Sugar Cane farmers unions in Fiji

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There have been numerous sugar cane farmers−growers trade unions in Fiji and in the preceding British Colonony of Fiji (1874−1970).

A trade union, also called a labour union or labor union (US), is an organization of workers who have come together to achieve many common goals, such as protecting the integrity of their trade, improving safety standards, and attaining better wages, benefits, and working conditions through the increased bargaining power wielded by the creation of a monopoly of the workers. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment". This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies.

Fiji country in Oceania

Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec Islands to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas and France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast, and Tuvalu to the north. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which 110 are permanently inhabited—and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The most outlying island is Ono-i-Lau. The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the total population of 898,760. The capital, Suva, on Viti Levu, serves as the country's principal cruise-ship port. About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres such as Nadi—where tourism is the major local industry—or Lautoka, where the sugar-cane industry is paramount. Due to its terrain, the interior of Viti Levu is sparsely inhabited.

Contents

Some of the Fijian cane growers unions are/were provincially based, as indicated by their names: Nadroga Fijian Cane Growers Association in Nadroga-Navosa Province, the Ra Fijian Cane Growers Association in Ra Province, and the Ba Fijian Cane Growers Association in Ba Province. Other regionally based unions include Labasa Kisan Sangh, the Rewa Planters Union, and the Southern Division Kisan Sangh.

Nadroga-Navosa Province Place in Viti Levu, Nadroga-Navosa

Nadroga-Navosa is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji and one of eight based in Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is about 2,385 square kilometers and occupies the South-West and Central areas of Viti Levu, Fiji's principal island. The province includes the Mamanuca Archipelago, off the west coast of Viti Levu, Vatulele, as well as the remote Conway Reef in the southwest. The population at the 2017 census was 58,931, being the fifth largest province. The main town in Nadroga-Navosa is Sigatoka, with a population of 9622.

Ra Province province of Fiji

Ra is one of the fourteen provinces of Fiji. Occupying the northern area of Viti Levu, the largest island, it is one of eight Viti Levu-based Provinces. With a land area of 1341 square kilometers, it had a population of 30,432 at the 2017 census. The main urban centre is at Vaileka, with a population of 3,361 in 1996.

Ba is a province of Fiji, occupying the north-western sector of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. It is one of fourteen provinces in the nation of Fiji, and one of eight based in Viti Levu. It is Fiji's most populous province, with a population of 247,708 - more than a quarter of the nation's total - at the 2017 census. It covers a land area of 2,634 km2 (1,017 sq mi), the second largest of any province.

Other farmers unions were formed to provide leverage to ethnic sections of the community, such as Indians in Fiji and indigenous Fijian people.

History

The first farmers union in Fiji was the Indian Cane Growers Association, established in 1919. It negotiated with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, the predominant sugar cane plantations and raw sugar production company established in 1880. The 1921 strike by sugar cane farmers was a spontaneous action led by Vashist Muni.

The Indian Cane Growers Association was formed on 28 September 1919 and was based in Ba Province, one of the cane growing districts in the Western Division of Fiji. It was led by Theodore Riaz and included some well-to-do Indian cane farmers from Ba, like Ramgarib Singh and Randhir Singh. The Association proposed a scheme for co-operative stores and an agricultural bank financed by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company but the company refused to finance it. The Association asked for a higher price and Indian cane farmers refused to plant any more cane. The company made concessions, although it refused to guarantee the price increases for future years. The company refused to continue the bonus in 1921 and in the ensuing strike, it was Vashist Muni who assumed leadership of all cane farmers in Fiji.

The Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) began operations in Fiji in 1880 and until it ceased operations in 1973, had a considerable influence on the political and economic life of Fiji. Prior to its expansion to Fiji, the CSR was operating Sugar Refineries in Melbourne and Auckland. The decision to enter into the production of raw sugar and sugar cane plantation was due to the Company's desire to shield itself from fluctuations in the price of raw sugar needed to run its refining operations. In May 1880 Fiji's Colonial Secretary John Bates Thurston persuaded the Colonial Sugar Refining Company to extend their operations into Fiji by making available 2,000 acres (8 km²) of land to establish plantations.

Sadhu Vashist Muni was a Hindu missionary from India, who came into prominence in Fiji when he assumed the leadership of the strike in the western districts of Fiji in 1921. Mystery surrounded him during his short stay in Fiji and tales of his miraculous deeds still circulate in Fiji. The Government could not find out much about him from its sources of intelligence but deported him in the belief that he was an agent of Gandhi. After his arrest, the Government House in Suva was struck by lightning and destroyed which only heightened the belief in the power this mysterious sadhu.

Umbrella organisations were formed to present a united front in negotiating with the CSR and later the Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) (est. 1973). In 1959, the Federation of Cane Growers was formed, and in 1980 the Joint Committee of Cane Growers Associations was formed.

Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) is the government-owned sugar milling company in Fiji having monopoly on production of raw sugar in Fiji. It is also the largest public enterprise in the country employing nearly 3,000 people, while another 200,000 or more depend on it for their livelihood in rural sugar cane belts of Fiji.

Ethnicity and unions

The Fijian cane growers unions were ethnically and provincially based as indicated by their names; Nadroga Fijian Cane Growers Association, the Ra Fijian Cane Growers Association, and the Ba Fijian Cane Growers Association. Some unions claimed to be open for everyone but their membership indicated sectional interest. For example, the Maha Sangh had a predominantly South Indian membership, the Vishal Sangh had a predominantly Sikh membership, and the Kisan Sangh had a predominantly North Indian membership.

Akhil Fiji Krishak Maha Sangh was a sugar cane farmers' union formed on 15 June 1941 in opposition to the existing union, the Kisan Sangh. Supporters of Kisan Sangh tried to stop the formation of the Maha Sangh but were unsuccessful. The people responsible for the formation of a second sugar cane farmers' union were A. D. Patel and Swami Rudrananda. The union was supported by the South Indian sugar cane farmers in Fiji.

The South Indians in Fiji are mainly descendents of the 15,132 indentured labourers who arrived in Fiji between 1903 and 1916. This represents about 25% out of a total of 60,965 indentured labourers who arrived in Fiji between 1879 and 1916. They embarked on ships from Madras and were mainly recruited in the districts of North Arcot, Madras, Krishna, Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Tanjore, Malabar and Coimbatore. More than half of the recruits from South India were recruited from North Arcot and Madras, but most of those recruited in Madras were originally from North Arcot and Chingleput.

Vishal Sangh was a cane farmers' union established in Fiji on 1 September 1946, by mainly Sikh farmers, who refused to re-join the Kisan Sangh after its reunification following its split into two factions in 1943. It was led by Mehar Singh, one of the founding members of the Kisan Sangh and its former vice-president.

In 1959, when the Federation of Cane Growers was negotiating the new cane contract with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR), three indigenous Fijian cane farmers unions were set up to send three Fijian delegates to the Federation although ethnic Fijians made up less than 5% of the cane farmers.

List of unions

Current and former sugar cane farmers−growers unions in Fiji, by date established, include:

See also

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The Kisan Sangh had been active in the Western Division of Fiji since 1937 but had not seen the need to expand its activities to other sugar cane growing districts because of transportation problems and the fact that the other districts combined had far fewer cane farmers than the Western Division. By 1950, the Maha Sangh, a rival to the Kisan Sangh, was well established in Labasa in the Northern Division. As negotiatians began for the 1950 cane contract, the Kisan Sangh decided to spread its activities to the Northern Division and the Labasa Kisan Sangh was formed with support from Viti Levu.

Rewa Planters Union was formed on 14 July 1943 at a meeting attended by 1500 cane farmers from Rewa Province, Fiji. The union was formed in reaction to the strike of cane farmers taking place in the Western Division. The government had appointed a commission to inquire into the farmers' grievances and the Rewa farmers wanted to send a representative to it. The union was led by Ram Krishna Chaudhary with Faiz Mohammed as Secretary.

The Southern Division Kisan Sangh was formed in Fiji in 1946 by a former member of parliament, K. B. Singh, due to personal differences with the president of the Rewa Planters Union, Ram Krishna Chaudhary. There was widespread opposition to this until Vishnu Deo took over its leadership and worked together with Ram Krishna Chaudhary and his union.

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Kallu Dhani Ram is the General Secretary of the oldest farmers union in Fiji, the Fiji Kisan Sangh. He has been one of the few people who has been involved with the Sangh since being inspired to join it by its founder, Ayodhya Prasad, in 1939. He has made valuable contribution to the sugar industry in Fiji.

Sugar cane grew wild in Fiji and was used as thatch by the Fijians for their houses (bures). The first attempt to make sugar in Fiji was on Wakaya Island in 1862 but this was a financial failure. With the cotton boom of the 1860s there was little incentive to plant a crop that required high capital outlay but after a slump in cotton prices in 1870, the planters turned to sugar. In an effort to promote the production of sugar in Fiji, the Cakobau Government, in December 1871, offered a 500-pound reward for the first and best crop of twenty of sugar from canes planted before January 1873.

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