TUNISIA
Buying Peace
Tunisia averted a nationwide strike by its largest trade union by agreeing to increase the wages earned by 670,000 state employees.
The total increase wasn’t announced, but Agence France-Pressereported that civil servants would get raises of up to $55 a month.
“The government has bought social peace,” said Minister of Economic Reform Taoufik Rajhi, according to Reuters. But the decision could put Tunisia at odds with the International Monetary Fund and other foreign lenders, who have been pushing the country to slash spending and reduce its large budget deficit.
Already, teachers have been boycotting student exams and last month a strike paralyzed rail, bus and air traffic, the agency said. Yet that kind of political turmoil is partly responsible for deterring investment – and the jobs it brings – forcing the country to agree to austerity measures and seek around $2.8 billion from the IMF.
One key to that austerity plan, as the IMF sees it, was freezing public sector wages.
No comments:
Post a Comment