- Title: CHAD: General strike over wages nears the end of its third week in Chad
- Date: 29th May 2007
- Summary: (AD1) N'DJAMENA, CHAD (MAY 16, 2007) (REUTERS) WIDE OF HOSPITAL, MAN WALKING PAST A YELLOW CANISTER TWO WOMEN WALKING INTO HOSPITAL HOSPITAL SIGN MAN WALKING IN A CORRIDOR OUTSIDE THE EMERGENCY ROOM VARIOUS OF MAN WITH YELLOW BERET SITTING ON HOSPITAL BED AND TALKING TO HOSPITAL STAFF PATIENT ON BED VARIOUS OF RELATIVES AROUND HOSPITAL BED, COMFORTING PATIENT NURSE FILLING
- Embargoed: 13th June 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Chad
- Country: Chad
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA6LMNRKEIQRNO9LS8N0U0OC5VN
- Story Text: In most countries, a nationwide strike at schools, universities, hospitals and ministries would pretty much paralyse daily life. But public services in Chad have been neglected for so long and are in such a run-down state that if it wasn't for the striking lack of people on the streets, you'd find it hard to tell that a major labour stoppage is actually under way.
In a desperate bid to force the government to raise their salaries, public service workers are holding a general strike -- now in its third week -- which they aim to renew indefinitely until their conditions are met.
Chad's main university is normally a hive of activity. But now it seems like a ghost town with only a handful of students milling about.
'Stephan', a student here who refused to gives his real name, only came back to photocopy documents. He says the strike is counter-productive.
"It's not good to go on strike, because it paralyses the country," said 'Stephan'.
Public workers are demanding a substantial increase to their pension and indemnity payments, which will effectively increase salaries by some 300 per cent. So far the government has only offered a 10 per cent rise.
Bolmbari Ngolaou is deputy coordinator of Chad's biggest trade union. He says the government has the money to pay civil servants better, but simply doesn't want to. Landlocked Chad is one of Africa's newest oil producers, sending some 160,000 barrels per day by pipeline to Cameroon's Atlantic coast. But President Idriss Deby's government has been struggling to fight off an armed rebellion in the east and cope with thousands of refugees from Sudan's war-torn Darfur.
"The Chadian government's main concern is the war in the east. You can't imagine how many weapons are entering this country - be it helicopters, tanks or guns. They prefer to spend money on arms than on helping improve the lives of Chadians. This is regrettable," said Ngolau at a meeting of the Union of the Chad Syndicates (UST).
Despite its oil wealth, the former French colony remains one of the world's poorest countries, ranked 171 out of 177 in the U.N. development index, which rates states on criteria such as average income, life expectancy and literacy.
The government says the demands of Chad's civil servants are unrealistic and at a recent news conference, Chad's Minister for State, Adoum Younousmi, defended government spending.
"Buying weapons? Yes, we buy weapons. All countries buy arms to defend themselves. But we are not plundering the future to buy weapons, that would be wrong. We buy our weapons with money allocated from the defence budget," Younousmi said.
Chad's health system is also feeling the strain of the strike. A slow trickle of patients continued to arrive for treatment at the N'Djamena hospital: skeleton emergency services are still operating, but they are overflowing with patients, and with only one doctor on call.
But strike or no strike, the view that greets visitors is pretty much the same.
Exhausted relatives are slumped on corridor floors or in the courtyard swatting at flies. Patients lie listlessly on filthy mattresses, waiting for doctors who come late or not at all.
Montanan Ndinaromtan is a lab technician and union leader , and has been working at the hospital for 20 years.
"We want an increase in salaries simply to deal with life. The cost of living is here is very very high, so we want an increase to tackle this - that's all," Ndinaromtan says.
As unions and the government wrangle over pay, Chad's public sector remains at a virtual standstill. And as long as the deadlock continues, ordinary Chadians will continue to suffer. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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