ZCZC
BCN-06
CHAD-POLITICS-STRIKE-ECONOMY
Schools, hospitals shut as Chad civil servants go on strike
N’DJAMENA, May 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Hospitals and schools were shut in
Chad Monday as civil servants went on strike over pay cuts imposed by the
cash-strapped government which is under pressure to cut public funding to
meet the demands of international donors.
Public sector workers are demanding payment of their “full salary” after
bonuses and allowances were slashed by 50 percent in January as part of a
package of austerity measures to improve state finances. They had already
seen a similar 50 percent cut in 2016.
President Idriss Deby, who has been in power since 1990, had asked them to
wait until the end of the year to regularise their salaries.
The unions on Saturday refused his request and called for an indefinite
strike.
Primary and secondary schools in the capital and the University of
N’Djamena were closed on Monday while the main ministries were functioning at
a slow pace, with many offices shut.
“This strike is jeopardising the future of our children who are in exam
class,” said parent Joseph Issa.
Schools in other major cities were also closed.
At the general hospital in N’Djamena, staff nurse Ali Soumaine said they
were providing “a minimal service for surgery, resuscitation and other
sensitive services”.
The government was “surprised” at the strike call, spokeswoman Madeleine
Alinque said in a statement.
“We question the headlong rush of unions that do not honour our country or
workers,” she said.
“The government is inviting all workers to go about their daily business
normally, and efforts are under way for a sustainable recovery of the social
situation,” she added.
Magistrates on Monday also began a three-day strike in protest at a police
attack on lawyers in Doba last week.
According to trade union leader Michel Barka, the situation of civil
servants “is more and more unacceptable, and it gives the workers no pleasure
every time they have to close the schools, the hospitals, the public
administration”.
Barka accused the government of not “making an effort” to deal with the
situation.
Chad, a poverty-stricken landlocked country of nearly 15 million people,
has about 92,000 civil servants.
The austerity measures imposed in January led to a seven-week strike by
civil servants. The government and trade unions in March reached an agreement
to end the paralysis of the public sector.
The government proposed ending the cuts to bonuses and allowances at the
end of May.
N’Djamena obtained a three-year $312 million (254 million euro) credit line
from the International Monetary Fund last June. It has received two tranches
of $99.8 million but has to make progress on improving state finances to
access further funds.
The economy of Chad, where 40 percent of the population live in poverty,
has been badly hit by a downturn in the price of oil exports since 2015.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1140 hrs