2005 Tongan public service strike
labor dispute in Tonga
The 2005 Tongan public service strike was a campaign protest against the Tongan government's decision to refuse negotiations for a bigger salary increase for civil service workers. Leading up to the strike, the Tongan government's decision to downsize the civil service, new taxes, the royal family's disregard for calls for democracy, and inflation contributed to civil strife. The crown prince voted to give himself a high salary. Within months, demonstrations began and culminated with Tonga's biggest march ever, as 10,000 protested the shoreline company.
The Tongan strikers were informed by parliament of the need to collaborate with department heads for a solution. One of the leaders of the Public Servants Association (PSA) made the executive decision to bring up labor grievances directly with the Tongan government. During the strike, the Public Service Association was founded, with an emphasis on a nonviolent movement protest, although it wasn't officially a union.
Refusal by the Tongan government in 2005 to negotiate a bigger salary increase for civil service workers caused the PSA to send civil service workers on strike on 25 July. The six-week-long strike resulted in salary increases ranging from 60 to 80%. The strike has orators making speeches about the royal family.
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This entry incorporates text from “2005 Tongan public service strike” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.