ABOUT 250 Air Terminal Services employees who are in a dispute with management have rejected a board offer to return to work.
They refused to accept conditions that came with the offer — that they admit they were wrong in leaving work last Saturday to attend an ATS Employers Trust meeting.
The ATSET maintains workers were locked out despite the Employment and Industrial Relations Minister saying the action taken by workers last Saturday was a strike.
As the stand-off entered its fourth day, the workers were adamant they would not return to work until Acting CEO Hare Mani was removed.
“What board chairperson Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has said is he is ready to revert all the employees back to work on the condition that those 60 members sign a statement,” said ATSET secretary Vili Finau.
“We have discussed this issue and we have stated that in doing so, it would be as if we have accepted that we had gone on strike.
“And we would like to reiterate that we did not, we were locked out.
Mr Finau said they had informed Mr Sayed-Khaiyum that the employees were ready to return to work but without any conditions.
“That is the position of the trust – who are 49 per cent owners of the company.
“We will be writing to Mr Sayed-Khaiyum stating our position.”
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the workers were given an ultimatum.
“We are giving them until tonight (last night), they can do it very quickly.
“It’s a short letter, I told them what needed to be said that ‘we the under-signed walked off our job, we did not give any notice, we shouldn’t have done that, it was a mistake and we now want to go back to work.’
“And as soon as they do that, they can go back to work.
“By law, it has to be acknowledged that they walked off their job.
“We are willing to take them back. They can start work tomorrow.
“The offer is for everyone.”
ATS CEO Hare Mani said he would not comment on the statement made by ATSET for him to be removed.
“The only thing I will say is that I have been targeted by certain individuals because in the time I have been Acting CEO, I have brought in transparency and good governance and people don’t like that.”
Meanwhile, a joint statement released by Nadi International Airport stakeholders said due to the disruptions caused by the ‘unlawful strike’ by ATS employees, a plan had been formulated to ensure that services required for international flights continued.
The stakeholders led by Attorney General and Civil Aviation, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, and CEOs and senior leaders from ATS, Fiji Airways, Airports Fiji Limited, Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji and Air New Zealand, have agreed to cooperate, share and outsource resources to maintain operations and to keep Nadi International Airport operational.
“We have discussed this issue and we have stated that in doing so, it would be as if we have accepted that we had gone on strike.
“And we would like to reiterate that we did not, we were locked out.
Mr Finau said they had informed Mr Sayed-Khaiyum that the employees were ready to return to work but without any conditions.
“That is the position of the trust – who are 49 per cent owners of the company.
“We will be writing to Mr Sayed-Khaiyum stating our position.”
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the workers were given an ultimatum.
“We are giving them until tonight (last night), they can do it very quickly.
“It’s a short letter, I told them what needed to be said that ‘we the undersigned walked off our job, we did not give any notice, we shouldn’t have done that, it was a mistake and we now want to go back to work’.
“And as soon as they do that, they can go back to work. By law, it has to be acknowledged that they walked off their job.
“The offer is for everyone.”
ATS CEO Hare Mani said he would not comment on the statement made by ATSET for him to be removed.
“The only thing I will say is that I have been targeted by certain individuals because in the time I have been acting CEO, I have brought in transparency and good governance and people don’t like that.”
Meanwhile, a joint statement released by Nadi International Airport stakeholders said because of the disruptions caused by the “unlawful strike” by ATS employees, a plan had been formulated to ensure that services required for international flights continued.
The stakeholders led by Mr Sayed-Khaiyum, and CEOs and senior leaders from ATS, Fiji Airways, Airports Fiji Ltd, Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji and Air New Zealand, have agreed to co-operate, share and outsource resources to maintain operations and to keep Nadi International Airport operational.
