Trade Unions and the State in Solomon Islands

Abstract

Among small island states of the South Pacific, Solomon Islands has the third largest trade union movement after Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Unionism had an uncertain start in the early 1960s, then became more firmly established with the formation of the Solomon Islands General Workers Union in 1975. This union, which later became the Solomon Islands National Union of Workers, took a more militant and political approach to getting recognition for unionism and improving worldng conditions. This regularly put it into conflict with the state as well as employers. More recently it has been joined by two large public sector unions, just as militant in their wage negotiations and ready to confront the power of the state. The growth of unionism and the conflicts which have arisen out of this show the way in which emergent class formation is proceeding.