FOR the umpteenth time, Fiji’s employers are pleading to Government to restore the millions of dollars in FNU levy collected from them every year to help fund the training of their workers.
To restore it to its original intention it was meant for, which is: to pay for the training and upskilling of their workers.
This, however, seem to be falling on deaf ears. No one is batting an eyelid.
If it took a simple stroke of a pen to “butcher” – as Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) chief executive officer Edward Bernard puts it – this training levy and apportion it off to fund other things remotely associated with training and upskilling, which the previous Government did, it sure is looking more and more like an irreversible act that cannot be fixed.
Not even by this Government, who appear hell bent on (yet again) redirecting a portion of it to a Work Care Fund under the proposed Work Care Bill to fund, of all things, compensation for workers and school children injured in accidents.
The employers’ plight is being spearheaded by FCEF, as the apex private sector body in Fiji.
Majority of its members, who collectively represent over 10 sectors of the economy and employ over 6000 workers, dutifully pay the FNU levy, which, as required by law, is one per cent of a company’s gross emolument (wages and other benefits).
Since 1973 when it was enacted, the entire amount collected had been going into funding its intended purpose.
Until 2019 when the previous Government unilaterally directed 50 per cent of that levy to go towards a trust fund to fund its General Practitioners Scheme, 40 percent towards Accident
Compensation Commission Fiji (ACCF) for workmen’s compensation and with only 10 per cent retained for training grants.
At their submissions last Friday to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Economic Affairs on the consideration of Bill No.7 of 2025 — Work Care Bill and Bill No.8 of 2025 — Accident Compensation (Amendment) Bill 2025, FCEF shared the numbers that revealed the extent of this “butchering”.
Out of the $23million in total FNU levy collected in 2022, only $2.3m was available for training, according to FCEF board member Deepak Rathod.
“The original levy distribution pre-2019 was 100 per cent for workforce training,” Mr Rathod said.
“The current levy distribution at this point is 50 per cent to Government-funded medical scheme, 40 percent to Accident Compensation Commission, 10 per cent to FNU training programs.”
And the current Government plans to continue this unilateral “butchering” of the FNU levy in its proposed Work Care Bill by leaving that redistribution percentage unchanged.
“We express our strongest concern about the 40 percent of the 1 percent FNU levy that will be transferred to the Employment Ministry should the Work Care Bill be passed,” Mr Bernard said during his presentation to the Parliamentary Economic Affairs Committee.
“This 40 percent, averaging $9m a year, needs to be used for the intended purpose, and that is, to invest in the upskilling of our employees.
“It never should have been used for injury compensation. Just like the 50 per cent of the 1per cent that should never have been used for free doctors.
“The skills crisis that Fiji is facing is very real. Employers need their funds to improve the skills of our workforce, including training them on health and safety and in turn, to reduce the workplace accidents, improve productivity and contribute to economic development.”
The case has become an urgent and serious concern for employers.
Mr Bernard yesterday told this newspaper that FCEF has consistently been lobbying Government about the FNU levy as its redirection has led to a serious lack of training funding which in turn has affected apprenticeship schemes for employers and has also forced some of them to pay for staff training from their pockets even though they paid the FNU levy.
“Training and compensation are two very distinct things and I am not sure what the rational was, if there was one,” he said.
“We have mentioned this in many forums and meetings with DPM (Prof Biman) Prasad, DPM (Manoa) Kamikamica and Minister Agni (Deo Singh).
“We have also mentioned it to the Minister for Health as 50 per cent of the 1per cent goes for free doctors. I recently mentioned this at the National Budget Consultations to DPM Prasad and he said they will look into it.
“The 20 percent that actually sits with FNU for employers training I understand also allows FNU to spend on their capital works.
“This employers training fund has been butchered and in the current labour market situation, this policy decision by the last Government is not helping businesses, workers or the economy.”
Indeed, the impact of the skills crisis and the funding constraints to address it because Government has other plans for the FNU levy is reverberating throughout the halls of Fiji’s private sector.
“We understand the importance of healthcare and compensation for injured workers,” wrote Fiji Tourism and Hotels Association chief executive officer Fantasha Lockington in her Tourism Talanoa Column in this newspaper last Thursday.
“But the issue here is about integrity and transparency—when an employer levy is mandated for workforce training, and that money is then diverted for other purposes, we should be honest about what that means.
“It means our future workforce is underprepared.
“It means we’re breaking a promise made to every employer and worker in Fiji. And now, the cracks are showing.
“Across tourism properties in Fiji, employers are finding themselves in the position of having to retrain fresh graduates, because the training these students receive at our institutions is not fully aligned with the realities of our industry today.
“This is not a criticism of the students.
“It’s not even just a criticism of the lecturers.
“It’s a system-level issue.
“When we underfund training, when curricula are outdated, and when industry isn’t meaningfully involved in shaping programs, this is the inevitable outcome,” Ms Lockington wrote.
