The Interim Finance Minister has stressed that there will be no Cost of Living Adjustment increments this year for civil servants.
While reacting to the statement by the Fijian Teachers Association on a proposed 7 percent COLA increase based on the rise in the cost of living, Mahendra Chaudhry said no such increase is budgeted and the civil servants should just await the pay restoration.
Chaudhry has also made it clear that the 4 percent paycut restoration will not be back-dated.
However, FTU General Secretary, Agni Deo Singh, has reacted by saying the Union is not concerned with Chaudhry's comments as the matter is before arbitration.
Chaudhry said he does not understand why the public sector unions are saying that the pay cut restoration should be back-dated to March 2007 when they know well why the pay cut was imposed in the first place.
The Fijian Teachers Association and the Fiji Public Service Association have also expressed similar sentiments.
