in or in control of, an essential service and industry in pursuance of a dispute between the workers and their employer, the trade union must— conduct a secret ballot in accordance with section 175; and in writing, give at least 14 days notice of strike to the employer and serve a copy of the notice to the Arbitration Court. The notice of strike must—be signed by the secretary of the trade union; state the date and time on which the strike is contemplated and the place or places where the contemplated strike will occur; state the category of workers who propose to go on strike; state the estimated duration of the strike; and be served by hand, registered mail or courier. If-the notice of strike does not comply with this section; or the strike does not take place as notified under subsection (2), the notice is deemed not to have been made and any strike undertaken under the notice is unlawful.

It also sates a person who breaks his or her employment contract in respect of that person’s performance in an essential service and industry knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequences of breaking such employment contract, either alone or in combination with others, will be to—deprive the public, or a section of the public wholly or to a great extent of an essential service and industry, or substantially to diminish the enjoyment of that service by the public or by a section of the public; or endanger human life or cause serious bodily injury or to expose valuable property whether real or personal, to destruction, deterioration or serious damage, commits an offence.

A person who causes or procures or counsels or influences a worker to break the worker’s employment contract or an employer causing a lockout to be declared in any of the circumstances referred to in subsection (1) commits an offence.

He further says the contentious issue which was delaying the signoff was the benefits which were removed by the bank during the ENI days.

Naidu adds they do not wish to elaborate more on this however the draft collective agreement also contains the same salary matrix which they now wish to change without an agreement with the union.

Meanwhile, BSP says they remain responsible and fair with staff remuneration adding over the last 12 months they have engaged with the union, in good faith in relation to the annual salary reviews adding unfortunately they were not able to reach consensus despite several rounds of discussion.

BSP Country Head Haroon Ali says last Friday, BSP advised the union that it will not delay remuneration to its staff any further and will align all staff salary in accordance with its Group mandate. He says this was rejected by the Union resulting in a deadlock in negotiations.

He says BSP wishes to state that there is no existing Collective Agreement between the Bank and the Union that binds it to any historical arrangements.

Ali adds on Tuesday the Union wrote officially rejecting BSP’s market movement rate of 1.44 percent and proposed an alternative of 4 percent. He says regretfully, the Union has not provided any details in terms of how it reached this 4 percent rate.

He further says in 2019, while discussing the 2018 salary review with the union, the bank had clearly stated that it will move to the Group model to align Fiji to one single group operating model that also had the two common previous component of a market movement rate based on 80 percent of Consumer Price Index and a performance based rate.

The BSP Head says last year the bank accepted a 3.3 percent market movement as the average CPI for 2018 was recorded 4.08 percent which at 80 percent equates to 3.3 percent. He adds that this is exactly the same formula that they have used for 2019 and while the union accepted BSP’s market movement rate last year, they have rejected the same this year.

Ali adds the Union has not acknowledged that BSP fully rewarded staff with excellent annual bonus for their performance. He says in addition BSP Staff also receive non cash benefits such as concessional lending rates on all borrowings, survivor benefit/term life, free housing on bank initiated transfers outside staff home town, free uniform for all staff and staff amenities.

He says they note with concern the Union’s comment about a potential industrial disturbance at BSP adding they have him referred to the definition of strike in section 4 of the Employment Relations Act 2007 and refer to Part 19, Division 8, Section 191BN and 191BQ of the same act and trust that the law will be complied with.

Ali says to protect the interests of their staff and customers, BSP will take all necessary steps to protect its business