NEWS

My Say : ATS Standoff Started When The Law Was Not Followed

The ATS impasse will only be resolved if stakeholders focus on the issues that have led to this standoff between the workers, the Air Terminal Services and the Government. Leave
08 Jan 2018 10:51
My Say : ATS Standoff Started When The Law Was Not Followed
Ratu Epenisa Cakobau (right), led a delegation from Bau to visit striking workers of Air Terminal Services on January 5, 2017. Photo: Waisea Nasokia

The ATS impasse will only be resolved if stakeholders focus on the issues that have led to this standoff between the workers, the Air Terminal Services and the Government.

Leave aside the politics and the shenanigans that have added fuel to the fire, the dispute is over what the workers’ trade union claims, as the failure of ATS management to address their employment grievances. They claim it has taken 11 years, saying it has taken too long to resolve it.

Obviously, the ATS and its board have stated their case which was rejected by the workers, leading to this row.

What sparked this conflict was when ATS workers left their work stations without permission to attend a beneficiaries meeting for three hours. The act was deemed as a walkout or strike.

The Minister for Employment, productivity and Industrial Relations, Jone Usamate, declared the strike unlawful, in breach of the provisions of the Employment Relations Promulgation Act.

Since then, the involvement of politicians, trade unionists and some church groups has escalated the dispute to a point where hearts and positions have hardened.

Some politicians, who have suffered from poor standing or fluctuating fortunes in the public opinion polls, jumped on the bandwagon in a bid to resurrect or re-ignite their hopes and aspirations.

This whole ATS saga started because the law was not followed. Militant actions like walking off jobs without following proper protocols often lead to damage and loss.

Everyone loses, the employers, the workers and the Government – except the trade unionists who thrive in the environment because it justifies their existence.

Some politicians and some churches have joined in for their own individual agendas without knowing the full extent of the dispute and people who have suffered because of it.

The aggrieved workers and their union are following a template that was the hallmark of trade union agitation and militancy in the 1980s in their fight for better pay and working conditions.

In the ports, the Fiji Port Workers Union ruled with an iron fist under the leadership of its general secretary, the late Taniela Veitata, commonly known as Big Dan because of his physical stature.

He defied the then Trade Disputes Act and pulled out his union members without complying with its provisions.

I remember vividly the day before the strike when I interviewed him as a waterfront reporter. He said they (the Government) “can lock me up and throw away the keys.” He was convicted for violating the Trades Disputes Act and jailed. The union, after that, lost its way.

And that action eventually led to its demise.

In 1991, in Vatukoula, more than 400 members of the Fiji Mine Workers Union, walked off their jobs in similar circumstances.

The dispute was not resolved and the strikers’ employment was finally terminated. Among the unreasonable demands the union made at the time was the Vatukoula Sex Break, where the miners would be given time off during the day to go home for their Sex Break before they returned to work.

Many families broke up because of financial difficulties. The overall social and economic impact was devastating. We hope the ATS dispute does not reach this tragic point. The only solution is to go back to the negotiating table and sort it out. Workers should be at their work station, doing what they know best, serving travellers and airlines at Nadi International Airport.

Dialogue, not walkout or strike, is the only responsible way to deal with a dispute.

If the workers have waited 11 years it would do no harm to wait a little bit longer to achieve an amicable settlement.

After all, they are shareholders through the ATS Employees Trust in the same business. This is like a family feud. In essence, they should be working towards the same goals to protect the family and its members.

Edited by Ranoba Baoa

Feedback:  nemani.delaibatiki@fijisun.com.fj

Subscribe-to-Newspaper