9 Sep 2003

Sacked Fiji cannery workers may not get jobs back

3:45 pm on 9 September 2003

The Chief Executive Officer of Fiji's state owned tuna cannery,

Mitieli Baleivanualala says the company won't neccessarily re-employ all the workers sacked last week.

The minister for public enterprises, Irami Matairavula, is reported to have said the striking former employees could get their jobs back if they applied individually.

But Mr Balei-vanua-lala says the police and the firm's security are still investigating sabotage of the equipment early last month and the cannery will be screening those whose apply:

"The perpetrators and those that were inciting those, intimidating people and all that, I believe these are the core group that we have really got to isolate and deal with them separately."

The Chief Executive Officer of Fiji's state owned tuna cannery,

Mitieli Baleivanualala.

The 350 workers, mostly village women, were protesting over the company's refusal to honour an arbitration award handed down earlier this year.