PROTEST at the Fijian High Commission

Solidarity with unions in Fiji

TUC protest outside Fiji High Commission

Thursday 1 Septmber 2011

The TUC has called a protest outside Fiji's High Commission in London on Thursday 1 September from 4pm-5pm, backed by Amnesty International, as part of a worldwide day of action to protest at the trial of the President of the Fijian trade union movement, Daniel Urai, and his colleague Nitin Grounder, which will take place in Fiji's capital, Suva, on Friday 2 September.

They are charged with meeting trade union members without the permission of the military regime - a flagrant attack on their human rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

Because of the time difference, the TUC protest will take place just hours before the trial begins. We want Fiji's government to wake up to global protests.

We want the trial stopped and the charges dropped. But we also want an end to the repression and harassment of Fiji's trade unions, a restoration of employment and union laws agreed by both unions and employers, and, ultimately, the restoration of democracy in Fiji.

The High Commission is at 34 Hyde Park Gate, London SW7 5DN - here's a map.

The TUC is also calling on members to protest by e-mail to the Fijian government.

Fiji's trade unions are bearing the brunt of repression and harassment from the military dictatorship that has run Fiji since 2006. The most recent attacks on worker and union rights in Fiji have seen public sector workers stripped of most of their employment rights and check-off arrangements suspended; and the Essential National Industries (Employment) Decree, which restricts the rights of workers to strike or bargain collectively in any sector the Government deems 'essential', with excessive punishments for any breaches. The sectors most likely to be covered by this Decree are sugar production and tourism, which are virtually the only productive sectors (although both have been hard hit by the imposition of the dictatorship, with unemployment in Fiji now running at nearly 10%).

For more information, see the TUC background note on Fiji - with links to International Trade Union Confederation and Amnesty International reports.