Minister for Employment, Productivity, and Industrial Relations and Youth and Sports Parveen Kumar says the claims made by the national secretary of the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) that no consultation on vaccination policy or amendment was done by the board was a “total lie”.
“The national OHS advisory board, including FTUC’s five members were consulted on July 6, 2021 on the proposal to have this workplace vaccination amended,” he said in Parliament on Monday.
“In fact, the five FTUC members voted against the proposed changes that will help save lives and livelihoods for Fijian workers.
“The rest of the board members voted for the proposed amendment.
“Let me remind the union leaders, if they are serious about the lives of their members and their families, then they should be encouraging their members to be vaccinated, they should take this cue from the global labour and union movements who have all come out in support of universal vaccination to ensure the safety and economic wellbeing of their workers.”
He reiterated that Fijians would not be able to take part in labour mobility programs such as the Pacific mobility scheme if they were not vaccinated.
He also urged all eligible Fijians to get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Opposition MP Pio Tikoduadua said Mr Kumar, like his leaders, saw vaccination as the only answer to reviving the economy.
“The Minister should know that any legislation on workers has to be brought to ERAB – Employment Relations Advisory Board,” Mr Tikoduadua said.
“He should honestly tell Parliament whether or not he deferred an ERAB meeting late in the afternoon on July 6 and whether or not this meeting was supposed to discuss the vaccination policy.
“The minister should tell Parliament whether or not an email was sent the same evening to the Occupational Health and Safety Board informing it that the minister had decided to make vaccination regulations and sought the board’s views by 10am the next day – 7th July.
“For all intents and purposes, it was a carefully crafted plan to defer the ERAB meeting under the pretext of lack of quorum – engineered by Government and employer representatives who wanted this policy.”
