Guinea-Bissau civil servants strike over salary increase demands

Officials in Guinea-Bissau began a 10-day strike on Tuesday to demand an increase in minimum wage and better working conditions.

The strike was triggered by the National Union of Workers of Guinea-Bissau (UNTG), the majority central in the civil service with 8,000 members out of some 13,000 civil servants.

UNTG is calling for a raise in the minimum wage from 19,200 CFA francs (over 29 euros) to 59,000 FCFA (nearly 90 euros) and better working conditions.

For the UNTG, the Bissau-Guinean government fulfills all the conditions to increase the salaries of the civil servants, especially since, according to its officials, those of the deputies and the ministers have been recently increased.

Ministers and MPs’ salaries allegedly rose significantly at the end of May, with rumours of a 4X4 vehicle endowment to each of the 102 legislators. The trade union feels this is unaceptable.

Guinea-Bissau has been through political turmoil since the dismissal by President José Mario Vaz of his Prime Minister, Domingos Simoes Pereira, in August 2015

AFP