The Tongan government has declared that the new pay scales for public servants is in place, but government workers are calling on the king to intervene and delay the process.
The government declared last Friday that the new structure, which covers all public servants and publicly paid positions, would come in to effect this Wednesday.
However, the Public Service Association says worker’s grievances and concerns had not been considered.
PSA Mele ‘Amanaki Secretary General said her members’ grievances needed to be addressed before implementing the new salary scales.
“There is no harm in postponing the new salary scales and addressing the grievances first,†she said.
“We have pledged to the people that we will not go on strike and will use the Constitution and law if negotiation with Government fails.â€
The last attempt to revise the public service salary structure ended in a strike by PSA members and civil unrest.
‘Amanaki has written to Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva claiming that some Ministers were intimidating PSA members in an attempt to stop them assigning a petition to the king asking for the new pay scales to be delayed.
But the Remuneration Authority, which oversaw the reassessment of pay scales, is adamant that the change is in place.
It said salaries would be paid to the kingdom’s 5054 public servants under the new scheme from the start of the new financial year on July 13.
The Authority said nobody’s salary had been cut.
Nearly all positions under the Public Service Commission were moved into a new salary band with a higher maximum salary point.
Salary increases would now be based on annual performance reviews. There will no longer be automatic pay rises.
A total of 561 positions at the bottom of the public service, had been moved to a new minimum salary of $6,720 and $7,560 per annum.
The Remuneration Authority said that during its consultation process it had received 821 individual requests, mainly from medical staff, who felt they were not being paid enough for the work they were doing and/or should have their job description re-evaluated.
However, only 137 of these requests were successful.
The Prime Minister and Ministerial salaries have been maintained at their current level.
The main points
- The Tongan government has declared that the new pay scales for public servants is in place, but government workers are calling on the king to intervene and delay the process.
- The government declared last Friday that the new structure, which covers all public servants and publicly paid positions, would come in to effect this Wednesday.
- However, the Public Service Association says worker’s grievances and concerns had not been considered.
- The Remuneration Authority said salaries would be paid to the kingdom’s 5054 public servants under the new scheme from the start of the new financial year on July 13.
For more information
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