Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says cheap politicians and trade unionists are influencing striking ATS workers to stay on outside the premises rather than signing the Return to Work letters to go back to work.
While opening a rural electrification project in Navuca, Tailevu in the last hour, Bainimarama says the government focuses on building Fiji based on teamwork however the unions and politicians are deliberately disrupting that process.
Bainimarama says the law is clear on industrial disputes and the employees led by the union did not follow the process when they walked off their workstations and did not service the planes at Fiji’s main port of entry.
Bainimarama says all the workers should think of their families, colleagues and the nation as a whole.
He says while the workers are being misled to continue with the strike, the unionists and politicians are going back to their homes and continue with their plan to build their campaign platform for the election.
He has called on all Fijians to think carefully for themselves.
The Prime Minister has asked people not to buy into false promises from people such as high earning trade union officials and politicians who do not understand your situation.
Bainimarama says if you walk away from your job or violate the law, the unionists and cheap politicians will go back to the comfortable homes in their nice cars and to their own pay cheques while the workers are left out in the cold or in this case in the blistering heat.
Bainimarama says we have seen the tactics by some trade unionists and politicians too many times before and he has no doubt that we will see much of it again in the months ahead leading up to the elections.
He says we should not allow employees to be used by people with ulterior motives to breach the law and ordinary people to be used as tools for political gain.
Bainimarama stresses that this is bigger than any one dispute or walkout.
He says this is about Fiji and about the well being of everyone.
Bainimarama says he is proud to see workers of ATS, Fiji Airways, CAAF, AFL, Air NZ and others from the tourism industry step up and put in the hours to ensure the smooth running of Fiji’s main port of entry.
He says that is the Fiji we know today.
The Prime Minister says the government will stand by all the employees who put in time to build a new Fiji.
