Thumbs up for Fijian tourism ... despite the Australian and New Zealand unions. Photo: fijiguide.com
Source: RADIO AUSTRALIA
The tourism industry says its workers are treated well, and Australian and New Zealand unions aren’t helping workers here with a new campaign targeting Fijian tourism.
Dixon Seeto, the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association president and Hexagon Hotel Group managing director, told Radio Australia: “One of the things that I thought that unions were charged to do is to look after people and workers.
“If this campaign were successful, all it would do would be to harm the livelihoods of many, many people in Fiji who work in the industry and who are connected to the industry.”
Mr Seeto was questioning the just-launched Internet and news media campaign led by the Australian and New Zealand trade union councils aimed at reducing Fiji’s tourism income.
Tourism Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has also spotlighted the role of some Fijian trade union “elites” in this campaign, claimed to be in support of Fijian workers and union rights.
UNION ROLE
Mr Seeto said : “I’ve always asked the question as so do some of my colleagues that the trade unions should be doing more to protect and make sure that the livelihoods of workers in Fiji are safeguarded and enhanced.
“That’s what we in the industry to try to do and we are now governed by … wages councils which stipulate minimum wages for workers. There was a hefty increase recently of approximately almost 10 per cent and that greatly increased the take home pay of many of our workers.
“The thing is these are the minimum wages. What most industry establishments, most of the hotels and resorts, the union, the workers to, and they are paid at a much higher rate than what the minimum wage rates are. Because that’s negotiated under a separate collective agreement.
“The other thing the government has done is this, they’ve actually raised the threshold for tax-free income so that people, especially the lower income levels don’t pay any taxes.
“So they’re lot of things that we need to consider. But I’m hoping that good reason will prevail and in any case, Fiji’s a very attractive destination and I’m hoping that people will continue to come.”
Mr Seeto stressed the potential of tourism in driving employment and economic development. “A lot of people are involved with this industry,” he said. “It has great potential for even more employment of our school leavers. It has potential to get more investment and all this is good to develop Fiji. I would not want anything untoward to happen to our industry.
“And all the stakeholders in Fiji are working together to make this industry a bigger one.
“We make sure that we do all possible to enable this and we do have the support of government in terms of making industry develop and grow.
“And that’s our main objective, which I said employment is a key consideration in all that we do and we do look after our workers.”