TUNIS: Tunisia’s biggest union, UGTT, started a nationwide strike on Thursday affecting the country’s airports, schools and state media to protest against the government’s refusal to raise the salaries of 670,000 public servants.
Tunisia is under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to freeze public sector wages as part of reforms to help reduce the country’s budget deficit.
International lenders have threatened to stop financing the economy, which has been in crisis since the toppling of President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
The one-day strike will hit airports, ports, schools, hospitals, state media and government offices, but Prime Minister Youssef Chahed said the state will provide minimum services in vital sectors including aviation, ports, buses and trains.
Tunisia’s state-owned airline Tunisair expects major disruptions to its flight schedule due to the strike and urged customers to change bookings, it said, adding that at least 16 flights will be postponed.
Chahed said the strike will be very expensive but the government could not raise wages disproportionately to the state’s ability to afford it.
Sami Tahri, Deputy Secretary-General of the UGTT, said the government had come under the dictates of the IMF and had chosen the difficult solution of confrontation with public servants.
Government and union sources told Reuters that the government had proposed spending about $400 million on pay rises whereas the UGTT had asked for about $850 million.
Tunisia struck a deal with the IMF in December 2016 for a loan program worth around $2.8 billion to overhaul its ailing economy with steps to cut chronic deficits and trim bloated public services, but progress has been slow.
Tunisia’s economy has been in crisis since the toppling of autocrat Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali threw it into turmoil, with unemployment and inflation shooting up.
The government aims to cut the public sector wage bill to 12.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2020 from the current 15.5 percent, one of the world’s highest levels according to the IMF.
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Powerful Tunisian union starts nationwide strike over pay
Powerful Tunisian union starts nationwide strike over pay
- The one-day strike will hit airports, ports, schools, hospitals, state media and government offices
- Tunisia is under pressure from the IMF to freeze public sector wages as part of reforms to help reduce the country’s budget deficit
Israeli settlers torch West Bank mosque
- Attacker spray-paint offensive phrases on the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the town of Tell
- Religious affairs ministry says settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques in the West Bank last year
TELL, West Bank: Israeli settlers vandalized a mosque in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Monday, spray-painting offensive phrases and setting a fire, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Religious Affairs Ministry.
Worshippers coming for the first prayers of the day found the damage and a still smoldering fire, which spewed black smoke across the entrance of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the town of Tell, near Nablus, and stained the ornate doorway.
“I was shocked when I opened the door,” said Munir Ramdan, who lives near the mosque. “The fire had been burning here in the area, the glass was broken here, and the door was broken.”
Security camera footage shows two people walking toward the mosque carrying gasoline and a can of spray paint, and running away a few minutes later, Ramdan said.
The Religious Affairs Ministry said that settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques in the West Bank last year. The incident came as Muslims observe the holy month of Ramadan.
“The provocation is directed especially at the person who is fasting, because you are fasting and entering a month of mercy and forgiveness from God,” said Salem Ishtayeh, a resident of Tell. “So they like to provoke you with words — it’s not that they are attacking you personally, they are attacking your religion, the Islamic faith.”
The Israeli military and police said that they responded to the incident and were searching for suspects. The military said that it “strongly condemns” harm done to religious institutions.
Palestinians and rights groups say that Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence.
There has been a recent surge in violence from settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Last week, settlers killed a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man, Nasrallah Abu Siyam.
Worshippers coming for the first prayers of the day found the damage and a still smoldering fire, which spewed black smoke across the entrance of the Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque in the town of Tell, near Nablus, and stained the ornate doorway.
“I was shocked when I opened the door,” said Munir Ramdan, who lives near the mosque. “The fire had been burning here in the area, the glass was broken here, and the door was broken.”
Security camera footage shows two people walking toward the mosque carrying gasoline and a can of spray paint, and running away a few minutes later, Ramdan said.
The Religious Affairs Ministry said that settlers vandalized or attacked 45 mosques in the West Bank last year. The incident came as Muslims observe the holy month of Ramadan.
“The provocation is directed especially at the person who is fasting, because you are fasting and entering a month of mercy and forgiveness from God,” said Salem Ishtayeh, a resident of Tell. “So they like to provoke you with words — it’s not that they are attacking you personally, they are attacking your religion, the Islamic faith.”
The Israeli military and police said that they responded to the incident and were searching for suspects. The military said that it “strongly condemns” harm done to religious institutions.
Palestinians and rights groups say that Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence.
There has been a recent surge in violence from settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Last week, settlers killed a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man, Nasrallah Abu Siyam.
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