11 Nov 2013

Fiji civil servants say pay increases not enough

7:11 pm on 11 November 2013

A union covering Fiji's government workers says pay increases announced in last week's budget don't go far enough.

Fiji's civil servants will get about 50 million US dollars in pay hikes ranging from 23 percent for the lowest paid to between four and seven percent for those at director and deputy secretary level.

The Public Service Association says it has been fighting for a pay increase for seven years and recently lodged a claim for a 110% rise after the government increased the most senior officials salaries by nearly 200 percent.

The PSA's General Secretary, Rajeshwar Singh, says under the new salaries the lowest paid civil servants, who number about 14 thousand, are still well below the poverty line.

"We want to have a dialogue, discussion, collectively bargain and we'll find a middle ground somewhere. The real wages have declined by forty percent. That might be the point where we can come and start talking."

Rajeshwar Singh of Fiji's Public Service Association.