PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i

NUKUALOFA, Tonga (Matangi Tonga, July 25) – Tonga's public servants rejected a call by the Acting Prime Minister to return to work this morning.

Following a high-spirited rally at the Queen Salote Hall, an estimated 2,000 public servants marched to the Tongan parliament at noon and presented a copy of their Letter to the Prime Minister to the Speaker of the House, Hon. Veikune.

The Speaker told the President of the Public Service Association (PSA), Finau Tutone, and the public servants that their letter would be on the working agenda of the House when they reconvened at 2 p.m.

Meanwhile, Nukualofa was noticeably deserted today as the nation’s first public workers strike brought many government agencies to a halt.

While some government ministries remained in full operation - including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister's Office, the Tonga Defence Service and the Police - other ministries lost many of their staff and some closed.

Some ministries, such as the Ministry of Lands, where the main office was open but according to the Secretary for the Ministry of Lands, Tevita Malolo, only about 20 percent of the staff turned up to work.

The same situation was found with the Ministry of Labour, where the receptionist who manned the office said only two people turned up to work. At the Post Office only eight people were working.

The Treasury was closed, so were the Ministries of Fisheries, the Judiciary, Marine and Ports, the Ministry of Works, and the Civil Service Commission.

The Ministry of Health was in operation, even though 13 of its maintenance staff pledged that they would go on strike and a doctor at the Vaiola Hospital rang the meeting and pledged doctors' support.

The office of the Ministry of Education was open, and though they claimed that most government schools were open, but noticeably Tonga High School was empty with few teachers and a few students, and the Nuku'alofa Primary school was closed, while other government schools were open for some classes.

Finau said that the decision to present the letter to parliament was made after a late meeting on Saturday with the Acting Prime Minister, Hon. Cecil Cocker, who insisted on the government stance that there would be no change to the new salary structure. Cocker said if the PSA wanted to renegotiate the structure they had to follow the procedure and raise their grievances first with their heads of departments and then with the Public Service Commission.

Finau was convinced that only the government could settle their grievances, and the dispute had got to a situation that it was no longer just an internal matter between the public servants and their masters, the government, "and that was why we decided to march to parliament, we decided to get the politicians involved," he said.

In parliament this afternoon, the House got off to a slow start, and it did not reconvene until about 3 pm. The Vava'u no. 1 People's Representative, Samiu Vaipulu, said he moved for the House to work late and find a solution to the deadlock between government and the public servants.

The Chairman of the Whole House Committee called for votes on Samiu's motion and it was a draw 10-10. He said that the Acting Prime Minister requested that the matter be left for the House to discuss tomorrow.

Finau Tutone said that tomorrow, Tuesday, all public servants who were on strike would meet at Pangai Si'i, next to the Treasury, to hear speeches, sing songs and drink kava while waiting to hear from government

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