Institute in formation · Suva · Fiji first harbour
Fair Conditions At Work
Workplace relations for people the region has neglected.
The Pacific Institute of Workplace Relations is the consultant that fills the void. We help national unions stand up, then we stay for programmes and awareness. We do not own those unions.
Who are you?
Find your rights, a checklist and help near you.
I work on PALM, RSE or seasonal jobs
Pay, hours, deductions and who to call in Australia and New Zealand.
For seasonal workers →
Photo: Marielle Velander / Wikimedia Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)
I work in someone's home
Domestic and household workers: fair pay, rest, respect and your documents.
For domestic workers →Why we help fishers
These headlines are why PIoWR exists.
AP/CBPU.S. Customs and
Border ProtectionUS blocks seafood from Fiji ship accused of enslaving crew4 Aug 2021 · AP / US CBPCBPU.S. Customs and
Border ProtectionUS detains catch of Vanuatu-flagged Da Wang over forced labour18 Aug 2020 · US CBPFOCUS TAIWANCNA English NewsFish caught by Taiwan-flagged boats deemed products of forced labor2 Oct 2020 · Focus TaiwanabcABC NEWSIndonesia condemns abuse of fishermen aboard Chinese boats after corpse video11 May 2020 · ABC News
Border ProtectionUS blocks seafood from Fiji ship accused of enslaving crew4 Aug 2021 · AP / US CBPCBPU.S. Customs and
Border ProtectionUS detains catch of Vanuatu-flagged Da Wang over forced labour18 Aug 2020 · US CBPFOCUS TAIWANCNA English NewsFish caught by Taiwan-flagged boats deemed products of forced labor2 Oct 2020 · Focus TaiwanabcABC NEWSIndonesia condemns abuse of fishermen aboard Chinese boats after corpse video11 May 2020 · ABC News
PIoWR · Pacific Institute of Workplace Relations · CMM 2024-04 crew standards binding 1 Jan 2028 · piowr.org
Coming news
FMU is moving towards starting its Fishers Branch in Suva. Fiji Maritime Union, an ITF affiliate, is seeking funds for its Union Capacity Building and Organising Grant and for an upcoming Fisher Compliance and Legal Awareness Project to prepare fishers for the 1 January 2028 start of WCPFC CMM 2024-04 Crew Labour Standards, alongside the HMTC crew conditions.
- Separate project proposals for Fiji and Vanuatu are being prepared to meet the 1 Jan 2028 deadline
- Vanuatu: fishers union in formation, with a team and programme ready for 1 Jan 2028
- WCPFC23, Port Vila, 30 Nov–5 Dec 2026 (watching)
- Fishers Welfare App pilot coming
The job
One institute. Many neglected workplaces.
Fishers out of Fiji ports are the first harbour so PIoWR can learn. After that: seasonal horticulture workers, household and domestic workers, and other Pacific workplaces that have no union and no quiet room. The circle inside the shield is that constituency — not a single trade.
First harbour
Help set up the FMU Fishers Branch. C188, HMTCs, arrival counselling. English and iTaukei in the room.
Seasonal work
Horticulture and other labour pathways. Tools that also reach the family at home. First tech already running out of Vanuatu.
At sea and at home
Deck work, household work, and the families who wait on shore. The same workplace rights, a quieter room.
Article of the week
Decent work on the vessel is now part of the IUU fight.
ILO and RPOA-IUU · Jakarta · 15 September 2026
A regional workshop put ILO Convention C188 — rest, medical care, agreements, social security — on the same table as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The point is practical: a vessel that hides its catch often hides its crew.
Why it matters for fishers. Inspections that only count fish miss the room where the grievance starts. C188 is the instrument Fiji is already writing toward. Solomon Islands has ratified. Crew on Fiji-flagged, Taiwanese and other vessels out of Fiji ports stay in the constituency.
Why it matters for seasonal workers. The same lesson sits on PALM and RSE pathways: official channels, a place to complain, and a family briefing when the season ends. Fake Australia job offers in Fiji this year showed what happens when recruitment sits outside that room.
PIoWR’s first harbour is still Fiji fishers. The method — constitution, office, awareness — is what we would carry to horticulture and household work next.
Meetings ahead
Rooms that set the rules. Meetings PIoWR is watching.
Now · 23–29 Sep 2026 · Pohnpei
WCPFC Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC22)
Watching
This is where crew labour standards on Western and Central Pacific vessels are checked, not invented. PIoWR is not in that room; the outcome still binds the harbours we work from.
Next at PIoWR’s table · Suva
FMU Fishers Branch set-up, supported by Conservation International — Fiji Programme
PIoWR attending
with Banati Sefeti as transitional GS. Longline fishers join the new FMU as a Fishers Branch; PIoWR, through Mr Sefeti, is to be the Branch’s General Secretary. CI is working with PIoWR in the coming weeks to help establish it. Keep meeting MEPIR, FLAG, FFIA and ILO.
Endorsed · first sitting date not yet set
Pacific Labour Ministers Meeting (PIF architecture)
Highlight
Forum Leaders endorsed it at Palau, 31 Aug–3 Sep 2026. Labour mobility, skills and decent work now sit beside trade and finance. Seasonal workers and fishers both live in that agenda.
30 Nov–4 Dec 2026 · Port Vila
WCPFC23 — Regular Session of the Commission
Highlight
The Commission can keep or weaken the 2024 crew labour measure. That is the regional floor under conditions on tuna vessels. Fiji remains the first harbour so the Institute can learn before other countries stand up their own unions.
Pacific countries
Sixteen countries. One first harbour.
Sixteen country briefs. Fiji is the first harbour. The rest are short context notes, news and reports for readers.
Institute library
The papers and the newsroom behind the work.
1,889 publications from 17 organisations — ADB, World Bank, ILO, Pacific agencies and labour sources — plus Pacific reporting on fishers, seasonal workers and labour rights. Filter by organisation. Official sources preferred.
How we stand
Consultant. Not the owner.
In Fiji, longline fishers are joining the new Fiji Maritime Union (FMU) as a Fishers Branch. Until the Branch can stand on its own, PIoWR, through Banati Sefeti as transitional General Secretary, is to be the Branch’s General Secretary, with a GS Assistant to be appointed. When the Branch can stand, it speaks for itself.
Unions in other Pacific countries do not come under PIoWR. We may help them register under their own law. That is all.
Fiji is the first harbour so the Institute can learn, then help workers in other countries organise under their own law. Vanuatu is the planned next harbour.
Conservation International — Fiji Programme supports the FMU Fishers Branch arrangement. No supporter owns the workers’ voice.
Our story
Why PIoWR came about
Pacific fishers, seasonal and domestic workers, and their families on shore, have long been neglected in workplace relations. In Fiji, longline fishers needed a home — and are now joining the Fiji Maritime Union as a Fishers Branch.
Read why PIoWR came about →