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Issue No: 576; 13 March 2001
One wrong move from the regime and the garment industry will collapse within 6 months, says the President of the Fiji-Australia Business Council Mark Halabe. The Fiji media carried Halabe's comments widely during the past few days. Halabe says that if the President and the Council of Chiefs decided against the 1997 Constitution, "there will be no [garment] industry left within 6 months. There is already international pressure and this time around any sanctions imposed on Fiji would be very severe". Already 4 factories have closed within the past 2 weeks. A fifth factory, employing hundreds of workers, may be closing within the next two weeks. Factory closures so far are due to the expiry of the tax free schemes which were introduced 13 years ago, cancellation of orders from Fiji on account of political instability, and cheaper labour sources in countries like China and Vietnam. Meanwhile the Fiji Trades Union Congress has condemned the
Fiji Times for saying that the closures were due to the FTUC's call for trade
bans. In a letter to the Times, the FTUC has stated that the newspaper should
blame those responsible for the mess which Fiji is in now and not the FTUC. |
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People's Coalition Government - Fiji Islands |
