A rumour of public servants being dismissed from the civil service and that new doctors and teachers were being recruited from overseas, was denied this morning by Kelepi Makakaufaki, the Secretary for the Tonga Government's Public Service Commission.

Kelepi said that he was not aware that such an action had been taken and he did not think it was true. He said that even though, as an employer, the PSC had set two deadlines for public servants to return to work, first on August 1 and again on August 12, a majority of the public servants had not returned to work. "But they are welcome to return to work," he said.

Kelepi said that no new deadline had been set but, meanwhile, the PSC was networking closely with government ministries to keep tabs on the number of public servants who were returning to work and those who were still on strike.

With regards to the status of the negotiation between a Cabinet negotiation team and a team from the PSC, Kelepi said he was not aware of any new offer. But he said that those who did not take part in the strike, and those who had returned had been paid under the new government salary scale. The negotiating offers that government had made to the striking public servants had been discarded.

The Cabinet negotiation team consists of the Minister of Law, Minister of Health, Minister of Labour, and Minister of Finance.

The Public Servants Association negotiation team consists of Finau Tutone, Maliu Takai, Mele 'Amanaki, Vuna Fa'otusia and 'Anisi Bloomfield