INDEPENDENT NEWS

Fiji: IFJ Praises Daily Post Strike Success

Published: Tue 17 Dec 2002 11:03 AM
* Pacific Media Watch Online - check the website for archive and links:
http://www.pmw.c2o.org
* Post a comment on PMW's Right of Reply:
http://www.TheGuestBook.com/egbook/257949.gbook
IFJ PRAISES DAILY POST STRIKE SUCCESS
http://www.ifj-asia.org
SYDNEY (International Federation of Journalists/Pacific Media Watch): The International Federation of Journalists, the global organisation of journalists representing more than 500,000 journalists worldwide, has sent a message of support to Fiji's Daily Post media workers over their recent strike success.
"We would like to congratulate you on winning your recent industrial dispute," said the statement by IFJ president Christopher Warren.
"It is only through collective action such as yours that journalists are able to maintain and strengthen their professional and industrial conditions."
Warren offered IFJ support or assistance if Fiji journalists needed it in the future.
The IFJ and its member professional journalist unions of Australia and New Zealand strongly supported efforts by Pacific journalists to establish media unions in Fiji and Papua New Guinea in the early 1990s through an umbrella group, the Pacific Journalists Association.
The striking Daily Post workers returned to work on December 6 after winning Fiji's Labour Ministry recognition of their protest as a trade dispute.
About 60 workers had been on strike since November 7.
The Fiji Times reported that the breakthrough came after Public Enterprises Minister Irami Matairavula told the Labour Minister Kenneth Zinck that the striking workers formed the majority and ought to be recognised.
The editorial and production workers had been pressing for better salaries and working conditions, alleging that the Post, in which the Fiji Government maintains a 44 percent stake, had breached the country's labour laws by failing to pay them superannuation and other entitlements.
The Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA) general secretary, Rajeshwar Singh, said the striking workers got the recognition they wanted.
+++niuswire
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH ONLINE http://www.pmw.c2o.org
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).
(c)1996-2002 Copyright - All rights reserved.
Items are provided solely for review purposes as a non-profit educational service. Copyright remains the property of the original producers as indicated. Recipients should seek permission from the copyright owner for any publishing. Copyright owners not wishing their materials to be posted by PMW please contact us. The views expressed in material listed by PMW are not necessarily the views of PMW or its members.
Recipients should rely on their own inquiries before making decisions based on material listed in PMW. Please copy appeals to PMW and acknowledge source.
For further information, inquiries about joining the Pacific Media Watch
listserve, articles for publication, and giving feedback contact Pacific
Media Watch at: E-mail: delaro@clear.net.nz pcronau@hotmail.com Fax: (+679) 30 5779 or (+612) 9660 1804 Mail: PO Box 9, Annandale, NSW 2038, Australia or, PO Box 78028, Auckland 1002, New Zealand. New website: www.pmw.c2o.org

Next in World

View as: DESKTOP | MOBILE © Scoop Media