Civil servants in the Jonglei State capital, Bor town, on Monday morning, started receiving their salary arrears marking an end to a week-long standoff between workers and the state government.
Two weeks ago, the state government workers rejected their July salary arrears which came with a 100 percent increment over unpaid allowances and they called a state-wide protest.
The acting head of the Jonglei workers’ union, Abraham Mading Amer, said they started receiving salary arrears after the government heeded to their demands and that all protests are halted.
“We started receiving our salaries with 100 percent increment and the nature of the work allowances as is required by public service laws,” Mading said. “We did not have any hidden agenda during the protests. So, now work will now resume normally.”
The workers’ representative applauded the government for heeding their calls and urged the rest of his colleagues to resume work as the Christmas holidays come to an end.
Another civil servant, John Deng, also applauded the government’s move and said he will now resume teaching. He expressed happiness and said the new pay structure will help them meet expenses.
For his part, Tuong Majok, the state cabinet affairs minister and acting governor, said they agreed to pay all the civil servants the doubled salaries with allowances because “it is their right”.
He said they will remain committed to meeting the demands of the workers.