Tibu: Digicel breached labour laws

By FRANK ASAELI
Digicel PNG Ltd claims its chief executive officer Kevin O’Sullivan has a valid work permit issued last year and was currently away on holiday and not forced out of the country.
Head of marketing Anurag Borkar said yesterday they had initiated dialogue with the Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Mark Maipakai but had not received anything positive.
However, Labour and Industrial Relations Secretary David Tibu, in a letter issued to Mr Maipakai last Dec 13 stated that he had issued a “show cause” letter to Digicel last Dec 7 to the financial controller Patrick Piggot, who did not have a valid work permit to work in Papua New Guinea.
Mr Tibu said they found out that Digicel CEO Mr O’Sullivan too had no work permit and had been working here illegally.
He said they had sought an explanation as to why nine female employees were terminated from their jobs last Nov 22 by Mr Piggot, but Digicel refused to receive the letter at the gate of their premises four times.
In the end, he had to post the letter, he said.
Mr Tibu said Digicel was treating the Government department with contempt, and had not complied with the requirements for foreign employment in Papua New Guinea.
He said the Labour Department was informed that there were many Digicel employees working whilst on business visas which needed investigation, and he pleaded with the minister not to intervene or stop what the department has commenced.
Mr Tibu said the department had penalised nine non-citizen employees for working in the country whilst on business visas.
“This is illegal and it shows that Digicel had no respect for our labour laws,” Mr Tibu said.