Workers from the public and private sectors throughout the country launched a two-day strike on 8 April to protest high living costs and demand salary increases, writes IRINnews.
In Ouagadougou, the capital, few shops were open. In Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city in the west of the country, the central market was closed.
Police were out in force in front of banks and government offices.
Health facilities provided only minimum services. Medical students and military medical personnel were summoned to replace striking workers at Ouagadougou’s main hospital, Yalgado Ouédraogo.
MERE I LØN OG LAVERE SKATTER
The unions are pressing the government to increase salaries by 25 percent in the public sector, and to reduce taxes on fuel and food stuffs.
In a joint statement the unions accused the government of “leniency and complicity” with the businessmen.
Rising food prices in recent months have brought thousands of demonstrators to the streets in the country’s major towns and cities, resulting in hundreds of arrests. More than 46 percent of the 14 million people in Burkina Faso live below the poverty line.
Kilde: www.irinnews.org
