Chad: unions renew strike action against rising fuel prices
In Chad, the main union platforms want to maintain pressure on the authorities following the rise in fuel prices in mid-February.
Gathered at the Ndjamena labor exchange on February 26, 2024, they renewed a strike movement.
“
The government completely ignored us
,” they lamented.
Listen - 01:28
Meeting at the Ndjamena labor exchange on February 26, 2024, the union platform decided to renew the strike against the increase in fuel prices for two weeks.
© Carol Valade/RFI
By: RFI Follow
Advertisement
Read more
With our correspondent in Ndjamena,
Carol Valade
In
Chad
, the main union platforms decided yesterday to renew the strike for two weeks, with minimum service in hospitals.
For six days already, public workers have been called to stop work to protest against the brutal rise in fuel prices.
In mid-February, the price of a liter of gasoline increased by more than 40%, causing anger among the population and a rise in prices on the markets.
As the month of Ramadan approaches, which generally leads to a peak in consumption for households, the measure does not pass.
As a protest, certain political parties and civil society organizations called for a ghost town yesterday, a slogan little followed in the capital Ndjamena where RFI attended the General Assembly of the country's major trade unions.
“
There is money in this country, there is money, we know it!
»
The Labor Exchange was boiling, slogans blaring from the loudspeakers and anger brewing in the overheated assembly.
Since the rise in fuel prices, Daniel Yérima Djaoubé, teacher, has struggled to make ends meet: “
I used to fill my tank, but now I can't
,” he explains.
To move our children to school, in one week, we spent more than 20,000 CFA francs [
around 30 euros, Editor's note
] just for the trip.
So, we ask the government: it only has to subsidize this price of fuel.
There is money in this country, there is money, we know it!
»
By mutual agreement, the platform extended the strike by two weeks, even if it meant toughening the movement later, explains Michel Barka, president of the Union of Trade Unions of Chad: “The
government has totally ignored us.
Well, there is nothing else to do but continue the strike and you have seen the anger of the workers.
The workers are ready to go straight into the street, to go down to walk.
The workers are for a dry and indefinite strike.
»
To justify this unpopular measure, the government cites the massive arrival of Sudanese refugees, the low capacity of the national refinery and hydrocarbon smuggling.
But the arguments of the former opponent who became Prime Minister and potential candidate for the presidential election, Succès Masra, are struggling to convince his fellow citizens.
Also read: Chad: a six-day strike against the increase in gasoline and diesel prices
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your inbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Share :
Continue reading on the same themes:
Chad