Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Union tells workers to value Fiji Water pay

Posted at 04:53 on 01 December, 2010 UTC

A union representing many workers at Fiji Water says the company’s near closure is a wake-up call for them to make the most of their better than average pay packets.

The American company has started operating again, two days after announcing it would close its plant following Fiji’s interim government’s decision to hike its tax on bottled water.

400 jobs were at risk.

The Assistant General Secretary of the Fiji Sugar and General Workers Union, Mikaela Mataka, says an unskilled new worker at Fiji Water can earn two US dollars seventy an hour, more than double the amount they could get elsewhere.

“It was a lesson for us. I’m going to talk to the members about what happened and maybe start changing our attitude towards their job now and if they haven’t had any savings themselves, maybe they should start putting something aside now.”

Assistant General Secretary of the Fiji Sugar and General Workers Union, Mikaela Mataka