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Vol. 72/No. 48      December 8, 2008

 
Chilean gov’t workers strike,
win 10 percent wage increase
(front page)
 
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS  
After a four-day nationwide strike November 17-20, some 450,000 government workers in Chile won a 10 percent wage raise. Members of the National Public Employees Union (ANEF) and Central Workers Union (CUT) were demanding a 14.5 percent increase in pay. The government’s initial offer of 6.5 percent prompted the walkout. Over the past year, the government’s official cost-of-living figures have risen 9.9 percent.

The ANEF began strike actions a week earlier and were then joined by CUT members. Striking workers took to the streets, marching in most of the nation’s major cities. In Valparaíso, Chile, nearly 30,000 public workers rallied outside Congress November 19, reported the Valparaíso Times. Teachers, garbage workers, as well as doctors and judges participated in the walkout.

Union officials, insisting that a wage increase had to be a double-digit figure, announced an end to the strike November 20 after Chile’s Senate in a 32-0 vote approved a 10 percent raise. Hours earlier the Chamber of Deputies in a 98-4 vote rejected a 9.5 percent increase. The Senate’s wage hike proposal “now returns to the lower house for a vote, where it is expected to pass,” reported AP.  
 
 
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