Papers

Fiji Union Papers Lost

From a Correspondent

Suva.!

What appears to be calculate defiance of the Fiji Governmei has appeared from time to tin. in the conduct of certain trac unions connected with the F\ sugar industry. To check it, tl Government planned legislatic which would ensure that the co\ trol of the unions remained \ the hands of the members, at was not usurped by certain i their office-holders.

IT therefore passed the Indus Associations Ordinance, w gave the Registrar of Industrial A ciations, Mr. B. L. Gregg, authi to examine the books and record the union, to see that they coi with the rules under which the ur are constituted.

The activities of the Fiji W 1 sale and Retail Workers U brought it under official attention, investigation was made, as a r of which the general secretary, Mohammed Tora, and other offii were expelled from office, lat February.

The union thereupon met forr and re-elected Tora to the gee secretaryship!

It then became apparent that draughtsmanship under which th( dinance was created had holes i The word “expel” was not defim The Registrar may have inte permanent disqualification ag Tora, but there was no provisioi that; and the union claimed th had the right to re-elect.

The Registrar immediately b another “inquiry”. The legal ou is foggy. Critics are reminding officials that it talked about the for amendments of the Ordinal year ago, but nothing was done, Mr. Lakshman Under Fire And now comes another and worse headache for the Regist the case of Mr, B. D. Laksh president of the Sugar Emplc Union, a member of the Legis] Council, and another stormy peti Fiji’s industrial and political woi On February 22, after a lon quiry, the Registrar expelled Lakshman, along with the ui

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ieral secretary, Mr. Gopel, and ieral treasurer, Mr. Ram Aarayan le took this drastic action after a g inquiry by an Assistant Registrar neral, Mr. Vijay Singh—a former X who sat alongside Mr. Laksh n in the Legislative Council for >re than a year. Mr. Gregg decided, er reading Mr. Singh’s report, that •. Lakshman had dominated the ion in a way that was in conflict th the law.

Mr. Singh reported that Mr. Laksh in, since his election as union :sident in October, 1958, had de ;d branches their legal right to nual elections; had not taken steps ensure that proper accounts were pt; had failed to hold an annual neral meeting every year; had failed

to keep the central executive and members informed of the union’s financial position; and had failed generally to observe the constitution of the union.

Mr. Lakshman had, in effect, car ried out the duties of the general secretary and the general treasurer.

Union Records Disappear Some remarkable statements about the records of the union were made in Mr. Vijay Singh’s report.

During 1961, he wished to examine the union’s records. He was told they were in the care of the president, and the president was abroad. By the year’s end, the president was home again, and it was proposed to resume the inquiry in January.

On January 23, the Assistant Regis trar was officially informed that books of account, receipt books, minute books and other papers relating to the term of Mr. Lakshman’s presidency has been stolen. They had been in his office (reported Mr. Lakshman) when he locked up in the evening of January 22; but the door was forced in the night, and the papers were gone.

The Registrar commented on the fact that no other records or pro perty had been taken.

Lakshman's Defence Mr. Lakshman, commenting later, said it was “a drain inspector’s re port”. He admitted that, as the report alleged, he was the dominating person in the union. It was, he claimed, the privilege of the president to be dominating and autocratic. He claimed he had fulfilled the require ments of presidential office.

Mr. Lakshman said that if Mr.

Gregg’s direction was carried out the workers would suffer and South Pacific Sugar Mills Ltd. (the CSR Co.) would benefit because a master agreement between the company and the union was to come up for dis cussion soon.

He then declared that the action taken by the Registrar was obviously to protect the company. Although the sugar industry should be protected, the law should not have been stretched in a way to weaken a party at pend ing negotiations.

Then, blandly, Mr. Lakshman an nounced that he would call a meeting of the union’s central executive to tender his resignation. He ignored the fact that he could not resign— he already was expelled.

Finally, he offered to place him self in the hands of members, and his course thereafter would depend on what the union’s central executive de cided to do.

His last statement added new lines of worry to Mr. Gregg’s face, for it was apparent that an attempt will be made to re-elect Mr. Lakshman to the presidency.

Under the Ordinance, Mr. Gregg is like a man-o’-war without guns.