A group of concerned alumni of the University of the South Pacific has called the regional institution’s delay in releasing the outcomes of the 98th USP Council meeting held in Rarotonga late last month “totally unacceptable”.

The group released a statement on Thursday, stating that the regional university’s main decision-making body and support staff’s failure to provide a timely update “to keep the Pacific Islands taxpayers and fee-paying students fully informed about important decisions . . . is becoming totally unacceptable”.

“This is particularly so as the USP unions’ strike action mandate is active,” the statement read.

Earlier this week, there was speculation that the USP vice-chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who has fallen out of favour with the staff unions, had stepped down from his role at the Rarotonga meeting.

However, the USP told RNZ Pacific that information about Professor Ahluwalia resigning was “inaccurate”.

The university did not respond to RNZ Pacific’s specific question on whether the vice-chancellor had resigned.

“The University of the South Pacific wishes to clarify that the allegations regarding events at the 98th Council meeting are inaccurate,” a USP spokesperson said.

“The USP Council will issue an official statement on the outcomes of the meeting in due course.”

But the USP alumni statement included a “summary of the major council decisions”, including the appointment of a new VCP as one of seven main outcomes of the two-day meeting in the Cook Islands.

But the USP alumni statement included a “summary of the major council decisions”, including the appointment of a new VCP as one of seven main outcomes of the two-day meeting in the Cook Islands.

“A new USP visitor has also been appointed. He is Mr Daniel Fatiaki, former Chief Justice of Fiji and Vanuatu. He is an alumnus and Preliminary 2 graduate in the early 1970s.

“On the first day, VCP [Ahluwalia] indicated he would be stepping down from the VCP position.”

The USP is jointly owned by 12 Pacific Island nations.

New Zealand and Australia have been major development partners of the institution since its inception in in 1968, providing core funding for the university.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

University of the South Pacific staff unions are giving management “one more chance to come to the table” before they go on strike.

On Wednesday, the staff association received the secret ballot outcome from Fiji’s Labour Ministry, which confirmed that they had a mandate for strike action.

Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) general-secretary Rosalia Fatiaki told RNZ Pacific that staff have agreed to return to management to give them one last opportunity to meet the unions demands.

“We [are giving management] one more chance to come to the table and in good faith, let’s look at this. Hopefully we are able to resolve the issues that led us to take this action. By next week we expect a response,” she said.

Fatiaki said the USP management would be given a week to meet with the unions and 21 days to come to an agreement, adding if the management do not come to the table “the next course of action is strike action”.

“When staff go on strike the students are the people that will be most affected. That’s why we’re giving management another chance.”

Fatiaki said the unions were expecting management to negotiate a new offer.

Secret ballot
On March 6, AUSPS cast a secret ballot where 96 percent of its members voted in favour of strike action above the needed majority threshold.

Fatiaki said management had refused to negotiate salary adjustments and that was why staff might strike.

She said staff missed out on salary adjustments in 2019 and 2022.

The regional university gave staff a two percent pay rise in October 2022, January 2023, and January this year.

However, Fatiaki said it was “way below” the increase needed to match the cost of living in Fiji and unions were not consulted.

She said USP used to contribute an additional two percent above the national minimum for its superannuation contribution to senior staff but this was reduced to the minimum during the covid-19 pandemic and had not returned which the union was demanding.

Financial reasons
She said USP had not engaged with the union but had cited financial reasons for withholding pay.

Late last month, AUSPS members staged a protest calling for the resignation of the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, for not being responsive to the union’s concerns.

In a statement to RNZ Pacific, USP said “we remain hopeful that through USP management, we can continue to have discussions with the AUSPS about their grievances and follow proper channels to meet their demands until an amicable solution is reached.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) will now make necessary submissions to go on a strike.

This comes after AUSPS president Elizabeth Read Fong confirmed that the USP Council had denied staff papers to be presented in this week’s USP Council meeting.

Fong said this meant there would be no pay adjustments, among other things they had asked for.

She said that the next step would be to take industrial action, and they will give 21 days’ notice prior to the planned action.

She added that they would decide on the date of the protest for maximum impact.

The staff braved the wet conditions today to carry out a second day of peaceful protest outside the meeting venue of the USP Council.

Fong said staff still wanted vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia to step down or be removed from his role.

The meeting will conclude later today.

Apenisa Waqairadovu is a FBC News multimedia journalist.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

University of the South Pacific Union (USPU) president Reuben Colata says industrial action will be the next step if USP does not approve their pay increment being sought.

Colata said they did not know why the university did not want to negotiate a salary increase.

He said the university had about $80 million in savings with another $19 million given by the government this year.

With that amount of money, the university could pay the staff rather than allow the staff to bargain for their salary.

His union is one of two unions representing USP staff.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad, said he encouraged the staff to engage with management — and with the USP Council — to resolve this issue.

Professor Biman said Fiji’s coalition government believed in academic freedom and also valued the freedom of workers the country needed.

The USP Council meeting is still underway at the USP Japan ICT Centre and it will continue today.

The USP staff had a silent protest yesterday after their staff paper was not allowed to be included as part of the council’s agenda.

Seeking removal of VC
They are calling for the staff paper to be discussed by the USP Council which includes the issues about the staff pay increment demand.

They are also calling for the removal of the regional institution’s vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

The academic staff are represented by the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) whose president, Elizabeth Read Fong, told FBC News that Professor Ahluwalia’s contract should end by December 31.

She hinted that the vice-chancellor had already turned 65, which is the institution’s retirement age.

“He also turns 65 at the beginning of the year,” she said.

“The university policy is that when you turn 65, you work until December 31st, so there is a post-retirement thing, but he has put that on hold, so one policy applies to everybody.”

Iliana Biutu is a Fiji Village News reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

University of the South Pacific (USP) staff gathered outside the Japan-Pacific ICT Centre today to protest over better pay and conditions as well as calling for the removal of the regional institution’s vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

The university’s main decision making body, the USP Council, is meeting at the Laucala campus this week.

Aggrieved employees of the university showed up in black, holding placards calling for “fair pay” and for Professor Ahluwalia to resign.

The staff are unhappy after the USP pro-chancellor chair of council Dr Hilda Heine did not include a staff paper on the agenda of the meeting today, according to local media reports.

“The Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) president Elizabeth Fong said the paper included a submission on staff salary adjustment and a recommendation to recruit a new Vice Chancellor who is originally from the region,” according to a Fiji One News report.

FBC News reports that the staff are calling for the “non-renewal Ahluwalia’s contract, claiming that he is no longer fit for the role” and that the vice-chancellor’s position to be advertised.

“Fong claims the VC is all talk and no action,” it reported.

The state broadcaster is reporting that USP staff want a 11 percent increase in pay and not the four percent they have received recently.

“We have staff shortages, vacancies which means people have doubled up and tripled up on their responsibilities. This is about keeping USP serving the region, serving its people,” Fong was quoted by FBC News as saying.

USP staff gather in numbers for peaceful protest pic.twitter.com/y4XA6EHYvC

— fijivillage (@fijivillage) November 27, 2023

‘We remain hopeful’ — USP
In a statement to RNZ Pacific, USP said its management “continues to work with the staff unions regarding their grievances” since they were raised earlier in the year.

“Through its meeting with AUSPS, the USP management has resolved some of the matters raised in the log of claims while discussion continued on the remaining issues.”

The university said that in October 2022, all USP staff received salary increments and the second increase kicked in in January 2023.

“Staff also received a bonus in the middle of the year (2023). Negotiations are continuing, and provisions have been made for another salary increase next year, subject to the Council approving our 2024 budget.”

The USP said the chair of the USP Council approved the council agenda, “and the USP management does not have a say in the matter”.

“As stated several times previously, the vice-chancellor’s relocation is decided by the council.

“The institution, as always, supports union rights and acknowledges that a peaceful protest is within its ambit.

“However, we remain hopeful that through USP management, we can continue to have discussions with the AUSPS about their grievances and follow proper channels to meet their demands until an amicable solution is reached,” it said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

With barely four weeks to go to the election, students and staff at the regional University of the South Pacific have stepped up their political activity against the FijiFirst government over its refusal to pay $85 million (and counting) in outstanding contributions to the running of USP.

The USP community — which some estimates put at more than 30,000 — is being encouraged to vote accordingly, with an indirect but unmistakable appeal to “Friends of USP” to vote for the People’s Alliance-National Federation Party prospective coalition come polling day.

It beggars belief that the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, has left Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and his cabinet colleagues so exposed at USP.

Because if the university community — students, staff, their families and sympathisers — lodge a collective protest vote against his conduct, it could easily cost the government the election.

What other political party in its right mind would put at risk its survival to support a position that simply isn’t sustainable because Fiji doesn’t have the numbers on the USP Council to enforce its will?

FijiFirst, of course. Which is prepared, lemming like, to go over a cliff with Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum just to pander to his ego.

You might have expected student protests at USP as it is being slowly strangled by the ruling party and certainly that would have happened anywhere else in the world. Yet it’s no surprise to learn that there has been a strong, though subtle, plainclothes police and military presence at USP for some time, including specific incidents of intimidation of students and staff.

Climate of fear
So the relative silence from the student body doesn’t owe itself to apathy but fear — the climate of fear that pervades the rest of the nation as well and has been the subject of public comment by church leaders and private comment by almost everyone else.

It is a rich vein for the opposition to mine in the election lead-up. So get set for the government’s scandalous conduct at USP to become a major election issue.

And for the prospect of FijiFirst suffering a humiliating setback at the polls to match its humiliating inability to get its way with its absurd demand for “reform” of the university, including the removal of its exiled vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who continues to run USP from Samoa.

Australian-Fijian journalist Graham Davis publishes the blog Grubsheet Feejee on Fiji affairs. Republished with permission.

Statement to Friends of USP voting in Fiji’s election 2022:

TURN UP AND MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT.

We will be casting our votes on 14 December.

Nine political parties are contesting. Apart from Fiji First Party (FFP), the other serious contenders are Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party, Prasad/Tikoduadua’s National Federation Party (NFP), and Gavoka’s Social and Democratic Party (SODELPA). SODELPA has been imploding for some time!

Since 2018, FFP government has withheld Fiji’s contribution to USP. All other parties have campaigned to pay what Fiji owes. Most of us would like to see a change of government because of the government’s refusal to pay its contribution which stands at FD$85 million.

As preposterous as it may sound, it means that eight small member countries such as Tokelau (pop. 1400), Niue (1600) and Tuvalu (11,300) are subsidising Fiji, having the largest population with nearly a million people!

Despite five independent investigations confirming corrupt practices by the former vice- chancellor and president (VCP), and confirming the current VCP’s report on the corruption, the government continues to shield the former VCP and his supporters.

Through its domineering presence in Council, the government lobbied hard to terminate the current VCP Dr Ahluwalia’s contract. When Council rejected it, the government unprecedentedly deported Dr Ahluwalia and his wife Gestapo-like. It declared them persona-non-grata in the same shameful manner as the late pre-eminent Pacific historian Dr Brij Lal and his family.

With Council’s support, USP is being run from Samoa campus, home of current Chancellor (Head of State Tuimaleali’ifano) former mother and daughter Pro Chancellors (Fetaui and Fiame Naomi Mata’afa), and VCP Professor Ahluwalia.

There are three serious implications of the Fiji debt.

First, institutional utilities and student services are likely affected as maintenance and upkeep of buildings and facilities are compromised.

Second, the growing vacancies across a number of academic, professional and support staff will not be filled quickly, thereby increasing the work-load of an already overstretched staff.

This is exacerbated by the protracted delays in the issuance of work permits to expatriates and regional staff from member countries such as Tonga and Solomon Islands.

Staff shortage threatens availability and variety of programmes (e.g. Pasifika orientated programs in Governance, Law, Social Sciences, Climate Change, Engineering, MBA etc), erosion of quality of teaching and research output.

The third and most critical is the obvious collateral damage to the education of students (35,000 to 40,000 in 2022) and 50 years of capacity building with an alumni of 60,000 plus across the globe.

For USP to continue as the premier university to nurture and realise the spirit of Pasifikan regionalism, a change is necessary.

In 2018, the FFP narrowly won by 150 votes. A groundswell of support is evident for Rabuka’s Peoples Alliance Party (PAP), and Prasad/Tikoduadua’s National Federation Party (NFP). To make the change and ensure USP’s survival, make your vote count.

Voting is at the polling stations shown on the voter registration card. For iTaukei voters intending to travel to the islands and villages before 14 December, before traveling, check the polling station shown in your voter registration card and avoid disappointment.

WE must turn up and not waste OUR votes on FFP, smaller parties and independent candidates.

God Bless Fiji and USP

November 2022.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The University of the South Pacific staff and student unions have condemned Fiji Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s claim that a new USP contract offer to the vice-chancellor is illegal, saying he has “misled” the Fiji public with a “baseless” statement.

The unions also said he had shown “total disrespect” for the governing USP Council which represents 11 independent regional governments, donors, staff, students and alumni in the Pacific.

In a joint media statement, the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS), University of South Pacific Staff Union (USPSU) and the USP Student Association (UPSA) said today Fiji had the highest number of representatives on the council and was “given ample opportunity by the pro-chancellor and chair of council to share its views” under democratic process.

Fiji was decisively out-voted in the council. A new Samoa-based contract was offered to Professor Pal Ahluwalia who had been abruptly deported along with his wife in February in a widely criticised action.

“In essence the Fiji members of the council failed to convince other members of the council regarding their views on the issues under discussion and now calling a decision illegal and questioning others that are within the purview of the august body,” said the media statement signed by AUSPS president Elizabeth Reade Fong, USPSU president Taris Vacala, and USPSA president (Laucala) Lepani Naqarase.

“This press release serves to rebut as baseless the statements of the AG [Attorney-General] and the Fiji representatives to the USP Council who have reported council outcomes to him.”

Citing many of the university’s governing documents — including the university charter — the statement said: “The council is well within its rights and has determined that the VC/P will be located at the Samoa campus. This was voted for by a clear majority.

‘Within due process’
“The same is applied to the continuation of salary of the VC/P on his deportation by the council at its February 16, 2021, meeting at which the chair of council and chair of the Audit and Risk Committee were not present due to ‘conflicts of interest’ which led to their earlier and continued recusal from council deliberations.

“All of this was within due process. The members must accept that the council has the right to determine whether a conflict of interest exists.”

The statement added that only the University Council could appoint and remove a vice-chancellor.

Sayed-Khaiyum told the Fiji Parliament last week that Professor Ahluwalia’s reinstatement was illegal, reports The Fiji Times.

In response, the university stated its priority during these challenging times was learning and teaching delivery and it wished not to comment further.

The university stated the governing body of the regional institution was the USP Council.

Speaking on the university’s annual report for 2018, Sayed-Khaiyum said the appointment was illegal because it was not in accordance with the university’s charter.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

University of the South Pacific staff unions and students have protested in “disgust” over what they call interference and unsolicited presence by Fiji police on the Laucala campus.

“We demand that this must immediately stop, to allow staff to work and prepare for incoming students and the semester of learning ahead,” said a joint statement today from the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS), USP Staff Union (USPSU) and the USP Student Association (USPSA).

The unions described the police activity as an “attack on the right of staff to operate freely, with dignity and safety at the work place”.

The unions said that police officers had been seen on campus since the “unethical” deportation of the vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia last Thursday.

USP security officials had also reported a number of incidents involving police vehicles that had been refused entry onto the campus.

“This is seen as an attempt to intimidate and harass staff while disrupting preparations for the semester ahead,” the statement said.

Fiji police were reminded that Laucala campus was a place of work and tertiary education for regional Pacific students as well as Fiji students.

“As such, [the police] must respect the right for these students to be facilitated by USP staff in an environment that is free of harassment and intimidation,” said the statement.

The USP is a regional institution with 12 member countries and comparable to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

The opposition National Federation Party (NFP) said in a statement that Fiji’s credibility as a leading state in the region was at stake over the deportation of Kenyan-born professor Ahluwalia, reports RNZ Pacific.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Staff, students and alumni of the University of the South Pacific have called on the Fiji government to immediately reinstate the work permit for vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who was deported today with his wife, Sandra Price.

The USP community also called on the government to issue a formal apology to Professor Ahluwalia for the violation of human rights.

They expressed grave concern over the actions of police and immigration officials who removed the couple from the vice-chancellor’s residence on Laucala campus late last night.

In a petition issued this afternoon, the group said they were deeply concerned at the disrepute brought to the 12-nation regional university by the actions of the Fiji government in this morning’s deportation.

USP staff associations also condemned the manner in which the couple were removed from their residence and swiftly transported to Nadi International Airport for the 10.30am flight to Brisbane, Australia.

“The manner in which the VCP and his wife were removed is a violation of human rights and due process,” read a joint statement by the USP Staff Union and the Association of USP Staff.

“Given the seriousness of the decision, we demand the Fiji government to provide the justification for this Gestapo tactic.”

Vice-chancellor deemed ‘public risk’
“According to media reports, the VCP was deemed a ‘public risk’ and we as taxpayers, voters and owners of the University demand an explanation on how Professor Pal is a ‘public risk’.

“Given the impact on the University’s reputation and staff morale, we reiterate our support for the USP Council to proceed with its scheduled meeting to fully discuss this matter and already agreed to agenda items, to arrive at regionally acceptable solutions.”

It is understood police and immigration officers were acting on directives outlined in a letter, allegedly signed by Acting Director for Immigration Amelia Komaisavai.

The document with the Fijian Immigration Department letterhead dated 3 February 2021 with attention to Professor Ahluwalia, noted that the Minister for Immigration had declared the couple prohibited immigrants under the Immigration Act 2003, Section 13 (2) (g) and ordered that they leave Fiji with immediate effect.

USP management are also calling on staff and students to remain calm throughout the situation for the safety and wellbeing of the university community.

“Until the [USP] Council at a council meeting directs otherwise, the senior management team will take on the role jointly of undertaking the vice-chancellor’s duties,” a statement from management read.

“The senior management team has notified the council leadership and are waiting for direction. The safety and wellbeing of our staff and students and the continuation of university operations remain our priority.”

Several community leaders and politicians have come out strong against the surprising tactic.

The USP Council, the university’s highest decision-making body, is expected to meet tomorrow.

Asia Pacific Report collaborates with Wansolwara, the USP journalism newspaper and website.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz