‘Pleased with the outcome’: Fiji Water and union workers reach agreement

Fiji Water and its employees who have spent the last 10 days on strike have come to an agreement.

Last Tuesday, a group of workers for Fiji Water went on strike over pay disputes at the multi-million dollar US-owned company’s water bottling plant in Yaqara and the Naikabula depot in Lautoka.

The strike was carried out by workers in the factory and transport section of the company, who claimed the company failed to pay overtime pay and had not made income adjustments to inflation, along with other pay related issues.

National Union of Workers (NUW) general secretary Felix Anthony said an agreement was reached on Thursday.

Anthony said workers are very pleased with the offer.

He said they agreed to a five percent pay increase for 1 January 2023 and another five percent increase for 1 January 2024, which will both be back paid.

Another five percent pay increase will be effective from 1 January 2025.

“In addition to that, we agreed to reduce the working hours from 45 to 42 without loss of pay, which means a wage increase based on 6.7 percent.

“But apart from this, there are other terms and conditions like allowance increases and extra days off in the new roster.”

Anthony said workers were given what they asked for by Fiji Water, however he said the NUW were not happy with the conduct of management in the negotiations.

“They didn’t appear to be sincere and committed to a quick resolution to this issue, in any case we were pleased with the outcome.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Fiji Water said the company was pleased that “good faith” negotiations had resulted in an agreement.

“We and National Union of Workers General Secretary Felix Anthony worked collaboratively to put this matter behind us and ensure workers can return to their jobs, and we thank him for his commitment and leadership,” they said.

“Fiji Water takes great pride in being one of the best employers in Fiji, providing among the highest wages and best benefits, and working with our partners and the unions to operate one of the most advanced and safest plants in the world.”

Fiji Water employees return to work on Friday.