Rumble Grumble

There has clearly been some tension at the top over the last week or so. Don’t panic not the change of Government kind, those days are over, but there has certainly been some soul searching as the Coalition Government comes to terms with the fact that elections are probably 18 months away.

YB understands Cabinet received a presentation from external advisers that provided a significant wakeup call and there is finally recognition that “action’ must be fast and visible. Clearly the Prime Minister has got the message. One of his first steps it would seem is to finally act on the problem child of the Coalition, SODELPA.

The Prime Minister has made no secret of his dislike of new party leader Aseri Radrodro. They have a long and ugly personal history, and he has stated frequently concerns about management of the key Education Ministry that he was forced to allocate to SODELPA and Radrodro in the days when he had no choice.

In many respects it is a wonder he waited so long but it looks like the axe will fall soon. The rather childish online exchange over the recent Trade Delegation to Tonga is the “straw”. SODELPA General Secretary Viliame Takayawa has a history of making wild and often inaccurate statements and it would seem the PM has finally had enough.

But that is not the only source of tension in the Cabinet. As previously discussed, there is a looming dispute over a proposed overhaul of employment legislation driven by the Minister of Employment former trade unionist Agne Deo Singh and his old mates from the FTUC led by Felix Anthony.

Fiji hasn’t enjoyed a great reputation with the International Labour Organisation following the various moves by the previous Government to curb the power of the Union movement in Fiji.

The pressure has been on to bring about change and the Minister is very keen to make the trip to the annual ILO convention in Geneva with brand new employment legislation in his suitcase. To achieve this he, in partnership with the Union delegates and his enthusiastic Ministry of Employment team of bureaucrats have come up with a draft that has frightened the hell out of employers.

This was supposed to have been the product of tripartite discussions between Unions, Employers and Government with the latter acting as the arbiter in the debate. Instead, Employers, represented by FCEF, have been “shouted down” despite widespread submissions from across the country highlighting the damage this legislation could do to the economy.

Neither the Ministry of Employment nor the Unions have shown any desire to compromise forcing FCEF to withdraw in protest. Over the last week the Minister and his representatives have been signalling their determination to ram the legislation through no matter what.

Well…. this isn’t going down well with the rest of the Cabinet in fact even his own party leader and Minister of Finance Biman Prasad have voiced concern.

This is old school Unionism at its worst employing negotiating tactics that focus on winning at all cost no matter the wider consequences. Little though has been given as to who is going to pay the bill. For the private sector it comes on the top of a rapid rise in recent years of the minimum wage, and external pressures coming from mass migration and an increase in

company taxes. There are very few businesses that haven’t seen a minimum increase of at least 30% in expenditure over the last two years.

Added to this is a style of legislative drafting inherited from the previous government that starts with significant mandatory criminal penalties for even the smallest infractions.

But that’s not all, what seems to be forgotten in these discussions is that it is not just about private sector employers. The biggest employer is the GOVERNMENT itself and while they may be excluded from some aspects of the regulations, they will still have to follow other employers and guess who will carry this burden - the TAXPAYERS.

To add to this toxic mix, employers in Fiji have noted that a strange consequence of increased wages has been a drop in productivity especially at lower wage levels. Logically, this doesn’t make sense, but it is real. Employers report widely that increasing wage levels seem to come with rising absenteeism something we have discussed before.

The Honourable Agni Deo Singh may have to think long and hard about the next actions as he will have more than one of his “bosses” scrutinizing him very closely.

It will be an interesting couple of weeks across the political spectrum ……….