Awareness Sessions Vital for Better Under Understanding of Electoral Process for Trade

01/06/2017

MEDIARELEASEFor ImmediateRelease

AWARENESS SESSIONS VITAL FOR BETTER UNDER UNDERSTANDING OF ELECTORAL PROCESS FOR TRADE UNION ELECTIONS

The Fijian Elections Office [FEO] has started conducting interactive Awareness SessionsforTradeUnionsandrespectiveemployersonTradeUnionElectionsand electoral best practices across Fiji from 29th May to 2nd June2017.

Awareness sessions as such are vital as it provides union members, executives, employersandemployeesabetterunderstandingoftheguidelinesandprocesses ofelections.

The Guidelines for Trade Union Election, which was released in 2014, aims to create a fair, transparent and credible electoral process whilst preserving the autonomous nature of trade unions.

Supervisor of Elections, Mohammed Saneem said the FEO has been organizing Trade Union Elections for the past two and a half years and managed to identify gaps in the electoral process which would need to be highlighted and resolved.

Sincelastyear,theFEOalsoinvitesemployersofrespectiveTradeUnionmembers to the awarenesssessions.

“The idea is to ensure that all stakeholders are fully aware of the requirements andtheprocessesinTradeUnionelectionsandemployingagenciesareoneofthe key stakeholders,” hesaid.

“Also, Trade unions are advised to frequently send alerts and update their members on trade union election timelines to enhance voter participation during the electoral process.”

TheFEOhasthistime,alsoopenedtheforumforattendancebygeneralmembers of Trade Unions who may wish to learn about the electoral process that the FEO implements.

The FEO has identified some key issues it hopes to address in the interactive awareness sessions:

1.Poor turnout from Trade Unions andEmployers,

2.The importance of the strict election timelines which has to be adhered to in any electoralprocess;

3.The unions to create awareness on the electoral processes in place to its members to enhance voterparticipation;

4.Theimportanceofupdatingoftheunion’smembershiplistingsbythe

unions before submitting it to the FEO;

5.To maximise voter participation, the FEO believes that the best solution is postal voting as it caters for branches that are in remoteareas.

“The FEO continues to advocate for improvements in the record keeping in terms of Union Membership and we are proposing that the FEO is given the responsibility to maintain this record independently.

Meanwhile, the FEO has upgraded its equipment in a bid to make the voting and counting process easier.

“The FEO has secured 50 electronic voting machines that will be used for trade union elections; and the FEO has also secured counting machines that will enable voters to vote and also automatically count the votes,” Saneem said.

To date, the FEO has organized more than 80 Trade Union elections and 120 branch level elections.

AnawarenesssessionwasheldinLabasaon29thMaywhiletwowereheldinSuva on 30th and 31stMay.

The next session is currently underway in Lautoka today (June 1) and will conclude tomorrow at the Tanoa Waterfront Hotel.

-Ends-

Please forward all media queries to the FEO Communications team at

Union members listen to a presentation during the awareness session at the Tanoa Plaza Hotel in Suva on May 30. Picture: FEO