FCEF calls on Singh to respect legal process for Wages Councils

The Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation is calling on the Minister for Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations Agni Deo Singh to utilise the tripartite structure of the Wages Councils articulated in the law.

This is in light of the Talanoa sessions organised by the Ministry where the Chairperson of the Wages Councils has been meeting with respective Chambers of Commerce and with individual businesses, supported in person by the Minister and the Acting Permanent Secretary.

FCEF Chief Executive Officer Edward Bernard says he personally met with the Chairperson of the Wages Council Govind Singh and explained to him the structured and thorough consultations they were doing with the private sector and based on which they would present their proposals to the Wages Council.

Bernard says FCEF was very surprised that in the very same week, the Ministry had requested FCEF to submit their proposals, Govind Singh and Agni Deo Singh were having direct consultations with employers and were also rolling out their survey through the Labour Officers, targeting employers specifically.

He says to allow the Chairperson to act independently would breach the principle of tripartism required by the relevant ILO Conventions governing Wages Councils, and if the Chairperson of all the Councils is purporting to act in that capacity, this would appear to be ultra vires the Employment Relations Act (2007) and the ILO Conventions, and therefore unlawful.

Division 6 of Part 2 and Schedule 3 of the Employment Relations Act 2007 and the various Wages Council Orders vest powers and functions in the Wages Councils as a whole.

They do not vest any authority in the Chairperson of any Wages Council to act separately from the Wages Council.

Bernard says that this non-adherence to tripartism and unlawful due process by the Ministry has underscored exactly what FCEF has been facing in the review of the ERA (2007) and has now also left many employers confused about how the Wages Council is meant to legally operate.

We are trying to get a response from Minister Agni Deo Singh.

Stay with us for developments.