Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The Vanuatu government's decision to appeal the Supreme Court's ruling on the legality of the nationwide teachers' strike is being welcomed by the country's teachers union.
The Supreme Court quashed a Teaching Service Commission decision to suspend and terminate over 600 teachers for participating in a strike in a judgement handed down on May 30.
The court declared that the industrial action, which started on 6 June last year and recalled on 10 August 2024, remains lawful.
Jonathan Yona, general secretary of the Vanuatu Teachers' Union, told RNZ Pacific the strike was initiated over a range of pay remuneration issues spanning 18 years.
These included basic pay rates as well as remuneration entitlements for members who were principals, and deputy principals, or worked away from their home island or villages, he said.
"The Supreme Court declared that the industrial action issued by the Vanuatu teachers union is lawful," Yona said.
"The government decided to appeal the decision of the Supreme Court, and the Vanuatu Teachers' Union welcomes the appeal, and we await...the submission, then we can respond and wait for the Appeal Court."
More than 600 members have faced disciplinary action over the strike, which marks its one-year anniversary tomorrow.
Yona said these members were from around Vanuatu and had not taught for the past year. Instead, they'd taken up other activities like gardening around their homes and villages to keep them busy.
He also urged other members of the union to join their colleagues in solidarity. In total, the union had 2400 members, Yona said.
"As we're speaking, many schools in town are closing. In the provinces, most of the schools are closing down. We're looking forward [to] next week, there will be more and more schools closing down while teachers will be getting paid because the action was legal and we wait for the appeal.
"We are calling on all the members to come and....anytime if the Vanuatu government can come down and sign the collective agreement, then the Vanuatu teachers' union will call off the industrial action."
According to a statement from the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), the government will appeal the court's decision, as it believes the ruling could affect the future of the country's education system and workforce.
The Minister of Education, Simil Johnson, and the deputy prime minister and Finance Minister, Johnny Koanapo, have met to discuss possible ways forward.
They urged teachers whose names are not listed in the court judgement to refrain from joining on the VTU bandwagon.
The government also assured that it remains steadfast in its commitment to settle all dues legally owed to teachers, and confirmed that all claims submitted have been verified as of 31 May, with payments being processed.
The total amount paid so far is close to 2 billion vatu, which is a significant contrast to the 17 billion vatu and 20 billion vatu that was initially claimed at the start of the strike, said the government.
The Government said it notes that a large majority of the claims could not be assessed due to lack of proper justification and/or documentation during the verification process.
