Fiji Trades Union Congress president Muniappa Gounder has warned that toxic workplaces are killing Fijian workers and staff, demanding urgent action to protect the nation’s psychological well-being.
During the 2026 World Day for Safety and Health at Work last week, Mr Gounder said mental health challenges were hindering productivity.
He insisted that the theme, ‘Let’s Ensure a Healthy Psychosocial Working Environment’, must be more than a slogan.
“Let’s Ensure a Healthy Psychosocial Working Environment’ is more than a slogan for a banner,” he said.
“It is a cry for justice, a call to action, and a warning to every workplace that has ignored human suffering.
“Work must never cost a person their peace of mind, their dignity, their health, or their life.”
Mr Gounder stressed there were employers who ignored the silent killer of ambition, specifically the mental breakdowns and psychological distress caused by poor management.
He argued that while physical safety was often observed, emotional injuries were usually ignored and disregarded.
“We remain dangerously quiet about the injuries no X-ray can ever detect; these include the stress, the anxiety, the burnout, the humiliation, the fear of losing one’s job, the loneliness, and the emotional collapse behind a false smile.”
Mr Gounder warned that these psychosocial hazards were pathways to depression that trigger heart disease and family breakdowns.
He related workplace pressures directly to the country’s rising mortality rates, suggesting that the relentless pressure of modern employment was a matter of life and death.
“Workers are not only dying from what they eat. They are dying from how they work.”
“Let us stop pretending that relentless pressure, emotional exhaustion, and overwork are not also driving people to sickness and, eventually, to death.”
