Tongan General Strike (2005)

</image> <label>Performers</label> <label>Date</label> <label>Location</label> </infobox>The Tongan General Strike of 2005 was a strike by public service workers in Tonga in 2005.

Background

At the time, Tonga was an undemocratic monarchy with no history of strikes or a workers movement since these were heavily repressed.

Events

Despite their lack of unionization, on the 22nd of July, 2005, 2000 of the country’s 5000 public servants went on strike to call for pay raises for all public servants. This was in response to wage raises given to senior public servants but denied all other public servants. That same day, about 1000 public servants rallied in the capital of Nuku’alofa in a protest organized by the Public Servants Association (PSA). They set up canopies in Pangai Si’I, a park near the parliament building, singing songs, eating, and talking. The strikers met there daily for the majority of the rest of the campaign. Early that day the strikers had been told by the parliament to express their grievances through the approved process of taking it up with their department heads, but Tonga Finau, one of the leaders of the PSA, decided that going directly to the government was the only way to create change. The Prime Minister asked strikers to return to their work, but with no success. Within the next three days, many government ministries were closed due to understaffing. For instance, the Ministry of Lands had only 20% of its workforce, while only 2 people showed up for work at the Ministry of Labour. That same day, 1400 public school teachers joined the strike in support of the civil servants. After two days of ambiguous commitment on the part of the teachers, all 115 public primary schools and 8 of the country’s secondary schools closed early for the August holidays. According to the Ministry of Education, only 114 secondary schools teachers in the country showed up to work on the 22nd, and 134 on the 25th.

On the 25th of July, over 2000 public servants held a rally at Queen Salote Hall and then marched on the parliament building at noon to present a letter of petition to the Speaker of the House demanding 60%, 70%, and 80% pay raises for different levels work, no disciplinary repercussions against strikers upon returning to work, and a two year suspension of the salary review that had been scheduled before the strike. Upon receiving it, he told the strikers that it would be looked over in parliament. However, no action was taken on their part to resolve the dispute. Meanwhile, the strikers continued to hold rallies on Pangai Si’I. The private sector was also impacted by the strike both due to the buying power of those striking, in addition to the connection government-paid jobs had with the private sector. For example, the unloading of airline freights was almost completely halted because only one customs official was showing up for work. Soon health workers in Nuku’alofa joined the movement. Workers at Tonga’s main Vaiola Hospital decided to meet at a church in the city and march to Pangai Si’I in the middle of the city to join the strikers on the lawn. They sent a warning letter to the cabinet, and were met with a reply from the minister of health saying that the government could not meet the strikers’ demands. This prompted the health workers to join the strike after deeming this an inadequate answer. They had had a short meeting that morning in which they decided to meet at the church in their uniforms and to join the over 3000 public servants at Pangai Si’I.

On the 17th of August, scores of students were arrested for ransacking their school, Tonga College, and torching several government cars after threatening to burn government buildings if authorities did not move to settle the strike. They were also demanding the reinstatement of the college principal and other senior staff who had been dismissed for supporting the strike. Although the vandalism was not sanctioned by the PSA, the media jumped on this as an outbreak of violence in the campaign. The New Zealand government offered to help Tonga resolve the strike in response to the violence, but the PSA refused.

Results

The strike saw a 70% wage increase, no disciplinary actions against strikers and increased democratisation in Tonga.