Bissau-Guinean civil servants on Tuesday begin another month of general strikes following a new notice delivered last week by the National Union of Guinea-Bissau Workers (UNTG) to the government.
The UNTG has since December called waves of general strikes in the civil service, to demand from the government, among other things, the dismissal of employees hired without public tender, improved working conditions and a doubling of the minimum wage from the current 50,000 CFA francs (76 euros).
According to UNTG secretary general Júlio Mendonça, about 80% adhered to the May strike.
“This month should be higher because of the blockage of salaries,” Júlio Mendonça told Lusa.
Guinea-Bissau’s Finance Ministry announced last week that it had conditioned the payment of May salaries of employees from several ministries to justifiy absences due to the strike, which has been affecting the civil service since December.
“We have made it clear to the government that it now only has to pay the arrears in salaries owed from 2003 to the present date,” Júlio Mendonça stressed.
