Pacific Archives

The Cook Islands public sector union has given conditional approval to a plan to cut the number of public service jobs in the country by more than 60 percent.

The proposal to eliminate 1,800 positions was presented as part of measures to overcome the Cook Islands' severe financial crisis. The Public Service Association said it would agree to the reduction if the plan is spread over a five-year period.

A senior adviser to the Cook Islands government on restructuring the economy, Lloyd Powell, said the union's position seemed reasonable. The restructuring will take at least that long, he said.

The prime minister's office said the government is looking for only 400 job cuts in the short term. The Cooks has three times the number of public servants per capita than other Pacific countries, according to the Asian Development Bank. A 15 percent wage cut is in effect until July when it will be reviewed.

New Zealand said it won't help the Cook Islands out of its financial crisis unless there's a major restructuring of the public service.

Don McKinnon, NZ foreign minister, said his government can't give help until it sees a credible and workable plan from the Cook Islands that is "politically acceptable."

McKinnon's remarks came after a meeting in Wellington with Lloyd Powell, who was seeking enough funds to enable the Cook Islands government to function until July 1.

The economic crisis came to a head earlier in the year when the Cooks defaulted on a loan repayment to Nauru.