Fiji's Sugar Interests

No Strike This Season Fiji's Sugar Interests Meet After Argument

There may be some hard

words, but there will be no

strike action or major demands

on the Colonial Sugar Refining

Company by the Fiji Sugar In

dustry Employees’ Association

for the remainder of this Fiji

sugar season.

That much Mr. B. D. Lakshman, the general president of the association, told a PIM repre sentative a few days before a meet ing between the two parties at the end of September.

It was then uncertain whether the meeting would take place at all as there had been some sharp ex changes of correspondence in regard to the agenda, but in the end the representatives of the employer and this particular branch of the workers, commenced on September 28 a series of meetings which were to continue into October.

The employers were insisting that they would discuss only those items covered in paragraphs 105 to 110 of the recent Report of the Sugar Board Inquiry.

Want Award

These concerned the establish ment of a Master Agreement equivalent to the published award of unions in more advanced countries—wherein all the terms and conditions of employment must be set out in careful language to avoid dispute.

The CSR also wanted an assur ance that there would be a house cleaning within the association, as recommended by the Board of In quiry, prior to any discussion at all.

The association, on the other hand, wanted also to discuss wages and other matters. It maintained— correctly—that the Board never had the power to fix wages. It had power of recommendation only, and while the CSR had voluntarily and unilaterally accepted the wage re commendations, this did not mean, said Mr. Lakshman, that the sub ject was to be considered closed.

There might be some justification for that view if the Board had been a legal wage-fixing body.

Mr. Lakshman said that it was his view that the employer had an nounced acceptance of the wage

recommendations without reference to the association with the inten tion of short-circuiting further dis cussion. As a matter of principle, the association could not accept that approach—even if at the moment it accepted the recommended rise.

Correspondence on these points had been exchanged from August 1 up to September 23, with no clear sign of agreement on the agenda, but on the latter date the asso ciation informed the employers that its representatives would be at the suggested meeting place on Sep tember 28 and that on the two days immediately prior to that date it would hold a meeting to discuss its own domestic affairs.

"Will Rewrite"

When the meeting opened on Sep tember 28, with Mr. Lakshman heading the full executive of the association, and Mr. L. M. Sherwood (in his new post of industrial man ager) and his assistant, Mr. Lear, representing the CSR, Mr. Laksh man announced that his Board had decided to completely rewrite its constitution according to the re commendations made in the Report.

That said, discussions then pro ceeded on the Master Agreement.

Papua-New Guinea and Nether lands New Guinea opened a direct radio telegraph link on October 1.

The service is between Hollandia and Port Moresby and telegrams can be sent Mondays to Fridays.

Mr. B. D. Lakshman, Fiji union leader and newly elected member of the Fiji Legislative Council.