Municipal workers to go on open strike in Algeria

The National Council of Municipality Workers are expected to go on open strike in the next few days as the interior ministry refused to discuss their demands.

• The workers’ representatives will hold a meeting on Saturday to fix the strike date.
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• Their spokesman Ali Yahia criticised the mobilisation of security forces which prevented workers from joining a sit-in out the Palais du Gouvernement in Algiers.
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• Five members of the Council were arrested because they insisted on the sit-in. Some municipal officials broke placards raised by workers during the strike. Because of that, the Council warned over filling a lawsuit against the officials.
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• The union denounced the repression exercised by public authorities against municipal workers who use peaceful ways in claiming their rights. A total of 50 buses carrying workers were prevented from entering Algiers to attend a gathering.
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• Earlier on Thursday, more than 900 municipal workers gathered out of the Grande Poste in Algiers while security forces prevented them from going to the Palais du Gouvernement.