Minister Aseri Radrodro

The Ministry of Education is urging teacher unions to engage in consultations with the Ministry to reach an agreement before any strike action is taken.

This follows the proposal by the Fijian Teachers Association and the Fiji Teachers Union to increase the salary of teachers by 30 percent and if this does not come through, they will stage a strike.

Minister Aseri Radrodro emphasizes the importance of finding common ground and aligning requests with the resources that the Ministry and government can provide.

Radrodro says this collaborative approach aims to ensure that both parties can start discussions on a solid foundation and work towards mutually beneficial outcomes.

“Well, I would like to encourage the teacher unions and the Ministry of Education to come and sit down and consult and come to an agreement beforehand in terms of their requests and in terms of the resources that the Ministry of Education and the government can provide to see that we have common grounds to start off our discussion, and then we can take it from there.”

Radrodro emphasized that the Ministry is actively consulting with relevant line ministries to address issues raised concerning teachers, which involves working through their respective Permanent Secretaries to find resolutions and agreements.

The two unions are currently awaiting approval from the Ministry of Employment for a secret ballot.

Once the unions have 51 percent of teachers agreeing to carry on with the strike, they will take industrial action.

Meanwhile, the 2024–2025 national budget will be announced this Friday.