The Fiji Employers Consultative Association (FECA) was registered as a private company in 1960 and by special disposition of the Governor-in-Council (Fiji was then a British colony), was granted the right to forego the requirement for a company to use the word “Limited” included in its published name.

It changed its Memorandum and Articles of Association and its name in 1991 to Fiji Employers Federation, considered to be more appropriate to its activities and style of operation.

Twenty-one member organisations formed the original FECA in 1960 and by early 2008 there were 518 members and affiliates of FCEF, ranging in size from the smallest private company to the largest public company, as well as local urban government authorities and statutory bodies, representing more than 78,000 employees. Any organisation that is registered as an employer with the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) is eligible to apply for membership of FCEF. Its members cover the full range of private enterprise endeavours, as well as many of the public sector activities entrusted to statutory undertakings or Government owned corporations.

FCEF’s position is unique in that it represents and is involved in activities ranging from airlines to warehouses and everything in between,

unlike other employer organisations that tend to be involved in the specific sectoral interests or activity grouping of their members.

FCEF is a non-profit organization principally financed by members’ subscriptions. Occasionally FCEF is the beneficiary of special grants from organizations such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji (TPAF), for the funding of specific projects. FCEF has the long-term objective of decreasing its dependence on revenue from members’ subscriptions and fulfils this objective by planning activities and training programmes appropriate to members’ needs on a user pays basis.