Union members gathered at the Jack Pidik oval this afternoon were called on to stop all services in the capital city and bring the government to their knees.
President of the PNG Communication Workers union Nug Mamtirin, in a fiery speech called on all workers present to rise up and make a collective show of solidarity in bringing their collective issues forward to government.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister the Coalition of Unions called on the government to revoke the appointment of all expatriates holding executive positions in all state-owned enterprises.
The letter states that expatriates who are appointed as executives tend to work against the unions importing foreign ideologies that are inconsistent with labour laws in the country.
One such ideology highlighted is the “Spill and Fill” concept introduced in Telikom PNG, which the union claims is not applicable to the labour laws and practices in the country.
The unions alleged that with 300 qualified and experienced staff gone Telikom is now left with 647 staff to run its entire operations which is not viable.
The unions say the executives of Telikom have no political mandate to implement such foreign concepts that have seriously impeded the operations of the company.
The claimed that expatriates are also seen to ill advise the government as well as suppress workers’ rights in PNG, something that the union strongly opposes.
The letter signed by all five union heads will be presented to the Prime Minister’s office, with unions planning on continuing with their public forum until such time a representative of the government addresses them.
The letter has also been copied to Minister for Public Enterprise and Investment, William Duma, Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations, Benjamin Poponawa, Opposition Leader Don Polye, his deputy Sam Basil and Secretary for Labour and industrial Relations Mary Morola.
The forum is into its second day today at Jack Pidik Park and will continue tomorrow as well.