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Fiji’s private sector workers say that government’s plans to end daylight savings this month is too short a notice, and if it were to go ahead, then they should be given extra time to readjust their timetables.
The comments follow a request to the private sector yesterday by the Labour Ministry asking for feedback on a proposal to end daylight savings this month instead of the gazetted April 25.
Fiji Employers Federation chief eecutive, Nesbitt Hazelman told FijiLive an overwhelming number of their members agreed that daylight saving needs to be brought forward.
“Our members had indicated that bringing forward the end of daylight saving is positive however ample notice need to be given so that larger organizations can reorganize their operations,” Hazelman said.
Hazelman added they wanted the clock rewound back to normal because the country was now experiencing shorter daylight hours.
“At 6am it’s still dark and there is the continuous problem with getting children ready
for school. Fiji being in the tropics does not experience the four seasons,” he said.
Hazelman hopes the government will allow at least a two week period to provide sufficient time for organizations to adjust their timetables, especially the airline, transport industry and shift workers.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama yesterday issued a directive to all ministries and government departments to implement flexible lunch time hours so as to better serve the public.
“We need to prioritize and be more responsive to the needs of members of the public as well as keeping in mind the need to deliver high quality services,” Bainimarama said.
He said the Government Information Referral Centre (GIRC) located in central Suva has been operating on flexi-hours to cater for queries by locals and tourists.
The GIRC is open from 8.00am to 4.30pm weekdays and on Saturdays from 8.00am to 1.00pm.
