Strike over pay affects transport in Tunisia
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Alaina
- . January 2, 2023
- . Update: January 3, 2023 11:19 am
Metro and bus services were affected in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, on Monday, after employees of the state transport company held a strike over delays in their payment of wages and other financial incentives.
Hayat Chamtouri, a spokesperson for the company, said that the employees held strikes over issues of wages, highlighting the financial problems faced by public companies in Tunisia. Hayat reportedly said, “The financial situation in the company is really difficult.”
Monday’s strike sparked anger among thousands of people as they struggled to find transport in Tunis. It affected the office and school hours of children. According to Arab News, people complained after they were unable to find buses on time. A woman reportedly said, “We do not find buses that take us to work.” Another person said that the country has become hell.
In retaliation to ongoing strikes, people in the Intilaka neighbourhood blocked roads. They demanded an end to the strike.
Read | Tunisia’s powerful UGTT union says election runoffs could cause chaos
The powerful UGTT union in Tunisia held a series of protests to show the strength of the union. The union, with 1 million members, repeatedly called for increments in wages.
The union has approved a two-day strike for air, land and sea transport workers on January 25 and 26 in order to carry forward the demand of the workers. The union has called it a demonstration against “the government’s marginalisation of public companies.”
The country is currently struggling to get a $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The country has been struggling due to rising economic crises. People often complain in the country about not being able to afford basic commodities. The political crisis has also affected the country.
In 2022, the economy minister of Tunisia, Samir Saeed, said that Tunisia would face a difficult year if the inflation rate exceeded 10 per cent.
