Tonga's Public Service Association (PSA) is threatening a strike on Friday 17 October demanding that the Tongan government agree to a 20-22% salary rise for Civil Servants.

The PSA's demand was spelled out in a letter to the Public Service Commission dated September 26. A copy of this letter was also attached to a petition that was presented to the king on the same day.

Copies of the same letter were also forwarded to the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House, Members of Parliament, the Acting Solicitor General and the Auditor General.

The Acting Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, 'Aholotu Palu said that last week the executive of the PSA met a Cabinet sub committee chaired by the Acting Prime Minister, Hon. Samiu Vaipulu, to negotiate for a settlement, but at the end they did not agree on a favorable conclusion.

'Aholotu said that the government was exploring legal solutions, and it was evident to them that many civil servants are not keen on going on strike.

Today, the Ministry of finance and National Planning release a statement saying that the Government can not afford to meet the demands.

The statement underlined "the importance for the civil service and the public to understand that Government, is operating under tight fiscal constraints and it cannot afford any further pay increase or COLA within the approved 2014/15 budget estimate."

The CEO for the Ministry of Finance, Tatafu Moeaki stated that "the economic reality for the business community right now, especially Tongan businesses, is that pay raises are out of the question. . . Those workers in the business community and church schools are going to have a very hard time swallowing that Government employees are entitled to higher COLA and higher pay increase."

Constraints

An Asian Development Bank report on Tonga, released in August, noted Tonga's budget constraints as result of aid dependency, previous wage increases and Cyclone Ian.

It also pointed out that over 53% of the national budget was spent on staff costs, and many ministries spend 70%–80% of their budget on staff.

A tug of war between the PSA and government has been in progress since the beginning of the year when a report by Dr Ngongo Kioa, sponsored by the Public Service Commission (PSC) showed  a 40% rise in the Consumer Price Index since the last Cost of Living Adjustment COLA to Civil Servants' salaries in 2005.

The most that government could offer prior to the presentation of the 2014-2015 Budget at the end of June was 5% but back-dated to January.

According to Lisiate 'Akolo, the Minister of Finance at the time, a 5% salary rise for about 4000 civil servants amounted to $5 million, and a 20% rise would mean $20 million.

However, negotiation continued and by the end of August, according to the Minister of Finance, Hon 'Aisake Eke the PSA negotiators agreed for a 1% increase to go up to 6%.

The PSA refuted the Minister of Finance's statement in Parliament that a 6% rise had been agreed on.

Ultimatum

On 26 September the PSA presented an ultimatum to the CEO of the PSC, Dr Palenitina Langa'oi that they would go on strike in 15 days, on 17 October, if their demands were not met within a week. Their demands were:

• A 20-22$ COLA be approved for all employees in Government for the period calculated by Dr Ngongo Kioa, i.e. September 2005-April 2013.
• A 6%-10% COLA be approved to be paid from the Contingency Vote of the 2014/2015 Budget.
• The remaining COLA  from the 20-22% be paid in the 2015/2016 budget estimate.
• None of the signatories to the letter would be reprimanded for following what is stipulated in Section 21, Part IV of the Public Service (Grievances 7 Dispute Procedures) Regulations Amendment 2010.

The last time civil servants went on a national strike was in 2005, and became the vanguard for the riots which destroyed Nuku'alofa on 16 November 2006. In the aftermath of that action Tonga remains today heavily in debt, trying to repay its loans for the reconstruction of Nuku'alofa.