More than 2000 mill workers at the Fiji Sugar Corporation are getting a 5.3% pay increase, equal access to health insurance and access to the special welfare fund.
Health insurance will now be available to all workers, with FSC paying for 50% of the premium said the Fiji Sugar Corporation Chairman Abdul Khan.
The pay raise had been in the works for more than two weeks.
On July 8th, for the first time in more than two years, workers began to get paid overtime for extra hours; and FSC Chairman Abdul Khan traveled to all four mills to meet with the staffs to thank them for their hard work and listen to their input.
Khan said, “We are all one family. We discuss the issues with each other, resolve them, and support each other. From the beginning, it was made clear that this would be a team effort, that we all had to work together, and that Government’s top priority was to make sure that not a single job be lost.
“When I took this post, FSC was in bad shape,” Khan continued. “People were saying the sugar industry was dead and our workers were demoralized. Now, two and a half years later, FSC is in financial good health, the staff is motivated and full of confidence, and everyone is sharing the benefits of our success.”
The pay raise and leveling of benefits come as a result of improved performance, lowering costs and increasing output. The pay raise will be retrospective to June 1st, and applies to all workers except company executives.
“We’ve come a long way in the past two and a half years,” said Khan”. “It’s because of the financial reforms instituted by the Bainimarama Government and the hard work being done by everyone to make FSC a more efficient and financially healthy. Everyone is pulling in the same direction.”
MINFO