Violation of Fiji workers' rights revealed globally

Loss of democracy in Fiji highlighted in yet another report, this time the ITUC Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights.

The survey comes as New Zealand's Council of Trade Unions reveals the employers group of the International Labour Organisation has tried to block the hearings of the worst cases of abuse of the International Labour Conventions this year, some of them in Fiji.

CTU president Helen Kelly has been at the International Labour Conference in Geneva this week, and says the ILO conference usually hears the worst 25 cases and that "people travel from around the world, some risking their safety, to attend these hearings."

"The hearings are an opportunity to bring international attention to breaches of international labour standards. Some of these breaches include deaths, arrests and dismissals on the basis of union membership."

The breaches, including the arrest of FTUC unionists Daniel Uria and Felix Anthony, is well-known to those of us following the plight of Fiji but can be viewed again, along with another important issue - how the army is controlling sugar production - in the global survey below.

ITUC workers rights on Fiji

http://survey.ituc-csi.org/Fiji.html?lang=en

The global media release

http://www.ituc-csi.org/annual-survey-of-violations-of,11418.html?lang=en

ACTU's response

http://www.actu.org.au/Media/Mediareleases/OutrageasinternationalemployergrouppreventsILOfromhearingaboutabuseofworkerrightsinFiji.aspx

Editor's Note: Illustration (Fiji's Very Own Boratini) was done by Discobombulated Bubu http://discombobulatedbubu.blogspot.com/