FRCS urges FPSA to join hands

Source: The Fiji Times
Author: Anish Chand

The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) has urged the Fiji Public Service Association (FPSA) to join hands with them to make FRCS an "employer of choice".

FRCS acting CEO Malakai Naiyaga made the comments while responding to a statement by FPSA that FRCA members were not happy with the implementation of a job evaluation exercise (JEE).

"We are still to understand why FPSA chooses to continue to raise these in the media," he said. "FRCS has had meetings with the union discussing these issues.

"The primary objective of the JEE was to evaluate all FRCS jobs and compare job sizes and salaries against similar organisations based in Fiji. These evaluations were conducted independently by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

"FRCS fervently believes that due and necessary processes were followed, and this was conducted transparently and included an invitation for the union (FPSA) to partner with FRCS to which the union chose not to respond to at the initial stages.

Mr Naiyaga said the JEE process was transparent, fair, and involved an independent and professional organisation.

"FRCS is committed to making the organisation an 'employer of choice'. We have pitched our market salary practice in line with the banking and finance sector to ensure that our people are remunerated fairly.

"We are working towards removing short-term contracts and will make all our full-time staff permanent employees. FRCS hopes that the FPSA will work closely with us in enriching the lives and skills of our people."