7 Sep 2005

Fiji may face power disruptions

6:52 pm on 7 September 2005

Fiji is bracing for widespread electric power disruptions and blackouts from tomorrow as a strike by workers of the state-owned Electricity Authority is now imminent.

Radio Legend says this is because the management will not back down in the face of strike threats by members of the FEA Staff Association and the Allied Workers Union

The chief executive of the Fiji Electricity Authority, Rokoseru Nabalarua, says they have already alerted the labour ministry and the police to ensure that the strike is not held on their premises.

He says services will not be disrupted even if there is a strike because they are making sure that critical locations in the national power grid are manned.

Mr Nabalarua says about 30 percent of staff are not members of the unions threatening the strike.

The labour minister, Kenneth Zinck, has already declared the strike illegal because he says the unions did not comply with the law in issuing their strike notice.