10 Sep 2008

Proposal for Fiji tourism and civil aviation industries to be classed essential services

8:02 pm on 10 September 2008

A proposal has been made to Fiji's Government for both the country's tourism and civil aviation industries to be classed as essential services to avert workers from going on strike.

The President of the Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association, Dixon Seeto aired the proposal to the interim Government's mini-economic summit last week.

He says there needs to be safeguards in place, in the unlikely event there is a major dispute that is not resolved in a short time.

"To make sure the industry is not adversely affected by industrial action, that if listed as an essential service then there are more processes involved which give time for mediation and the resolution process to take place."

Dixon Seeto says the proposal is not to stop workers from going on strike but to buy time for employees to resolve a dispute before employees resort to industrial action.