Unease in Niue over four day working week for public servants
An opposition MP in Niue says public servants are not welcoming a new four-day working week which comes into force next week.
Transcript
An opposition MP in Niue says public servants are not welcoming a new four-day working week which comes into force next week.
Terry Coe says the premier Toke Talagi has stipulated that workers will take Fridays off and still be paid.
He told Bridget Tunnicliffe why the Premier has introduced the new measure.
TERRY COE: He promised the public servants a 20 percent wage increase and he hasn't got the money to do that so I'll give you a day off in lieu. Most of the public servants don't want the day off. They want the pay increase, not necessarily the 20 percent but a pay increase because there's you know there's a rising cost of living on Niue. And they need the money, not the day off. It's not done anywhere in the world I don't think, this thing. And I'm not sure the New Zealand government would be too happy about it either.
BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE: In terms of those service workers like police and teachers, what does the government propose to do in those cases when they can't take a day off?
TC: Yes, well it's a strange one because they've said they're going to give the teachers a pay increase to counteract that day. But the other people, there's nothing been said what's happening to those people, you know, whether they're going to get a pay increase or not. It's not a level playing field for all the public servants. I think the productivity of the public service will just drop right down because the Thursday will become like a Friday and you know people don't work the full day and so we'll just find that everything falls behind you know, in the counting and even for the private sector won't be able to be paid on the Fridays etc. So it's really Mickey Mouse. They should have just offered the public servants a five percent pay rise and then give them another five percent later on when they've got the money.
BT: I guess the underlying problem is the government simply doesn't have enough money. Is there anything the government could do to really address that?
TC: Well yes, there's approximately 40-50 vacancies in the public service. And the public service is running alright at the moment without those vacancies being filled. So you could make a massive saving there. And the public service is too big. We know that. But people need to take on more responsibility within the department. And as I say, they're doing it now with those vacancies. So why not just do away with the vacancy, take the pay that was allocated for that vacancy and share it amongst the people who doing, are taking over that person's or that vacancy positions responsibilities and duties. And that would solve the problem. I'm sure people would be a lot happier.
To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following:
See terms of use.