She said that by yesterday, August 16, the ten government departments that they had monitored showed that only 100 public servants were still out on strike.

She said that government has 22 departments, and even though there were still a substantial number of civil servants who were still on strike, including teachers, but the number of those who were returning was increasing.

Nunia said that most returnees said that they were satisfied with the salary rise that they had been awarded. She said that ever since the strike started on July 22, that with the exception of three ministries, there had been re-evaluation of job descriptions and an effort has been made to iron out some of the anomalies. Nunia said that those who returned were surprised with what they found.

She said that government schools were still badly affected by the strike, but she also said over 10 teachers had returned to Tonga College and there were also a number of teachers who had returned to Tonga High School.

Meanwhile, a rumour that 57 nurses and several doctors had been fired from Vaiola Hospital on Friday, was laughed at by the Director of Health, Dr Litili 'Ofanoa, who said that neither doctors nor nurses had been sacked from Vaiola. "We welcome and encourage doctors and nurses to return to work," he said.