18 Jun 2012

Upset in the Cook Islands at cuts to spending on public service personnel

1:39 pm on 18 June 2012

The Cook Islands union, the Cook Islands Workers' Association, has raised concerns at Government plans to cut the public service budget by two percent.

In the Budget, passed last week, the Government announced savings of around half a million US dollars annually by reducing personnel.

Government says the cut won't mean job losses because the personnel allocation in the current budget had been underspent by 2 percent.

The Government says it is now embedding those savings in agency budgets.

The Workers' Association is also critical of Government plans to slash the long service bonus for public servants.

The Government says the Public Service Commission has been directed to look at alternatives to monetary compensation for long service.

But the association says this will make life harder for public servants, who already have to contend with a high cost of living.