Chile public sector workers eye talks after strike
12 Nov 2008 22:47:08 GMT Source: Reuters
By Rodrigo Martinez SANTIAGO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Around 400,000 Chilean public sector workers joined the second day of a two-day national strike to demand higher wages on Wednesday, union leaders said, hinting more strike action could follow if negotiations fail. Schools, health facilities, garbage collection and other public services shut down for a second day as groups including prison workers and paramedics protested to demand higher wages to counter the highest inflation in 14 years. A long line of trucks lined up at the border crossing with Argentina high up in the Andes, as customs workers joined the latest in a series of protests against President Michelle Bachelet's unpopular ruling center-left coalition. "From Putre (in the north) to Puerto Williams (in the south), we have paralyzed public services like health, state universities and municipal and central government offices," said Manuel Bravo, a senior leader of Chile's main umbrella workers union CUT. "This is not something against the people ... but aims rather to improve public services through dignified wages," added Bravo, who like other union leaders is pushing for a 14.5 percent wage increase for public sector workers. He said union leaders would hold talks with the government on Thursday, but he did not know whether the talks would continue into Friday or the weekend. The Labor Ministry said it had no information on the impact of the strike, or how many public sector workers took part. But the government said it would dock pay from those public sector workers who joined the strike. "The law states that when you do not work, you are not entitled to receive wages. That is the principle that we are rigorously employing," Finance Minister Andres Velasco said in a statement. "The people have the right to protest, but citizens also have rights, such as the right to receive timely and good quality public services." Protesters say they are simply asking for their pay to be kept in line with inflation, which hit 9.9 percent in the 12-month period through October, the highest pace since 1994. 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 government does not realize that it is playing with fire," said Raul de la Puente, head of The National Association of Fiscal Employees (ANEF), which groups workers from across the public sector. "We have put our proposal on the table and ... we will evaluate what happens at the talks and then make our decisions, though it is not good to make threats," he added. "You don't talk about strikes, they happen." (Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
A worker sorts out toys in a recycled toy shop in downtown Santiago November 3, 2008. More than 140 tonnes of second-hand toys were imported from U.S to be sold in ...
