FTU pushes for immediate restoration of teachers’ salaries

With the third school term beginning tomorrow, the Fiji Teachers Union (FTU) says its immediate priority is ensuring every legitimate teacher affected by the Pay 18 salary stoppage is verified and has their pay restored as quickly as possible.

FTU general secretary Muniappa Goundar said the union had engaged with the Ministry of Education to identify individual cases, help members address any outstanding documentation and ensure teachers who were genuinely employed and performing their duties were not left without income.

Where necessary, he said the union would consider further action to protect the rights and welfare of affected members.

“The FTU accepts that teachers have a responsibility to sign and return appointment documents within the required timeframe,” Mr Goundar said.

“However, we do not accept that the matter can simply be attributed to teachers alone.”

Mr Goundar said the Ministry had previously acknowledged administrative, human resource and processing problems, including documents being submitted to the wrong officers and delays within the system.

He said the recent payroll verification demonstrated weaknesses on both sides and responsibility should be examined fairly rather than placing the entire burden on teachers.

“At this stage, the ministry has not provided the FTU with a definitive blanket timeline for restoration of salaries to all 134 teachers,” he said.

“Our position is that once an affected teacher’s employment, appointment and documentation have been verified, payment should be restored without unnecessary delay, including payment of all salary arrears properly due.”

The FTU supports the Ministry’s responsibility to verify its payroll and prevent public funds from being improperly paid.

However, Mr Goundar said if an employee whose contract had expired was able to remain on the payroll and receive salary payments until Pay 18/2026, questions needed to be asked about the effectiveness of the Ministry’s human resource, payroll and verification controls.

“The fact that the verification followed recommendations in the Auditor-General’s 2024 report makes it even more important that the ministry explain what controls were previously in place and why these discrepancies were not detected earlier,” he said.

An email seeking clarification has been sent to Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary Navin Raj.

It remained unanswered when this edition went to press yesterday.