Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

The Committee notes the comments of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on the application of the Convention and requests the Government to submit its observations thereon.

Article 1 of the Convention. Protection against anti-union discrimination. The Committee had previously referred to the dispute in the Vatukoula Mining Company (concerning the refusal to recognize a union and the dismissal of striking workers 15 years ago), and had requested the Government to give consideration to the recommendation of the Senate Select Committee for assistance to help the remaining workers re-establish themselves. It takes note of the Government’s statement that there has been a change of ownership in the mines, that a significant number of these strikers and their children have been employed by the new employer in the mines and that the Government has also provided those still unemployed with alternative means of livelihood through a small business scheme subsidized by the Government since the beginning of 2007.

Article 4. Promotion of collective bargaining. Previously, the Committee had requested the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated so as to amend section 10 of the Counter‑Inflation (Remuneration) Act which envisages, if need be, the restriction or regulation of remuneration of any kind by order of the Prices and Incomes Boards and stipulates that any agreement or arrangement which does not respect these limitations will be illegal and deemed to be an offence. While noting the Government’s statements that section 10 restricts bargaining on wages only, that it would be activated only in the event of an economic crisis, taking into account the economy’s vulnerability to external shocks, and that it had been used only twice in the past 30 years, the Committee must once again recall that the possibility of reactivating this provision at any time is not in conformity with the principle of free and voluntary collective bargaining. Accordingly, the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate in its next report the measures taken or contemplated so as to amend section 10 of the Counter-Inflation (Remuneration) Act and bring it into full conformity with Article 4 of the Convention.