CHILE: Parts of Chile paralyzed as thousands of public workers go on strike, demanding higher wages

Record ID: 339263

  • Title: CHILE: Parts of Chile paralyzed as thousands of public workers go on strike, demanding higher wages
  • Date: 20th November 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CIVIL SERVANT, ANIBAL TORO, SAYING: "We understand that this strike has has a brutal impact on the population, but we insist, it hasn't been for the sake of our own intransigence. This strike has allowed for the incorporation of more sectors into the struggle, that includes legislators paying attention to our demands. Only urgent cases are listened to
  • Embargoed: 5th December 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chile
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACVDBSN3FU6Z9KT1DPTKX0ZWX4
  • Story Text: More than 400,000 Chilean civil servants take to the streets to demand a salary increase.
    Nearly half a million Chilean public sector employees continued a third day of paralyzing strikes throughout the South American country Wednesday (November 19) as Congress modified its proposal in response to demands for an across the board salary increase.
    With the total marchers estimated at 400,000, the Chilean civil servants are asking for a 14.5 percent salary increase in the face of annual inflation that has been pegged at 9.9 percent since last November, making it the highest such rate since 1994.
    Santiago announced a proposal of a graduated rise of 10 percent for a larger segment of the civil service than they originally were thinking of extending the offer to.
    The three-day standoff is the second round of nationwide strikes that began last week with a two-day strike.
    In the Pacific port city of Valparaiso, some 20,000 workers took to the city's central square to join in the protests.
    A government spokesman defended the proposal offer.
    "It's the final decision the government will make. There will be no more negotiations and it will be voted upon. The parliament was in session all day, we are in Parliament and it will be deliberated upon,"
    government spokesman Francisco Vidal said.
    Leading organizers of the strike spoke out against the proposal.
    "We are not for a gradual readjustment, and so we reject this proposal," said Raul de la Puente, the president of the National Association of Chilean Fiscal Employees (ANEF).
    In the capital of Santiago, 25,000 strikers took their protests to government buildings, including the passport agency offices.
    The strikers recognized the effects on the civilian population, but also the advantage of making their case heard.

    "We understand that this strike has has a brutal impact on the population, but we insist, it hasn't been for the sake of our own intransigence. This strike has allowed for the incorporation of more sectors into the struggle, that includes legislators paying attention to our demands.
    Only urgent cases are listened to," said one civil servant, Anibal Toro.
    The closing of schools and medical services, and the suspension of garbage collection have been the most disruptive effects of the strike.
    International trade has also been held up with customs and ports offices closed.
    Protesters who have been looking for a wage increase for the past two years, say they want the government to spread around some of Chile's windfall copper revenues, which have helped swell national sovereign wealth fund savings to around $21 billion.
    The strike is also considered to be another indication of the declining popularity of the ruling center-left government.
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