Tongan teachers threaten new strike action [1]
Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 18:26. Updated on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - 11:55.
Teachers employed by the Tongan government are threatening to go out on strike again on January 23, after today accusing the Ministry of Education of unfairly withholding promotions this year from teachers who joined the 2005 strike.
Angry government teachers today presented the Minister and the Director of Education with an ultimatum. They want solutions to their grievances over the Ministry's 2006, Staffing Exercise by 4 pm, Friday January 20, 2006, or they threaten they will go on strike, starting on January 23.
At a General Meeting of the Tonga Public Service Association (PSA), in Nuku'alofa last night, government school teachers expressed their grievances over the 2006 Staffing Exercise.
Mele 'Amanaki, the assistant secretary for the PSA, said today that some of the teachers who participated in the national strike by the Public Servants last year, were angry because they claimed there was blatant discrimination against teachers who had joined the 2005 strike, and the minister had promoted lesser qualified teachers above more qualified strike teachers.
She said that the meeting was also told of Lateral Transfer rather than a promotion for teachers who were assigned for the outer islands, as has been the practice in the past. One of the unhappy teachers also reported overhearing one of the deputy directors, saying that the 2006 Staffing Exercise was intended to "break the back of the strikers."
Mele said that the action of the Ministry of Education infringed Clause 5 of an MOU that was signed last year to end the 7-weeks strike by civil servants.
Annually, at this time of the year the Ministry of Education announces the re-allocation of teachers to various government schools. Many teachers consider it a punishment to be sent to poorly equipped schools in one of the isolated islands, unless they are promoted and given some comfort allowances.
Teachers recommend
The six recommendations that were presented in a letter to the Minister and the Director of Education this afternoon were:
1. That the 2006 Staffing Exercise be deferred.
2. That the unfair promotions be cancelled and the staff who are eligible for these promotions as recommended in Annex 1 be granted accordingly.
3. That the criterion and basis of the unfair transfers and/or promotions stated in Annex 1 be specified and justified.
4. That the unfair transfers be cancelled
5. that the Petition of the staff of the Ministry during the strike demanding the resignation of the Director and the three Deputy Directors be submitted to Cabinet for appropriate action.
6. That the problems concerning the employment of the spouses of the high level officers, (Director and Deputy Directors) in the same office and/or Ministry be addressed.
The teachers added that if by 4:00 pm on Friday January 20 2006 the Ministry had not given any satisfactory answers to the PSA recommendations, the PSA and the teachers may do the following:
1. The PSA will sue the Ministry of Education (Minister and Director) for breaching Clause 5 of the MOU.
2. The staff of the Ministry who are members of the PSA will go on strike during the Planning week commencing on January 23-27, 2006 and those who were transferred will not go to their new posts
3. The strike will continue on to January 30-February 3, 2006, if no satisfactory answer is received by January 27, 2006.
4. Support will be called upon all the members of the PSA from the other Ministries to go on strike commencing on February 13, if no satisfactory answer is received by February 3 2006.