The Tongan 4,872 civil servants will receive their new pay scales on July 13 despite repeated protests by Tonga Public Service Association (PSA).
The new salary structure was approved by the Tongan Cabinet on April 13 to be implemented on July 1, 2016 in the government’s new budget.
“We are set to implement and first fortnightly schedule of the new remuneration to 13 July 2016”, Tonga’s Finance Secretary Tatafu Moeaki told Kaniva News this morning.
Meanwhile the PSA has submitted another petition in an attempt to postpone the new pay structure.
“The Secretary General of PSA submitted yesterday a petition to the Hon. Prime Minister requesting to defer the implementation of the new salary scales from the 01st July to the 01st January 2017 to facilitate the completion of the review to ensure that the concerns of the workers are addressed to reduce disappointments and expenses to Government if this review continues to next year as planned by the Remuneration Authority and the Public Service Commission”, a press release from PSA said this morning.
Last month the PSA challenged the introduction of the new structure and claimed it did not reflect the concerns and an agreement made after the civil service strikes of 2005.
It submitted a petition to the Prime Minister followed by several meetings with government authorities but now the government decided to go ahead with the new pay structure.
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