Archbishop Peter Loy Chong says he will not make his stand on ATS workers issue until he has gathered all the facts

The Head of the Catholic Church in Fiji, Archbishop Peter Loy Chong says that he will not make his stand on the ATS workers issue until he has gathered all the facts.

Archbishop Chong has met with the ATS workers and the management and says an investigation needs to be carried out by the Ministry of Employment with regards to the issue at hand.

When questioned by Fijivillage on his stand on the dispute and in what capacity he is meeting the parties, he said that he does not have the full facts in order to make his stand.

He says all he can do is appeal to the Ministry of Employment to investigate the issues as nothing else can be done by the church.

Meanwhile, Minister for Employment Jone Usamate says the process is clearly stated in the Employment Relations Act where the individuals or union concerned can file a dispute or grievance with the Ministry for formal mediation or to go before the Employment Tribunal.

Usamate confirms that the Federated Airlines Staff Association is yet to do this.

He says despite exhaustive efforts by the Ministry of Employment to mediate the dispute between ATS and the ATS employees who participated in an unlawful strike, no resolution was reached.

Usamate says as a result, the Ministry has deferred to the decision of ATS management to suspend the employees.

He says the walk off of some ATS employees was declared as an unlawful strike on 16th December in accordance with the Employment Relations Act.

Usamate says after two weeks of informal mediation, no resolution was accepted by the parties.