Civil servants have until today to confirm their union deductions

Civil servants who are members of trade unions have until today to confirm to their Ministries that they want their union deductions to be reinstated.

In a circular to all Ministries, Permanent Secretary for Finance, Filimoni Waqabaca said their objective is to implement the government’s decision to restore with immediate effect, the check off facility which is the union member deductions.

The deduction facility was earlier stopped by the government.

In an interview with Fijivillage, Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the government looks forward, on a tripartite basis through the Employment Relations Advisory Board mechanism, to the implementation of the core ILO conventions.

He said the goodwill shown by all sides in Geneva has to be the basis of the tripartite engagement in Fiji to ensure that everyone, as one team, facilitate further sustained economic growth and an improvement in the wellbeing of all Fijians.

Sayed-Khaiyum said the Employment Relations Advisory Board mechanism which includes the government, employers and unions is now being worked out.

He also confirmed that the government has started off the process in relation to the union member deductions for those civil servants who confirm that they are union members and want automatic union deductions from their pay.

The agreement signed in Geneva by the government, the employers and the unions said that the government shall restore the direct union fees deductions for civil servants who are members of public sector unions.

The parties agreed that the review of labour laws conducted under the Employment Relations Advisory Board mechanism should ensure compliance with ILO core conventions.

They also agreed that any further issues and recommendations for review should be negotiated through the same mechanism.

Any such issues and recommendations shall take into account the findings of the review to be presented by way of a bill to parliament no later than the August 2015 session.

It said the Employment Relations Advisory Board shall vet the bill before it is presented to cabinet and then to parliament.

The agreement further said that the bill once approved by parliament shall be implemented by the end of October this year.

Stay with us as we will have more on this later this afternoon.