Court favours airport workers’ plight
A bitter row between the management of Fiji’s Air Terminal Services (ATS) and its employees who were locked out of work for 35 days including Christmas and New Year ended last month with the court’s sympathy towards the workers. The Employment Relations Tribunal presided by Australian Andrew See ordered ATS management to allow the workers back to work and to pay them for the days they were locked out.
About 70 staff on shift on Saturday, 16 December left their stations to attend a three-hour shareholders meeting. When they returned to work, the gate was locked and the security had instructions from management not to let anyone back in.
ATS board chair Riyaz Khaiyum and CEO Hare Mani claimed the workers went on strike and instructed HR manager Richard Donaldson to issue suspension letters to over 300 workers, including those not at work that day and those on leave. If they wanted their jobs back, they were told to sign a letter admitting their action was illegal and they could be further reprimanded.
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