Burkina unions launch general strike, impact mixed
13 May 2008 13:52:39 GMT Source: Reuters
By Mathieu Bonkoungou OUAGADOUGOU, May 13 (Reuters) - Unions in Burkina Faso began a 72-hour general strike on Tuesday to protest against soaring living costs, but while banks, schools and some offices closed, businesses, shops and public transport kept running. The protest stoppage was the second in five weeks called by unions who are demanding salary and pension rises. But support for the latest strike was mixed as many traders and shopkeepers said they could not afford to shut down for three days. "We back the strike. The high cost of living hits us too, but if we have to close for three days, that's just going to make our problems worse," Ousmane Bayili, who has a shop selling beauty products in the capital Ouagadougou, told Reuters. Soaring prices for food and fuel products triggered riots in landlocked Burkina Faso in February, part of a wave of protests against the increased cost of living which has swept West Africa in recent months, as well as other parts of the world. Aid experts say more than 100 million people risk being pushed into hunger because of rocketing food prices caused by a combination of record high oil price levels, increased demand for foodstuffs, speculation on commodities futures markets and the switchover of crops to biofuel production. To try to help poor households, the Burkina Faso government has suspended import duties, made electricity and water bills cheaper for low-income families and is subsidising cereals. But it says these measures, which squeeze state revenues, mean it cannot meet the unions' demands for an immediate 25 percent increase in public sector salaries and pensions. "The government ... cannot decide today to raise salaries," Labour and Social Security Minister Jerome Bougouma wrote in a letter to the unions in which he urged them to hold back from strike action until wage negotiations took place in September. But union leaders reject these arguments and say the government measures have not brought food prices down. The unions are planning nationwide protest marches on Wednesday on the second day of the latest strike. "The government should not push us to the limit. We're holding our second strike in a month and if we don't receive a satisfactory response to our demands, then it goes without saying our struggle will intensify," said union spokesman Jean-Mathias Liliou. "We don't have any choice. The strike is the only way to make the government see sense," said Arsene Kabore, a civil servant. But most central government offices appeared to be working normally in the capital on Tuesday and taxis and buses were circulating on the streets. The previous strike in April, also called to protest against food and fuel price hikes, had received wider initial backing. In February, more than 300 people were arrested during violent protests against the high cost of living in Ouagadougou and the second city Bobo-Dioulasso, the centre of the country's vital agricultural trade. The unrest included widespread looting and clashes with police. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
