Despite a brief respite on the illegal and treasonous military regime's part and keeping Australian and New Zealand union pressure at bay for a day, they have naturally stirred the hornet's nest of people power and the global numbers now rallying behind our unions in solidarity.
The threat is clearly spelled out in one of the two letter's (ie one letter from the Council of Global Unions [CGU] and the other letter from the International Transport Workers' Federation [ITF]) as scooped by fellow blog, C4.5:
"The CGU urges you to stop the physical attacks on trade unionists and ensure that Fiji’s labour legislation is in full compliance with International Labour Conventions, particularly C87 and C98, and that Fiji’s workers and their trade unions can operate in a climate that is free from fear and intimidation. Failure to do so will invite a concerted global campaign to bring these issues to the attention of the international community, including governments, commercial and personal consumers and investors."
The communication from the ITF lay's out very clearly the little known news of another union official, Mohammed Khalil, who was also physically abused and then made to resign:
"I understand that on the evening of 22nd June, two army officers assaulted Brother Mohammed Khalil, President of the Fiji Sugar and General Workers’ Union, who is a railway worker. He was made to wallow in the mud, was stomped on, and dragged around in full view of his colleagues and other onlookers, while being verbally abused about his trade union involvement. His colleague Brother Felix Anthony was also verbally abused.
Brother Khalil was then instructed to submit his resignation from the union and ordered to report to the military at 3pm on June 23rd (the time he was due to start his shift). The army officers involved said that they wanted to see his resignation letter. Fiji’s press has simultaneously reported a clampdown on sugar industry politics, which includes “keeping a tab” on unions."
Despite the now trite deflection tactics propagated by the regime's favourite "independent" spin-doctors, as well as the regime's lies, their union woes have just gone global and they're playing hardball.
On top of that, unions in Australia are not ready to give up just yet which will make Tourism Fiji and "Air Treason's" new marketing strategy completely irrelevant.
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