Staff of FRCS working under a cloud of fear and uncertainty after being told this week of loss of a further 110 jobs – NFP

The National Federation Party has claimed that staff of Fiji Revenue and Customs Service are working under a cloud of fear and uncertainty after being told this week of the loss of a further 110 jobs.

In a statement, NFP Vice-President and Opposition Member of Parliament Lenora Qereqeretabua says staff are reportedly also confused as to who is in charge of FRCS after not being given clear signals on why the staff layoffs are happening.

She says last year 83 frontline border staff, mainly Customs Officers were made redundant adding that Government hid behind its Act of God definition of the COVID-19 pandemic and tried to use closure of borders to justify the lay-offs.

Qereqeretabua says however, they have been reliably informed that now FRCS is recruiting Customs Officers or frontline border staff following the planned re-opening of the borders.

She claims these workers are being employed on what they believe to be a three month contract or a temporary basis.

Qereqeretabua further says given the importance of ensuring Fiji’s porous borders do not result in leakages, they ask if those to be hired for this task are trained former staff made redundant or new recruits without any experience or training.

The NFP MP says this haphazard recruitment on a temporary basis of workers to carry out one of the most tasks in maintaining border security has fuelled fear about job security and the future outlook of an organisation that is critically important to the state of a nation’s treasury. We have sent our questions and the NFP statement to FRCS.

FRCS Executive Chair Fay Yee is yet to respond.