The Fiji Trades Union Congress is again pushing for the minimum wage rate to be increased to $4 an hour and the National Secretary, Felix Anthony also says they do not want salary cuts for civil servants, no increase in VAT and removal of VAT from essential food items.
While making their 2021/2022 National Budget submission to the Minister for Economy, Anthony says they firmly believe that the current minimum wage condemns workers to extreme poverty and in no way meets the test of decent work.
He says they also do not believe the justification to keep minimum wage well below the poverty line to save jobs.
Anthony says the FTUC has campaigned for a $4 minimum wage for some years now. He says while this may still be below the poverty line, they believe this may be a good place to start and that a review be undertaken annually with a view to ensuring a living wage where no one should earn below the poverty line and enjoy a decent standard of living.
Anthony says they also propose that VAT be removed from essential food items which can be listed and can be offset from luxury items.
He says this is to ensure that ordinary people have access to basic food items which are affordable, more so, at a time when a good number of people around the country are either unemployed or under employed.
Anthony says they do not agree to the proposal made by the Fiji Institute of Accountants to increase VAT on all items.
He says they also do not agree with FIA’s proposal to cut salaries of civil servants.
Anthony says they note that the normal merit increments for the civil service as per the Government’s own Remuneration Guidelines implemented in 2017 have not been paid.
He says they note that rural allowance and acting allowances for teachers have not been paid for about 2 years now.
The FTUC National Secretary says they believe that there can be meaningful savings if Government acted seriously on the wastages exposed in the Auditor General’s Report.
Anthony says they also note that Government Ministers and Permanent Secretaries have had a massive salary hike of upto 300 percent some years ago.
He says they never believed that was necessary nor justified.
Anthony says they would like to suggest that substantial savings could be made if contracts that are entered into with private contractors are scrutinized more thoroughly and, managed efficiently and transparently to ensure quality deliveries.
Meanwhile Anthony says there have been widespread job losses due to the pandemic across many industries. He says this is particularly very serious in the hotel and tourism industry.
He says while the Government has stated that millions of dollars have been given, they do not believe it has been sufficient.
Anthony says they have exhausted their FNPF funds with nothing or little left for a decent retirement. He says they have also decried the Government’s policy of reverting to members’ FNPF savings in times of crisis.
He proposes propose a special Fund be set up where Government budgets a meaningful amount to be set aside for such eventualities.
Anthony says the $50 assistance is really no assistance at all and to make it worse, people have had to queue for long periods to collect their money.
He says there needs to be some dignity in these processes.
The FTUC says we do not need to make our people look like beggars for a $50 grant.
Anthony also says the current wave of coronavirus that we are experiencing is not an act of God but rather the negligence of some of our own people and what he calls the Government’s inadequate response from when this wave started in Nadi in early April.
He says they have witnessed that employers are taking advantage of the current crisis to reduce terms and conditions of employment, many of which had been negotiated and agreed to decades back and had served well.
Anthony says they note that Government has given much assistance to Fiji Airways to survive but ignored its workers completely.
He says when times were good, these very workers were the backbone of the company.
Anthony says in the budget submission to the Minister for Economy that they also propose that Government respects the workers’ contribution to Air Terminal Services and the fact that 49 percent of the company is owned by the workers Trust. He calls on the Government to reinstate the workers’ representatives, whoever they choose, to be on the Board so as to make the collective decision in the best interest of the company.
He says workers terminated by Water Authority of Fiji in May 2019 remain out of work and are awaiting their day before the Employment Relations Tribunal more than 2 years later.
Anthony says they propose that these workers be compensated either through redundancies negotiated with their unions or through Government grants.
Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum will deliver the 2021/2022 National Budget address at 7.30pm tomorrow.
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