Bainimarama backs up Khaiyum's anti-union rhetoric

The illegal and treasonous Voreqe Bainimarama now runs to the aid of the equally illegal and treasonous Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum to back him up with some good ol' fashioned implicit military intimidation and pretend-defiance, using their faithfully pliant spin-piece the Fiji Sun.

The imaginary concern for the welfare of grassroot communities who may be (they will be hit but not as hard as the core tourism industry enjoying the profits thus far will be) hit by industrial action from Australia and New Zealand by Khaiyum is indeed amusing. Kinda like the pretend "rights roadshow" when basic rights of citizens of this country like the freedom of expression, continue to be unjustly curtailed:

PM FIRM ON OZ THREAT
writer : RACHNA LAL
7/20/2011

Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama says trade unions in Australia and New Zealand will not sway Fiji’s reform programme.

Commodore Bainimarama told the Fiji Sun that the Government would stay committed to the reforms which he emphasised would take place.

His comments came following threats from the Australian Transport Workers Union to not refuel or load and unload Fiji flights.

Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum believes local trade unionists namely Felix Anthony, Rajeshwar Singh, Daniel Urai, Parmod Rae and Attar Singh are behind this move and are attempting to cripple Fiji’s tourism industry.

He told the Fiji Sun that the question that needed to be asked was why Australian and New Zealand trade unions were threatening to take this action based on false information given by local trade unionists.

“The reality is, they are trying to undermine an economy but more so at the micro level, they are also trying to take away the livelihood of the woman who is weaving the basket in villages, who is making necklaces or handicrafts, the gardeners, the taxi drivers and the security guards,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“We have these people who are supposed to be advocates but for their very selfish reasons and by telling lies to Australia and New Zealand trade unions, they are going to take away the livelihood of these Fijians.”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum questioned who these local trade unionists were trying to serve.

“Are they serving the country, are they serving the workers, are they serving the Fijians or are they acting out of self-interest,” he said.

“They are portraying themselves as victims when they really aren’t; in fact the only people who will be the victims are the ordinary Fijians.”

While he believes the strike will not be fair for Fijians, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said at the same time it showed the character and the credibility of these people.

“It is unfortunate that trade unions in Australia and NZ are getting carried away by them,” he stated.

Felix Anthony and Daniel Urai were worker representatives on the FNPF board before the new board took over.

Meanwhile Tourism Fiji chief executive officer Josefa Tuamoto in a statement said any industrial action for any reason that adversely impacts tourism in Fiji would be devastating to the country and all of its citizens and not just tourism workers.

“Tourism is responsible for employing some 45,000 full-time equivalent jobs within the total Fijian workforce,” he said.

“The benefits derived from international visitation go far beyond this workforce and affect the day to day living of each and every Fijian man, woman and child.”

An Air Pacific spokesperson, Samisoni Pareti, said: “Air Pacific is aware of recent statements made by the Australian Transport Workers Union in relation to action that could potentially impact our operations, not to mention harm the Fijian economy and the welfare of the people of Fiji, many of which rely on the tourism industry for their livelihoods.

“Air Pacific have been in discussions with the TWU Fiji regarding the renegotiation of workplace contracts for the past five months with no progress to date.

“In the face of new competition and high fuel prices, it is imperative that Air Pacific restructures the company in order to enhance its competitiveness and its ability to return to profitability and prosperity that will benefit all Fijians.”

Bainimarama then takes to the airwaves of Fiji Village to implore the unions not to get involved and asserts that this "guvment" has been doing a dandy job looking after the people:

Do not get trapped in local trade unionists political agenda - PM
Publish date/time: 20/07/2011 [11:14]

The Prime Minister is calling on the Australian and NZ trade unions not to be trapped in the political agenda of some local trade unionists who are now pushing for trade union sanctions against Fiji.

Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said the fact remains that about 30 percent of Fiji’s working population is unionized.

He said the question also remains on whether the local trade unionists have sought the approval of their members in pushing for the trade union sanctions.

Commodore Bainimarama believes that the Fijian government is looking after the workers.

He said nothing much has changed as far as the restrictions are concerned but points out that several industry wages councils have approved pay increments for many industry workers.

Commodore Bainimarama said Australian Transport Workers Union’s Tony Sheldon should come to Fiji and speak to garment factory workers and those in the retail sector who have received pay increments through the Wages Councils.

He said the unions should not rely on hearsay.

Meanwhile, the NZ Council of Trade Unions has made it clear that it will not take any immediate action in relation to trade union sanctions.

The Union’s Peter Conway said they have spoken to Felix Anthony and others in NZ however the final decision on any action will be made by the NZ union members.

We have contacted Australian Transport Workers Union’s Tony Sheldon.

He has been in meetings and we have been informed that he will speak to us later.

Story by: Vijay Narayan

It's safe to say that the illegal and treasonous military regime is well and truly afraid. And they should be.

More regime supporters cross the floor on superannuation issue

More once-upon-a-regime-buddies are crossing the floor and spitting the dummy on the recent inaction on the superannuation fund (FNPF) reforms.

Prue Rouse, a once close buddy of the illegal and treasonous military regime who once celebrated Bainimarama in a Time article:

"Bainimarama and his team are seen by many as champions of racial inclusiveness, meritocracy and the common man. For Prue Rouse, a vice-president of the Royal Commonwealth Society of Fiji, the ousting of the twice-elected Qarase government is no great loss."

and how could we ever forget Rouse's colonialistic arrogance in the same Time article:

Qarase said he stood for “an inclusive society, where the views of every community and group are taken into account.” But “the special interests of the Fijian people, including their right of ownership to their natural resources, must also be protected.” Many thought the balance tilted mostly one way. “You had the feeling that only the [indigenous] Fijian Who’s Who had a place in Fiji,” says British-born Rouse. “Everyone else was here on sufferance.”

Now Rouse is running to the very same "who's who" natives and beseeching them in writing to act on their behalf where the pension fund is concerned, as an "employer of 160 members". Rouse is apparently urging the illegal and treasonous President Rt Epeli Nailatikau to get an independent review happening, even while with the illegal and treasonous military regime are at the helm spending our retirement funds faster than they could ever make it.

Now there's an argument that defeats logic.

Fiji employers join calls for independent review of pension fund
Updated July 19, 2011 16:34:34

Employers in Fiji are joining pensioners and workers calling on President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, to set up an independent judicial review of the management - past and present - of the country's troubled pension fund.

After a series of failed investments the Fiji National Provident Fund is trying to put the nation's retirement savings on a sound footing by cutting pensions ...and it is planning to implement the changes from September the first.

Presenter: Jemima Garrett, Pacific Business and Economic reporter
Speaker: Prue Rouse, Managing Director of Sigma Security and vice President of Fiji Crime Stoppers International

Listen here.

GARRETT: The interim government and the Fiji National Provident Fund are determined to go ahead with pension cuts despite claims that they are not based on sound actuarial analysis.

On Monday, the High Court deferred a decision on legal action by the the government and the Fund aimed at striking out a challenge to the cuts brought by a pensioner.

In the past few years the FNPF has had to write down over 300 million Fiji dollars in assets as a result of failed investments.

Concerned pensioners, workers and employers have begun a letter writing campaign calling on Fiji's President to step in and set up an independent review.

Prue Rouse, Managing Director of Sigma Security, has 160 employees and estimates she has paid over 1.2 million dollars into the Fund on their behalf.

She says she is extremely concerned.

ROUSE: I feel as an employer in Fiji, now over now almost 30 odd years, I have have paid in sums of money routinely and regularly, compulsorily, into the Fiji National Provident Fund; an 8% contribution which is matched by an 8 % contribution by my employees. These payments have been made in good faith on behalf of my employees and their future as pensions.

GARRETT: You are one of the employers who has written to the President, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. That's a pretty big step. What prompted you to take that action?

ROUSE: Well in my own mind because I am very clear about how I feel about this. I do believe that we should, as employers, stakeholders if you like, have had representation on the board of the FNPF. We've known for some considerable time - I'm a member of the Crimestoppers International Board in Fiji and I've also been on the board of Transparency International - we were aware that there were apparently irregularities going on within the FNPF. We were never able to fully know what was wrong but there had been substantial allegations made about improper management, negligence possibly, lack of due diligence and allegedly corrupt behaviour.

GARRETT: The Fiji National Provident Fund has used newspaper advertisements to attack its critics saying they are a few self-interested individuals who are spreading false rumours.

Prue Rouse, is not a member or a beneficiary of the FNPF, and she rejects that allegation.
She does agree, however, that the Fund, like many others around the world, needs reform.

ROUSE: We know overseas that many pension funds are being revisited, even in the developed world, in the UK certainly, in France yes, but in Fiji we have other factors that have come into play - possible malfeasance, certainly what I would call frivolous, possibly negiligent, attention, people who were improperly qualified sitting on the boards, people who are unaware of codes of conduct, ..all of this has come into play, as well. And, I believe, if it is possible at all to put off these reforms until we have an independent and impartial body deal with it, that is what we should do. If we are not in a place where immediate collapse is about to take place, then surely we should be approaching this with a measure of sensitivity, compassion and understanding, and that is not the feeling that I am receiving.

GARRETT: So what action would you like to see now from the Fiji government?

ROUSE: Well, as has been seen in the letter I signed this morning to the President, I do believe that we would be extremely, how can I say, comforted, some of the fears would be put to rest if His Excellency would consider an independent body, possibly chaired by a judge, to investigate the whole recent history of the Fiji National Provident Fund and what has taken place there and how all of this has now got us into a place where some of the sums of money that might have gone missing, I have no idea of what they might be, but if we are going to take a stab at it, it goes from $300 million to 1.7 billion.

Pictured here (L-R) are Prue Rouse, Adi Ateca Ganilau and Urmila Arya

Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum denies labour laws

The illegal and treasonous Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum is now forced to lie through his teeth back-track on his secret decree aimed at muzzling trade union and workers voices in Fiji, even though many have already sighted a draft.

The frantic back-pedalling (and untruth) is a result of yesterday's personal attacks on the union leaders having no effect. Obviously many people in this country have resolved that it would be better to tighten their belts for the short-haul which will rid them all of a illegal and treasonous military regime who have notions of long-term rule.

There is no draconian labour laws in Fiji-AG
Publish date/time: 20/07/2011 [07:45]

The Fiji government stresses that it has not implemented any draconian laws in the country that has violated workers rights.

Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said trade unionists like Felix Anthony and others have been making these claims in Australia to gather support for the Australian trade union sanctions against Fiji.

Sayed-Khaiyum is calling on the trade unions in Australia and New Zealand to properly assess what is happening in Fiji and not just listen to the trade unionists like Felix Anthony, Daniel Urai and Rajeshwar Singh.

Anthony, Urai and Singh have met with the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Transport Workers Union of Australia and reports have emerged that they have asked the Australian unions to impose trade union sanctions.

Sayed-Khaiyum said the trade unionists need to think of the nation as a whole when the proposed reforms are put on the table.

Anthony, Urai and Singh are still overseas.

Meanwhile in response to recent comments by the Australian Transport Workers Union to boycott tourism and flights to Fiji, Tourism Fiji CEO Josefa Tuamoto said any industrial action that adversely impacts tourism in Fiji would be devastating to the country and all of its citizens, and not just tourism workers.

Tuamoto said tourism is responsible for employing some 45,000 full-time workers and the benefits derived from visitor arrivals go far beyond the workforce and affect the day to day living of each and every Fijian man, woman and child.

Story by: Vijay Narayan

The gravity of the impact of both Australian and New Zealand joint action in solidarity with Fiji union members is already having a ripple effect at the highest levels of the tourism industry, and trade union reps are calling on citizens from their respective countries to consider the effects of the illegal and treasonous military regime on our freedoms and liberties.

The excuse that the tourism industry's fullest enjoyment of their liberties and profits thus far, at the expense of the rights and freedoms of innocent and unarmed civilians must be making the once-cocky Elizabeth Powell tremble at the knees.

WSWS: US delegation tours Pacific island states

By Frank Gaglioti

18 July 2011

US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Patrick Walsh recently led American diplomatic, military and aid officials on an unprecedented week-long tour of nine island states in the western Pacific Ocean. The initiative was aimed at reinforcing US dominance in the region and came as the Obama administration stepped up its provocative efforts to contain Chinese influence in East Asia.

The delegation, including USAID Assistant Administrator Nisha Biswal and Brigadier General Richard Simcock of the Office of the Secretary of Defense South/Southeast Asia, toured the Pacific between June 26 and July 1. They met with heads of government in Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Despite the high-powered character of the delegation, the trip received little media coverage outside the Pacific Island states. No one raised the obvious question: what were Washington’s top diplomat and military commander for the region doing touring countries for the most part the size of modest American towns? Publicly Campbell and Walsh attended ceremonies and gave small aid handouts. Behind closed doors, the discussion undoubtedly turned to vital US strategic interests in the Pacific.

Campbell told Pacific journalists: “Our overall determination here is that the United States does want to step up its game generally in the Asia-Pacific region given that we all, I think, recognise that much of the history of the 21st century will be written out—written in this key arena. And we believe that it is important that the United States, as a resident power and a deeply engaged economic player, demonstrate on a regular basis our commitment to play a strong and enduring role—not just in Asia, but in the Pacific as well.”

Underscoring the central purpose of the tour, just before his departure from the US, Campbell met with China’s Vice Foreign Minister, Cui Tiankai, for the first “US-China Consultations on the Asia-Pacific.” Tensions were clearly evident behind the diplomatic platitudes. Much of the discussion centred on the South China Sea, where the US has aggressively intervened in territorial disputes between China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Campbell told journalists that there had been “a candid and clear discussion” on the issue. He added that China’s “military expansion, their military capabilities, have raised concerns in the region.”

The US delegation spent several days visiting several tiny island states just north of the equator—Kiribati (estimated population 100,000), Marshall Islands (70,000), Palau (21,000), and the Federated States of Micronesia (115,000). The latter three states function as semi-colonies of the US, having been seized from Japan in the final stages of World War II. Under so-called Compacts of Free Association with Washington, the nominally sovereign states allow the US military free rein on their territories in return for annual subsidies and the provision of social infrastructure.

The strategic and military importance of these island states has markedly increased amid fears in Washington of the Chinese development of a “blue water” navy potentially capable of undermining American dominance in the Pacific.

Chinese military strategists have referred to first and second “island chains” off the Chinese mainland. The first chain stretches from the southern islands of Japan to Taiwan, the Philippines and the South China Sea. The second island chain runs further into the Pacific Ocean, beginning east of Japan and extending to Guam, a territory that serves as a major American military base after being seized by the US in the 1898 Spanish-American war. On the southernmost flank of the second island chain is Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia. By preventing Chinese access to these island chains, the US could inhibit any potential Chinese naval expansion into the Pacific.

Campbell and his colleagues went to several memorial sites for the more than 15,000 American troops killed in the regional “island hopping” campaigns against the Japanese in late 1943 and 1944. They also met with local residents who had enlisted in the US military and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The delegation, however, downplayed the contemporary military calculations underlying their visit. Instead the emphasis was on boosting Washington’s diplomatic standing by promoting aid and investment projects. In the Federated States of Micronesia, Admiral Walsh staged a photo opportunity in a US-funded primary school.

Strategic calculations were similarly evident behind the “development” rhetoric issued by the US delegation in four states south of the equator. In Samoa, Campbell met with Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi for two hours, with one of the subjects of discussion the monitoring of the country’s vast ocean territory. Admiral Walsh held a meeting with senior Samoan police to discuss transnational crime and how the US navy could help stop illegal fishing. Under the guise of helping protect the sovereignty and fishing and other property rights of Samoa and neighbouring states, the Obama administration is paving the ground for a heightened US naval presence in the region.

Washington also wants to ensure that naval patrol vessels are sourced from the US and its allies. It clearly aims to pre-empt Pacific states from following East Timor’s example of accepting Chinese armed patrol boats and effectively integrating their limited naval assets into Beijing’s military infrastructure.

Also in Samoa, the American contingent donated $50,000 to a local research organisation and $2 million to renovate two hospitals—a pittance when contrasted with the real needs of the impoverished state. Samoa is yet to complete the reconstruction of basic infrastructure, including roads, schools, and power networks, that was devastated in a tsunami two years ago.

In Tonga, the US delegation met King George Tupou V and Prime Minister Tui’vakano and thanked them for deploying 55 Royal Tongan Marines to Afghanistan.

Campbell and his colleagues then went to Solomon Islands where they met with Australian officials operating the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI), the neo-colonial intervention force that has dominated the country since 2003. The intervention remains the lynchpin of Canberra’s efforts to assert its dominance in the South Pacific and block China from gaining ground at its expense. No information was released about what was discussed between the US delegation and RAMSI, but Campbell no doubt stressed continued American support for the operation.

Also in the Solomons, Campbell met with Prime Minister Danny Philip. In a joint press conference, Philip urged Washington to normalise relations with the Fijian military junta. The State Department official, however, backed the Australian-led sanctions regime. “I don’t think we have expressed a different approach to Fiji [than Canberra has], and in fact, I think the hallmark of our approach has been a very deep dialogue with both Australia and New Zealand,” Campbell declared.

These remarks indicate that the Obama administration may have backed away from previous indications that it wanted to engage with the Fijian government. The US delegation notably excluded Fiji from its list of destinations. Also, according to Radio International New Zealand, Washington has reversed its decision to open a USAID office in Fiji and will instead direct regional aid operations from Papua New Guinea.

Last September the State Department publicly backed the junta’s stated goal of holding elections in 2014, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged “dialogue and partnership.” These statements were clearly aimed at countering China’s growing diplomatic and military ties with Fiji, but they immediately opened up an unprecedented breach with Canberra, which maintained calls for sanctions and isolation.

The latest diplomatic shift likely reflects behind-the-scenes tactical discussions between the Australian and American governments over how best to fashion a pliant administration in Fiji and sideline Beijing.

The other Melanesian country visited by the US delegation was Papua New Guinea, where Campbell held discussions with Acting Prime Minister Samuel Abal and Foreign Minister Ano Pala. The diplomat also met with US executives involved in a $15 billion liquid natural gas project led by ExxonMobil in the country’s highlands.

In March, Hillary Clinton highlighted the project in testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. “Let’s put aside the moral, humanitarian, do-good side of what we believe in, and let’s just talk, you know, straight Realpolitik,” she declared. “We are in a competition with China. Take Papua New Guinea, huge energy find ... ExxonMobil is producing it. China is in there every day in every way trying to figure out how it’s going to come in behind us, come in under us.”

Campbell’s visit to PNG, and indeed the entire Pacific tour, was in line with this “Realpolitik”. Behind the pitiful aid handouts, wartime reminiscences and photo opportunities, the US is determined to use whatever means necessary to expand its influence in what Washington has regarded since World War II as an American lake.