Union-Busting at Fiji's Turtle Island,

Posted to the IUF website 07-Jul-2003

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Fiji's Turtle Island Lodge is amongst the most exclusive tourism operations in the world. Carefully screened couples pay some USD 1,500 per day for a week in millionaire owner Richard Evanson's private island paradise. The resort has received rave reviews for its commitment to sustainable tourism, based on Evanson's enthusiasm for planting trees. Evanson has been praised for his philanthropic undertakings. But there are no unions in this tropical paradise. Since March 2000, workers who join the IUF-affiliated National Union of Hospitality, Catering and Tourism Industry Employees (NUHCTIE) have been fired from their jobs.

Evanson bought the island three decades ago. As one internet reviewer (http://www.indiatodayplus.com/july2001/travel.html) astutely noted (in a different context), "This also enables Turtle Island to frame its own rules." That is the essence of the conflict on the island today, which pits Evanson against current and former (because they were fired) Turtle Island employees determined to fight for their rights.

The struggle for trade union rights has been going on since March 3, 2000, when the union wrote to management advising them that they had signed up members and were requesting recognition. Evanson called staff into his office for individual meetings and requested that they sign a letter stating that they had withdrawn their union membership. Twenty-three union members refused this humiliating exercise, and were fired.

In July 2002 44 union members were fired after meeting with NUHCTIE General Secretary Timoci Naivaluwaqa and Fiji TUC General Secretary Felix Anthony.

After these mass firings, the union signed up a majority of workers at the resort; 8 more union members were sacked.

"My island is very special to me", says Evanson, "and I want it to be special for my guests..." Employees have a different story to tell. Some workers earn 1.65 Fiji dollars an hour (less than 90 US cents) for a weekly wage below the poverty line, serving drinks to wealthy guests paying some 7,500 USD a week. There is no overtime pay, no independent workplace health and safety committee and no defense against arbitrary firings. Workers report that management maintains an internal system of spying on employees. Tips paid in US dollars are paid out in Fijian dollars, and there is no employee oversight of the money. In 2002, a US couple was unceremoniously booted off the island in the middle of their stay for, among other breaches of Turtle Island decorum, discussing the distribution of the tips with employees.

Turtle Island workers are seeking dignity and respect through union representation. Evanson won't have it. When NUHCTIE wrote to Evanson on November 7, 2002 requesting voluntary union recognition, Evanson replied back that he was "recognizing" his own staff association.

In December 2002, the union applied for a Compulsory Recognition Order with the Ministry of Labour. The order was issued by the government on January 22 of this year. Evanson refused to meet with the union, alleging that they failed to show up for a fictional March 16 meeting (a time when union general secretary Naivaluwaqa was in fact out of the country). Evanson failed to reply to a request to meet with IUF regional secretary Ma Wei Pin when he visited Fiji in June. Evanson says he never got the faxes, and that in any event workers are happy with the "staff association" he is promoting as part of the union-busting operation. In a December 10, 2002 letter to the NUHCTIE rejecting the union's request for recognition, Evanson even proposed the "Staff Association" as an anti-union model for the whole of Fiji, declaring that "We are very much a "Flagship" Organization within the industry and thus others will follow our lead. We hope that they do follow our lead and develop staff associations..." The threat to trade unionism on the islands of Fiji is thus made abundantly clear.

Shortly before a Fiji court was to initiate an investigation into the resort's failure to comply with the recognition order, management finally agreed to meet with the union. But when Turtle Island general manager Rob Besford met with NUHCTIE general secretary Naivaluwaqa on June 18, Besford refused to discuss the Memorandum of Agreement on union recognition, a document which Besford later denounced to the media as "illegal" when in fact it is customary practice.

A court investigation into the failure to implement the recognition order adjourned after some preliminary procedures on June 20 and will resume again in August.

Workers at the island resort want recognition and justice now. You can help by sending a strong message to Turtle Island Resort, calling on them to stop their anti-union practices, recognize the National Union of Hospitality, Catering and Tourism Industry Employees and negotiate a collective agreement.

The following may serve as a sample message.

Message to Turtle Island Resort

To: Mr Richard Evanson
General Manager
Turtle Island Resort, Fiji
Fax: + 679 666 52 20

cc: [email protected]
[email protected]

Dear Mr. Evanson,

Concerns: violations of trade union rights at Turtle Island Resort

I have learned of repeated violations of basic trade union rights at Turtle Island Lodge and the dismissal of employees who join the National Union of Hospitality, Catering and Tourism Industry Employees (NUHCTIE). Since March 2000, when 23 workers who refused to resign their union membership were terminated, we know of 75 cases of workers who were fired for their union membership. This information, along with evidence of other violations of basic worker rights, has been recorded by the Fiji Human Rights Commission and the Ministry of Labour.

A Compulsory Recognition Order has been issued, instructing your establishment to recognize and to enter into good faith negotiations with the union. Yet when general manager Rob Besford met with union representatives on June 18 the meeting broke up over the manager's refusal to discuss a routine Memorandum of Agreement on union recognition, a document which Besford later denounced to the media as "illegal" when in fact it is customary practice.

The pattern of anti-union practices and victimization of union members is a flagrant violation of core Conventions of the International Labour Organization. These Conventions have the force of international treaties, and the government of Fiji is obliged to uphold and defend them. Their violation is a violation of international law.

I therefore urge you to recognize the National Union of Hospitality, Catering and Tourism Industry Employees of Fiji as the legally authorized representative of the employees at Turtle Island Lodge and to immediately and unconditionally enter into negotiations for a collective agreement based on this recognition.

I will be closely watching developments in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Kindly send copies of any messages you might send to the IUF secretariat and to NUHCTIE at E-mail:[email protected]

We thank you in advance for your solidarity and support.