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Tonga's Ministry of Education has recommended that teachers taking part in a strike by public servants be sacked.
The recommendation by the Director for Education would see two thirds of the teachers in the Kingdom lose their jobs.
A Journalist in Tonga says two classrooms at Vava'u High School were vandalised overnight on Tuesday and that is likely to be linked to the announcement.
This comes as a New Zealand mediation team prepares to leave for Tonga to try to help resolve the civil servant's strike.
Retired employment court judge Tom Goddard left for Tonga on Wednesday with two advisors.
Chair of the Tongan Advisory Council in New Zealand Melino Maka says Tonga has no industrial relations law, which could pose a problem for the mediation team.
The Council of Trade Unions President Ross Wilson is also heading to Tonga to help resolve the strike.
Wilson says he is there for the South Pacific Council of Trade Unions and will look at the framework for discussion on both sides to move things forward.
He says a clear framework must be established to provide a strong forum before any pay rate issues are discussed and both parties want this.
The Tonga Government says taxpayers would suffer if it agreed to the salary increases being demanded.
It also says it would be inflationary.
In a statement, the government says paying between 60 and 80% more would mean the 4,500 workers on the state payroll would take 76% of all public revenue.
It says this would leave just 24% for services for the more than 98,000 people in the country. It says the demand is most unreasonable from an economic management point of view.
The Ministry of Finance says it would lead to inflation of up to 14% and an estimated budget deficit of $21 million.