Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, August 10, 2007 Fiji nurses stand to
lose out substantially on the interim governments offer of sixty new
junior sisters posts, says Public Service Minister Poseci Bune. In a
statement after yesterday’s announcement that the nurses would end
their strike tonight Bune said the nurses have finally come to their
senses and that they had been misled by their leaders. Bune said the
nurses lost substantially in terms of pay and the 60 junior Sister
posts that would have meant advancement opportunities for the nurses at
base level with its accompanying 12 per cent pay increase. ... Fiji

Fiji Times, August 10, 2007 Nurses who decided to return to work fear
victimisation from their colleagues who stayed on strike. A nurse, who
returned to work half way through the strike said it was most
unfortunate that her colleagues did not respect her decision to return
to work. "They called me names and said I was a liu muri and they were
very unhappy when I indicated that I was returning to work," the nurse
said. She only shared her story after being reassured that her identity
would not be revealed. ... Nurses

Radio New Zealand International, August 9, 2007 Fiji’s interim prime
minister says public servants on strike and absent from work should not
live in the false hope of getting paid. Commodore Bainimarama made the
comment after the general secretary of the Fiji Nurses Association,
Kuini Lutua, claimed that the deduction of strikers’ pay was illegal.
Commodore Bainimarama says Mrs Lutua should not mislead her members
because the basic understanding is that people work to get paid.
Otherwise, he says, everybody would stay away on strike at home and
expect to get paid. ... Fiji

Radio New Zealand International, August 9, 2007 Fiji’s interim minister
for the public service says while the end of the 16-day nurses’ strike
is a relief, their leaders should be held accountable for grossly
misleading their members. The nurses called off their strike yesterday
and will resume work tomorrow. The minister, Poseci Bune, says the Fiji
Nurses Association would have been far better off accepting the offer
the interim government made to them. ... Fiji

Radio New Zealand International, August 9, 2007 The general secretary
of the Fiji Nurses Association, Kuini Lutua, says more nurses are
likely to look for work overseas after their 16-day strike action was
called off on Thursday. The nurses will go back to work tomorrow after
failing to sway the interim government to restore the five-percent they
cut from public sector wages earlier this year. Ms Lutua says the
nurses will seek redress through the courts where they are likely to
contend that their constitutional rights were denied by the
government’s refusal to send the dispute to arbitration. She says the
senior nurses particularly will now move on to greener pastures. ... Fiji

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, August 9, 2007 The nurses will have to
inform the Labour Ministry on their decision to call of the strike when
they plan to resume work. Public Service Minister Poseci Bune said his
ministry will only be adviced once the Labour Ministry has been
informed. While Bune is relieved that the nurses will return to work he
feels the nurses passed aside a good deal by going on strike. “They
should regret this because they have not won anything and in fact they
have lost a great deal in terms of improving the conditions of service
for the nurses. I say this because in place of the one per cent that
Lutua was demanding from the government to be paid from August in
addition to the one per cent we have previously agreed to I offered

Fijivillage, August 9, 2007 As the Fiji Nursing Association called off
their strike effective from this Saturday, Interim Prime Minister,
Commodore Frank Bainimarama has welcomed the last striking trade union
for taking the step. However Commodore Bainimarama maintains that the
unions should not live in false hope that the matter should have been
referred to compulsory arbitration as soon as they went on strike. He
maintains that the door for negotiations is still open and the nurses
should now try to fully understand the current economic situation on
why the 5 percent pay cannot be restored at this stage. © 2007
FijiVillage.com | All rights reserved

Fijilive, August 9, 2007 Fiji's striking nurses are taking legal action
against the interim Government after many of their members received
empty pay packets today. Members of the Fiji Nursing Association enter
their 16th day of strike today over cost-cutting measures imposed by
the interim Government. Some of the FNA members who returned to work
will be paid while many who remain on strike will not. FNA general
secretary Kuini Lutua said that they have been assured by the
government that they will not be treated any differently from other
civil servants. "We have been cornered from all places and now we are
stuck so the only option for us is to take the matter to court if they

Fijilive, August 9, 2007 Fiji's interim Prime Minister has blamed
leaders of the Fiji Nursing Association for nurses losing pay during
their strike. Government employees, including nurses, received their
fortnightly wages today, but the 1000-plus nurses who were on strike
for the last 14 days did not receive any pay. Commodore Voreqe
Bainimarama said FNA general secretary Kuini Lutua and FNA executives
"coerced the FNA members to go on strike with full knowledge of its
consequences". ... PM

Fijilive, August 9, 2007 Striking members of the Fiji Nursing
Association will be going back to work on Saturday, says FNA general
secretary Kuini Lutua. Lutua told fijilive.com that they have decided
to deal with their grievances in court. The decision was reached today;
16 days after the FNA members left their jobs over the interim
Government's 5 per cent pay cut, lowering of the retirement age and
reluctance to implement the Partnership Agreement with the previous
Government. Lutua said that Government workers received their
fortnightly wages today, but FNA members who went on strike did not
receive any pay. She said the Health Ministry told them this morning

Fijivillage, August 9, 2007 The Fiji Nursing Association strike has
been called off, effective from the 11th of August, this Saturday.
Association General Secretary Kuini Lutua has confirmed to Village News
that the strike has been called off and the Association is now prepared
to take legal action against the interim administration. The nurses
have been on strike for 16 days with services barely coping in
hospitals around the country. The Interim Labour Minister Bernadette
Rounds Ganilau did not refer the matter to compulsory arbitration when
the FNA strike had started even though talks had failed between the
Public Service Commission and the FNA Executives. © 2007
FijiVillage.com | All rights reserved

Radio Australia, August 9, 2007 Striking members of the Fiji Nursing
Association will go back to work on Saturday. The FNA general
secretary, Kuini Lutua, says they have decided to deal with their
grievances in court after 16-days on strike. The were protesting
against the interim government's five per cent pay cut and the lowering
of the retirement age. The interim government has offered to restore
one per cent of the pay for nurses and other public sector union
workers, with a promise of further negotiations on the remaining four
per cent when the nation's finances are healthier. Ms Lutua says
government workers were paid Thursday, but nurses who went on strike
were not. © ABC 2007

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, August 9, 2007 The Fiji Nursing
Association are has questioned the Interim Administration as to how it
expects nurses to pay bills and feed their families when the salary of
nurses has been docked for going on strike. According to Lutua, the
nurses are entitled to their pay because the Labour Ministry has not
referred the matter to arbitration. ... Fiji

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, August 9, 2007 The striking nurses will
end their strike on Friday night after been on demostrating for almost
two weeks nows. Fiji Nurses Association General Secretary Kuini Lutua
told Radio News that senior officials met last night and agreed that
the nurses return to work at the first shift at 6 AM on Saturday
morning. The nurses were also paid today (sic). The strike is the
longest ever in the essential services in Fiji. Lutua said the
Association will continue to fight for their demands in court. ... Fiji

Fijivillage, August 9, 2007 The engaging of 30 retired nurses at the
country's largest hospital has allowed community health services to
start and health centres in the Central/Eastern Division to open, which
have been closed as a result of the Fiji Nursing Association strike
since the 23rd of July. Director Health Services Central/Eastern,
Doctor Salanieta Saketa said as long as there are doctors available,
the different health centres, without its full strength of nurses,
would still be able to provide some services to the public. Saketa
confirms that as of yesterday, 22 nurses in total have returned to work
at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital as well as at Sub-Divisional
Hospitals in the Central/Eastern Division. © 2007 FijiVillage.com | All
rights reserved