Labor's Agonizing Struggle: The Victory and Overthrow of Fiji's Labor Government

May 17, 1999 was a day of celebration for Fiji's workers and trade unions. The Fiji Labour Party and its coalition partners had won a land slide victory in the general election. This paper examines the Coalition Government's reform efforts over the past year. It looks at the dilemmas faced by the People's Coalition as they attempted to reverse the previous government's rapid economic restructuring involving trade and labor market deregulation and large-scale privatization of public services. Gov ernment efforts to strengthen the position of labor and industrial democ racy through changes in labor legislation and the restoration of the Tri partite Forum are discussed along with the unions' response to the labor- friendly political environment. It concludes with the horrifying events of May 2000 when a group of armed men stormed the Parliament and de clared a new Government and discusses how the country's unions are leading the struggle for a return to democracy.