They have been very good at trumpeting their cause to local politicians and a pliant media. But the unions at the Wonderland of USP – led by Alice (Rosie Fatiaki) and the White Rabbit ( Reuben Colata) have been less keen to trumpet the fact that they have advised their members to return to work. (see previous story).
According to the following correspondence dated Wednesday October 23, one of the unions – the Association of USP Staff – told its members to return to work yesterday, Thursday October 24. But there has been nothing to this effect in the local media, including in the union’s principal cheerleader, the Fiji Sun, which today continued its slavish strike coverage without mentioning a return to work.
Why have the unions chosen to slink back to their classrooms? Because after Day 4, their members have clearly decided that they simply cannot afford to stay out any longer. The USP is adamant on sticking to its legal advice of “no work, no pay” and the notion of continuing the strike into next week was already producing signs of a backlash against the union leadership.
Staff at USP have genuinely been led down a rabbit hole by Alice and her union kai vata. Without a shred of evidence to support her claim, Rosie Fatiaki has evidently been telling striking workers that they will be reimbursed for the days they have withdrawn their services when it simply isn’t going to happen.
No wonder they didn’t want the return to work publicised. It’s not so much Lewis Carroll at USP now that Alice and the White Rabbit have got a reality check but TS Eliot‘s Hollow Men. “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper”.
In the absence of any move by the USP Council to remove him, the unions are clearly counting on Pal Ahluwalia to decide that he has had enough of this tedious pantomime and walk away. But however this ends, it has just cost union members four days pay and counting if they decide to continue to follow Alice and the White Rabbit back down the hole in Wonderland.
There’s no Queen of Hearts in this pantomime but will the King of England do? (and of Australia, NZ, PNG etc)
Grubsheet is just the Cheshire Cat. Miaow.
Hands up who wants to be the Mad Hatter?
UPDATE TUES 29TH:
The USP takes the unions to court to try to head off further strike action.
This was expected.
4 days of lost pay is enough to make anyone get off their arse and head back in to work.
If they thought their strike has had any effect, it’s done zilch. The only effect is that USP will save 4 days of paying a group of people and the money will be diverted to the staff Christmas fund.
Ahluwalia’s move to ignore striking workers and just continuing to work as normal should send a message to Fatiaki that she’s led her flock of daft followers astray and she/union should fork out the 4 days of lost pay for the staff.
You say this cos Pal has given you job. I know who you are.
We also know who you are, Lol. A hyena. Lol.
And you a puppet of VC who’s offered you honorary PhD. Is he paying you too?
Strangely, no. Perhaps you might suggest it. All this puppetry is hard work.
The strike was never about boring old facts; it was all about “feelings.”
And now, look at the outcome: a week’s wages vanished, and shocker—those warm, fuzzy feelings have soured faster than milk left out in the sun!
Who says the staff “cannot afford to stay out any longer”. It’s all strategy, and why should we tell you. Keep guessing.
It has not soured. It’s more steadfast. It’s more solid. This will keep going for 6 months if needed. Talk about the student protests, it will keep coming. You won’t be able to stop the protests. I can see the VC packing.
Wow. Six months without pay, huh? You really are down the rabbit hole with Alice and the White Rabbit. Good luck with it. And with those pesky students who won’t join in because they know it is wrong.
The union bosses and striking staff should have read the Employment Relations Act 2007 first before going ahead with the strike. If taken to court by the USP management the strike action would have been declared unlawful under ERA 2007. The strike had no grounds to go ahead. Sorry for the workers who lose their pay but it is all legal in the ERA 2007.
The ERA is silent on that. Pls join us in the strike, don’t be afraid.
The Ministry of Labour and even PM has said it’s legal. What are you talking about you piece of garbage!
Come Ms Fatiaki; put your money where your mouth is and pay those workers whom you deceitfully led on strike. It’s individuals like yourself that turn off public support for union fights for causes. Surely the unions have zillions in the bank, member’s contributions, to pay them for the 4 days off where they showed undeniable support for a stupid cause. Stop ripping off your members and do the right thing!!!
You were right GD. Libby should enjoy her retirement and stay in her rocking chair and enjoy her cocoa whilst watching repeated replays of the ‘Sound of Music’.
Libby stood up for Pal when former AG Aiyaz Khaiyum was illegally removing PAL. It could be anyone. Problem is, PAL couldn’t live up to his job, he is a square peg in a round hole. So, now Libby is not part of the union. She does support the union to kick PAL out, which is the right thing to do.
Grubsheet is a pussy-cat with a honorary PhD from PAL Ahluwalia. I was there in council. PAL was keen to give you one for free. Do a real PhD GD, you sycophantic sucker.
“For free”? Did you seriously expect me to pay for it? And did the Council really approve it? If so, you can call me Dr Davis. Miaow.
Oh thanks for acknowledging as a real man that you’ve got it. No wonder you are running PAL’s propaganda.
I don’t “have it”, you fool. Read my lips. I DO NOT have an honorary PHD from USP or anywhere else. I understand I was proposed for one by the head of journalism at USP, Dr Shailendra Singh, for my 50 years as a Fijian journalist. I was also told it had been approved by the USP Council. But that’s the last I heard of it. And having made enemies of both sides of politics in Fiji, that’s not in the least bit surprising. I didn’t seek it. Nor do I care one way or the other if it is now off the table.. And it certainly doesn’t influence my reporting on USP.
I have repeatedly said that while Pal Ahluwalia has the support of the USP Council, it is not for the staff to dictate his removal. And I have also consistently said that the needs of the students must come first. You certainly don’t need an honorary doctorate to reach that conclusion. It ain’t rocket science, as the old saying goes.
In a 2023 council meeting, it was agreed upon that an independent investigation is carried out on the VC, about his pay, work etc. The council secretariat, led by Ratu Totivi Bokini, to draw the ToR for the investigation. This hasn’t happened. Union is asking for this. I ask, why is this wrong GD? What is the VC afraid of? And why are you protecting him GD? The VC has blatantly instructed Ratu to not proceed. Ratu is a coward. He has retired, but keeps getting yearly renewals. He is at Pal’s whims.
Dr Davis, you’ve done well for yourself. Peddling lies.
Take this from the good doctor-who-ain’t. Sometimes one man’s lies are another man’s truth. But your lies are just lies.
Apart from the rest of it, the strike will never work. Look back at the glory days of the freezing works (livestock killing and processing plants) in New Zealand. The unions ended up controlling the workers. Holding meetings and telling the well paid staff that they should ask for more money. They mostly voted in favour of the strike, the company wasn’t making enough to pay the extra, so they stayed on strike. Weeks and longer went by and eventually everyone agreed to settle. The workers got their extra money, but the amount they got never replaced what they had lost during the time they were on strike. And they were only asking for money, not to kick out their boss. All the while the union were paid their wages every week of the strike!
USP Problems
Regardless of the legalities, a situation in which a significant proportion of the academic staff do not wish the Vice Chancellor to continue in office cannot be for the long-term good of the University. Part of the problem may arise from the idea that the academic staff can have no say in the appointment of the VC. They are mere ‘workers’ – labourers, perhaps? The all-wise Council will appoint the VC, and ‘workers’ do not get to choose the Boss. This is a misconception of the structure of a University. The academic staff are a major part of the University itself: trying to run the University without their consent and collaboration is unlikely to work.
It might be helpful, in considering how the present conflict could be resolved, to consider how a major University goes about organising itself. At Oxford University, the Council appoints a Nominating Committee to advise Council on suitable applicants for the position of VC. The Council comprises elected members of the Congregation. (The Congregation can be considered the Parliament of the University). The Congregation comprises the academic staff, Heads of Colleges, senior research and administrative staff, etc. Its function is to consider policy issues submitted by the Council; in particular, it approves the appointment of the VC.
Since employment matters such as workload and pay scales are approved, in effect, by the Congregation, there is no occasion for ‘industrial inaction’.
The complex structure of Oxford University, with its self-governing Colleges, means that a simple copy of its structures to USP is not feasible. However, the underlying concept of decisions by the Congregation is readily applicable.
A clean break from the on-going ill-feeling, and departure from inappropriate ‘industrial’ concepts, could only be to the benefit of USP.
With hundreds of academic staff in Australia now being laid off because universities there are suffering from a collapse in student numbers, academics at USP should count themselves lucky that Pal Ahluwalia got them through the pandemic and raised millions of dollars in extra funding overseas to keep them employed.
As I understand it, not a single staff member at USP was laid off because of Covid. And they have since gained pay rises – albeit resisted by the VC – when many of their Australian counterparts don’t even have jobs.How much do we hear about this from Ahluwalia’s detractors at the Fiji Sun and Fijileaks? Nothing.
Let’s see what happens once Ahluwalia has gone. But even that isn’t the point. It is about whether the staff should dictate who is Vice Chancellor. And if and when the USP Council (Board) ever gives in to that, a precedent will have been set that is in no-one’s interests but the unions and is a cancer that threatens the proper governance of every entity in Fiji and the rest of the region.