"); NewWindow.document.close(); return false; } // end hiding from old browsers -->

IRIN Africa | West Africa | GUINEA | GUINEA: Capital slows to standstill on first day of general strike | Democracy, Economy, Education | News Items
Saturday 18 March 2006
 
Regions
Latest News
East Africa
Great Lakes
Horn of Africa
Southern Africa
West Africa
·Benin
·Burkina Faso
·Cameroon
·Cape Verde
·Chad
·Cote d'Ivoire
·Gabon
·Gambia
·Ghana
·Eq. Guinea
·Guinea
·Guinea Bissau
·Liberia
·Mali
·Mauritania
·Niger
·Nigeria
·Sao Tome & Pr.
·Senegal
·Sierra Leone
·Togo
·West Africa
·Western Sahara
Weeklies
Themes
Children
Democracy & Governance
Early warning
Economy
Education
Environment
Food Security
Gender Issues
Health & Nutrition
HIV/AIDS
Human Rights
Natural Disasters
Peace & Security
Refugees/IDPs
IRIN Films
IRIN In-Depth

GUINEA: Capital slows to standstill on first day of general strike


[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]



©  Alhassan Sillah/IRIN

Children were not in class as the government closed schools amid the strike

CONAKRY, 27 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Angry trade unionists brought the Guinean capital to a standstill on Monday, the first of a five-day general strike called to wrest longstanding demands for a four-fold rise in wages and pensions.

Two of the West African nation's most powerful unions, the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG), and the Guinean Workers Trade Union (USTG), called the strike action after months of talks broke down. The two trade unions between them boast around 80,000 workers, according to analysts.

There was little traffic on the streets of Conakry as most taxis and minibuses remained at home, while shops and businesses stayed closed and government workers largely deserted offices.

The government itself on Sunday ordered the closure until further notice of all educational institutions across the country, including schools and universities. "The government realised by last night that it was battling a lost cause," a trade union member told IRIN on Monday, a day after
negotiations broke down.

Daily life has become tougher and tougher in past years for the average Guinean. Rice, the staple food for the West African nation's eight million people, almost doubled between January 2004 and November 2005, with the free-market price of a 50 kg bag of rice increasing from 50,000 francs to about 85,000 francs. Today a bag costs a whopping 100,000 Guinean francs or US $22, which equates to more than half the average monthly salary of a civil servant.

As the Guinea franc tumbles against the dollar on a near day by day basis, petrol prices have also risen sharply in recent months fueling inflation and adding to Guinean's woes.

Inflation, which was running at just below 28 percent in 2003, up from single digits two years earlier, was at over 30 percent in the second term of 2005, according to the Economy and Finance Ministry.

Employment Minister Ibrahima Keira has threatened action against government workers who fail to turn up for work without a legitimate reason. But leading trade unionist Louis Mbemba Souma, Secretary-General of the Teachers' Union, told IRIN on Monday that "We are determined to carry on this strike."

"For too long we've been taken for a ride," he said. "This time if even it takes us months, we will pursue and get what we demand from this government."

As the stoppage bit, stalls remained empty at the main Madina Market while there was little activity at the government-run Donka hospital in town. "We are observing the strike by giving limited services," one medical officer said. "But if within the next few days the impasse is not broken, we will have little choice but to close that down as well."

"I know that as professionals we shouldn't, but ... enough is enough."

[ENDS]


 Theme(s) Democracy
Other recent GUINEA reports:

Food aid for Ivorian refugees to be axed at year end,  9/Mar/06

AIDS patients want less talk and more action,  8/Mar/06

Trade unions claim strike victory as government promises higher wages,  7/Mar/06

In desperate bid for jobs, youths sign up as “volunteers”,  6/Mar/06

Grinding poverty drives unprecedented general strike,  3/Mar/06

Other recent Democracy & Governance reports:

ZIMBABWE: One half of the divided MDC heads for 'watershed' congress, 17/Mar/06

COMOROS: AU military electoral observers for presidential election, 17/Mar/06

SOUTHERN AFRICA: IRIN-SA Weekly Round-up 274 for 11-17 March 2006, 17/Mar/06

GUINEA-BISSAU-SENEGAL: Fighting continues along shared border, 17/Mar/06

NIGERIA: Signs of Obasanjo third-term bid stir already boiling pot, 17/Mar/06

[Back] [Home Page]

Click here to send any feedback, comments or questions you have about IRIN's Website or if you prefer you can send an Email to Webmaster

Copyright © IRIN 2006
The material contained on www.IRINnews.org comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.
All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.