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Tram and bus workers stage strike over delayed salaries and no year-end bonus in Tunisia

Tram and bus workers stage strike over delayed salaries and no year-end bonus in Tunisia

Tram and bus workers go on strike over delayed salaries in Tunisia.

Tram and bus workers staged a strike in Tunis over no year-end bonus and delayed salaries on Monday, resulting in traffic jams across the capital.

This is the latest strike in a series of similar-kind of protests as the country faces a deepening economic crisis with a continuous shortage of basic commodities like cooking oil and petrol.

The strike emphasises the public companies’ financial issues, which are on the edge of bankruptcy, as the government of President Kais Saied faces one of the worst financial crises.

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"The financial situation in the company is really difficult," the spokesperson of Transtu Hayat Chamtouri said. The strike is a display of the UGTT union’s strength, which has promised to hold more protests.

The two-day strike called by sea, land and air transport workers was approved by the union on January 25 and 26 to protest against "the government's marginalisation of public companies".

Transtu workers, in huge numbers, gathered in Kasbah Square near the office of the prime minister and staged a protest demanding the payment that the company owes to them. The workers raised slogans like "we want our rights ... we don't ask for an advantage".

The strike held on Monday is open-ended and it will continue till the demands of workers are fulfilled, UGTT official Wajih Zidi said adding that a few employees were not been able to pay off their debts.

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The travel chaos caused by the strike led to an angry response from a few among the thousands of citizens who were facing problems in travelling around Tunis.

"Today we do not find milk, oil, sugar or coffee. Also now we do not find buses that take us to work. Tunisia has become an unbearable hell," stated a woman who was waiting for long at a bus station. In the Intilaka neighbourhood, roads were blocked by people to protest against the strike.

(With inputs from agencies)

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