FCEF tells Minister it will not endorse the draft Employment Relations Bill in its current form

The Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation has informed the Minister for Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations, Agni Deo Singh, that their representatives on the Employment Relations Advisory Board, will not be providing their endorsement for the draft Employment Relations Bill to progress to Parliament, in its current form.

FCEF Chief Executive Officer, Edward Bernard says the reason for them taking this position is due to the fact that only one meeting (5th March 2025) of the ERAB was convened, after the close of public consultations on 20th February 2025.

Bernard stresses that one meeting is not sufficient to thoroughly discuss this important legislation based on the many public submissions received and one meeting is especially not adequate considering the unacceptable state and form of the draft that went for public consultations.

He says many of the provisions that employers have highlighted, before and even at the public consultations and that will gravely impact employment opportunities, business sustainability, investor confidence and economic growth, still remain in the latest draft that the Ministry has already sent to the Solicitor General’s Office.

Bernard says these include but not limited to sections relating to absolute liability; criminalization of contract breaches; excessive fines; excessive powers of labour officers; broad definition of harassment which contradicts with existing laws; unclear definition of wage theft and unfairly penalizing of Directors for administrative errors or financial difficulties beyond their control; the right to strike beyond disputes only arising relating to collective agreements; the removal of expiry dates on collective agreements; allowing workers to choose between an individual contract of service or a collective agreement; unfair dismal and lack of clear conditions and limitations, creating uncertainty for employers; the Non-Compete Clause and the bargaining fee.

FCEF is further concerned that there has been no attempt to modernize the labour law that will result in the transformation of the workers, the businesses and our economy, hence progressing towards the future of work that progressive economies are now moving towards.

Bernard also says there is no consideration of the size of the company, state of the sector or the condition of the economy, including the high cost of doing business or even the new tariffs imposed by the United States.

Bernard adds that the recent increase in minimum wage alone in the last three years has amounted to 54 percent increase in cost to business.

He says within this period, there has been an increase in corporate tax and VAT, totalling additional cost to business of a further 11 percent.

The CEO says it was only on 20th March 2025, after that one meeting, that FCEF representatives on the ERAB received the tracked annotated Bill (188 pages) and the summary of public submissions (305 pages).

He says the absence of these two important documents before or at the first meeting, did not allow their representatives to thoroughly engage in reviewing the substance of the latest draft.

Bernard says on Wednesday, the FCEF members on the ERAB received an Endorsement Form, including the minutes of the 5th March 2025 meeting, from the Ministry seeking their endorsement of the draft Employment Relations Bill to be submitted to Parliament.

He says the amendments continue to focus on penalizing employers and providing maximum benefits to workers, to the extent that the Fiji Trades Union Congress is treating the Bill as a national collective agreement for all workers.

He further adds that the FTUC needs to stop using the Bill to do their day-to-day union activities, including recruiting members.

In its letter to the Minister for Employment, Productivity and Workplace Relations, FCEF has strongly suggested that the draft Bill be discussed thoroughly at ERAB, considering that all members now have the complete documents that they have been requesting for and strongly suggest that the process for the tripartite committee be managed better and in good faith, giving adequate time to members on the ERAB and that the draft Bill follow the correct process prior to heading to Parliament.