Solanki said a further 800 to 1,000 jobs were expected to be lost in the next six months as a result of the recently announced wage increases, coupled with a depressed economic condition.
He said out of the 9 wages council, which had minimum wage rates increased from Feb. 1 this year, the TCF Wages Council is the only export-oriented one.
“Global economic trends and trade relations have a direct impact on the industry and cannot be ignored. To disregard this fact would be grossly irresponsible especially since all countries around the world have given top priority to saving as many jobs as possible and not to increasing pay,” Solanki said.
He said the governments in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Europe were fighting tooth and nail to save millions of jobs as businesses were cutting down on costs to survive.
“Our main export markets, Australia and New Zealand are both in huge economic downturn,” he added.
Solanki said the TCF supported a wage increase but given the prevailing economic climate, the increase should have been reasonable and sustainable, and not result in job losses.
“The industry will comply with the new minimum wages as stipulated by law. However, the wage increases in Fiji has forced companies to increase prices. The increased prices will mean that Fiji is more expensive and hence, our customers will reduce their production in Fiji and move to more cost-effective countries,” Solanki said.
He said the pursuit of just wages regardless of the prevailing economic conditions was an act of gross injustice to the workers themselves.
Former interim Labor Minister Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi in his speech during the inauguration of the Wages Councils in July last year said both the employer and the worker had to work together in partnership as both parties would be judged by the level of productivity at the end of the day.
“It is therefore vital for the survival of businesses that any increases in wages are relative to ability of the employer to sustain that increase. If that cannot be done, we cannot realize our vision of reducing the work deficit for there cannot be decent wages if there is no work,” Vayeshnoi had said.
Solanki said: “If we are not trying to save jobs, we are sacrificing them.”
In related news, businesses in Nadi, Fiji’s major tourist town, want to be exempted from the new wage order in light of the massive devastation caused by the recent floods.
And the Nadi Chamber of Commerce has written to the interim government to this effect.
Commerce president Doctor Ram Raju said Nadi was still reeling from the aftermath of the recent flash flooding.
He called on the interim government to waive the new wage order until Nadi Town is back on its feet.
“The flood was the worst that hit Nadi town. Some have lost their business and everyone is trying to recover from their loss. It will take us a good six months to stand on our feet again so we ask the government to spare us from the new Act,” he added.
Shops in Nadi including some of the country’s biggest retailers and garments outlets remain closed, trying to repair the devastation left behind by floodwaters.
Courts Homecentres, mobile phone distributors Vodafone and Digicel and the South Pacific Bank remained closed due to damage.
Among others, the Fiji Indigenous Business Council has expressed its disagreement on the timing of the implementation of the new wage order.
FIBC president Ulai Taoi said the increase in wage rates at a time when the economy was struggling would lead to job losses and dampen plans by businesses to expand.
