Fiji miners closer to victory
By Norm Dixon
In a dramatic somersault, the Fiji government led by Sitiveni Rabuka has backed striking members of the Fiji Mine Workers Union and ordered the Australian-owned Emperor gold mine to recognise and negotiate with the union.
Prior to the general election in May, the military-
backed government fully supported the company throughout the 18-month strike.
Since May, the new government has moved to defuse the dispute. The Rabuka ministry is attempting to boost its popularity among working class and urban "indigenous" Fijians, most of whom support the multiracial Fijian Labor Party.
The strike began in February 1991 after the company refused to recognise the FMWU's right to negotiate better wages and conditions on behalf of its members. Union members were victimised and 420 sacked when they went on strike.
On September 10, the Fiji government issued a compulsory recognition order in favour of the striking miners. Under the order, Emperor management must negotiate wages and conditions with the FMWU. Emperor has refused to comply with the order because it claims the union has only signed up 30% of the eligible work force.
The Labour Ministry backed the union's stand that over 50% of the mine's work force had joined the FMWU. Under Fiji's labour laws an employer must recognise a union's right to represent its workers if more than half are members of the union.
A new economic analysis has shown that Fiji has lost millions of dollars as a result of concessions on royalties given to Australian-owned Emperor Gold
Mines by past governments, Fiji's Daily Post has reported.
The analysis found that the rates of royalty, company tax and dividend withholding tax that Emperor is required to pay are unknown because they are contained in a confidential tax agreement signed in 1983, and not due to expire until the beginning of next century.
Emperor exported some 38 tonnes of gold between 1970 and 1989 and paid royalties of only US$485,000. The analysis estimates that Fiji lost almost US$12 million as a result of these secret concessions, granted because the company has regularly claimed that the Vatukoula operation was unprofitable.
Emperor has also received millions of dollars in interest-free loans, subsidies, export bounties and loan write-offs, both before and after independence. Emperor Gold Mines' parent company, Emperor Mines, is registered in the Isle of Man, a tax haven with strict financial secrecy laws.