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News :: Miscellaneous |
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VICTORY for Zambian anti-IMF strikers! |
Current rating: 0 |
by Malele Dodia
(No verified email address) |
03 Jul 2001
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Zambian workers win anti-IMF strike after weeks-long strike |
VICTORY of ZAMBIAN WORKERS!! [fwd]
Comrades and Friends
Please find below text of cosatu newsletter article...
We are not complacent. It is one step forward on a very long road...but it is a beginning. This success needs to be shared with others who may be despairing.
Please let us know when you need a hand.
Malele Dodia Labour and Social Services Activist ZAMBIA
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SAPA 1/7/01
ZAMBIAN PUBLIC WORKERS END STRIKE AFTER WINNING RAISES
Civil servants in Zambia have ended their national strike, which was in its second month, after winning raises of up to 91 percent, a union official said Saturday.
"We have reached a deal with government. We have been given between 80 to 91
percent salary increases, which is immediately effective," Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) deputy president Japhat Moonde told AFP.
The deal was finalized Friday, and the workers have accepted the government offer, he said. The raises take effect immediately, he added.
"We have therefore decided to call off the strike," Moonde said.
An estimated 80,000 public workers in Zambia, including nurses and school teachers, have been on an open-ended strike for more than one month, crippling government operations.
The strike was the first time that all civil servants had taken labor action together, instead of under their separate unions. The strike was one of the longest ever in post-independence Zambia.
Civil servants had threatened to disrupt next week's heads of state summit of the Organization of African Unity, which is being held in Lusaka.
The striking workers had wanted government to double their salaries, which were less than 50 US dollars a month - considered below the poverty line here.
The government initially offered only a 35 percent increase.
The strike had forced government hospitals to shut down some admission wards. Most schools had suspended classes, which resulted in student riots in some parts of the country.
But Moonde expected most workers to be back on the job on Wednesday, following public holidays on Monday and Tuesday. |
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=50394&group=webcast
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