The latest on the RD Tuna workers’ strike is that the company has started recruiting people to replace the 489 of its workers currently on suspension and depending on how things unfold maybe terminated. As of this morning they have recruited 78 new workers. This is a cop out by the company. It is a cheap way of getting around the issue of paying K2.29/hour because it will not be back paying its new workers. RD Tuna owes the 489 workers along with others who are not under suspension a total of K5-6million kina. This is the amount they will have to back pay these workers as the K2.29/hour should have taken effect as of January 2010.
This is totally unfair and should not be tolerated. The Department of Labour should now pull up its socks and deal with the issue. The government should intervene quickly because RD Tuna Fishing is getting away with this in recruiting new people.
The reason why the workers went on strike is genuine. They were not paid what they were supposed to by RD Tuna. RD Tuna should reinstate the 489 workers, pay them their new rate as well as back pay them. If we really have a government for the people in this country, RD Tuna should be penalized because it was at fault, it did not comply with Labour laws.
No comments:
Post a Comment