Civil servants begin eight-day strike

Civil servants in the Central African Republic (CAR) began on Wednesday an eight-day strike over salary arrears. "We are on strike again because our demands have not been met," Noel Ramadan, the vice-chairman of the workers' trade union, the Union syndicale des travailleurs de Centrafrique, said in the capital, Bangui. Last week civil servants went on a three-day strike, over the same issue. Ramadan said 80 percent of the workers adhered to that warning strike. The workers are protesting the government's failure to resolve their long-standing grievances, the main one being the non payment of nine months' salary arrears of 2005. They also want a 1995 freeze on salary increases lifted. On Friday the government paid the workers one month's arrears, a measure they said was inadequate. "By paying [arrears for] one salary the government is diverting the trade unions' attention from the strike's motive," Ramadan said. However, he said the workers were looking forward to resuming negotiations with the authorities. "Even during the strike period we are still available for any discussions with the government," he said. Ramadan said many public sector workers were claiming up to 50 months of salary arrears, dating to 1990. Labour Minister Jacques Bothy said on Tuesday the eight-day strike was a disruption of the government's reforms already underway. He said the reforms were aimed at finding a solution to the country's domestic problems. The non payment of salaries has impacted negatively on the quality of life for the civil servants and their families. "We are asking the government to satisfy our demands so that our children can go back to school," Pierre Renga, a 50-year-old driver, said. Besides education, others sectors such as health have also been affected by the strike. Hospitals are only offering minimum services. An employee of the Ministry of Justice, who requested anonymity, said: "We need money to care for ourselves and our children who are going back to school; we know that the country is facing an unprecedented financial crisis but it should not be an excuse for the government to ignore our grievances".