Case against Fiji at the ILO conference suspended
08:08 Sat Jun 16, 2012
Taken from/By:
Report by: Ritika Pratap
The International Labour Organisation Conference in Geneva has been stopped from discussing alleged violence against Trade Unionists and matters relating to Fiji’s labour laws.
This was confirmed by the Head of the Fiji delegation at the Conference Minister of Labour – Jone Usamate.
Usamate says Fiji did not appear at the ILO Standards Committee meeting because the International Organisation of Employers prevented the discussion about Fiji and allegations of workers’ rights violations in 24 other countries.
He says this is because the Employers group are challenging the ILO, saying they do not have any supervisory powers and to actually hold governments to account for any violations of ILO Conventions.
Usamate says the International Council of Free Trade Union, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and Felix Anthony were not happy with this twist, since it has not occurred in ILO’s history.
However, the Minister says they are well prepared to defend the case and Government’s report was deposited at the ILO three weeks ago.
The ILO Governing Body is meeting tomorrow to resolve this impasse and make recommendation that will be adopted at next year’s annual Conference.
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