More than 12,000 civil servants in Jonglei State started receiving July salaries and associated allowance in Bor. Official says the payment started during Christmas eve and is continuing. According to the chairperson of the workers union, there are twelve thousand, four hundred employees in Jonglei state.
It is unclear how much the state has agreed to pay as an allowance for the employees, which was one key demand of the protesters.
Samuel Majier Looc is the chairperson of the worker trade union in Jonglei state. He said the payment is based on a hundred 100 percent increment as directed by the President of Republic Salva Kiir Mayardit in July 2021.
Majier said people in grade one are receiving 33,800 SSP, an equivalent of 79 USD from 25 before the increment. Those in the lower grades, such as grade 17, received 3,968 SSP and equivalent of 9 USD and used to be less than 2 dollars, he added.
“Now we have no other problem with the government because what we were demanding was our right to be granted, and now it is done,” said Samuel Majier.
He said the committee sent from Juba by the National Ministry of Labor to find solutions has helped end the standoff, which has been going on for months. He said they would resume their normal activities today after all the workers received their salary with allowances.
Hon. Biar Mading is the state minister of Labor, Human resources, and public service in Jonglei. He said his government had implemented the order of the President to pay 100% increment and nature of work allowances.
He did not provide any details on the agreed nature of allowance they are paying out with July salaries. Hon. Mading said they had many constraints that caused the delay, such as the finance to fully implement the directive on time.
He said the Jonglei state has not worked out to amalgamate the total workforce for the former defunct states to get the actual total government employees.