Members of the Fiji Mine Workers Union who have staged the country's longest unsettled strike since 1991 are claiming 18 million US dollars in compensation from the government.
The union's industrial relations adviser, Kavekini Navuso, has told the Fiji Sun the compensations claim is for the inhumane treatment they received at the hands of the Emperor Gold Mining Company.
The complaints relate to the polluted and contaminated water that the company allegedly supplied to the unhealthy homes the miners lived in.
Mr Navuso says during their prolonged strike lasting, many members lost their lives and many families were broken because members were unemployed.
When this strike started in February 1991, Emperor locked out the strikers and employed an entirely new set of workers who were laid of last December when the company closed down the mine.
