Widespread strikes over pay continue to disrupt Gabon

STRIKES in schools‚ hospitals and in private business‚ along with a drop in vital oil revenues‚ have brought turbulent times for Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Rallied by a score of trade unions in the public sector‚ teachers and health workers have stayed off work since the beginning of February to press home wage claims‚ prompting the administration to dock pay.

In weeks of rowdy negotiations‚ the strikers’ representatives have made no concessions to the government of the densely forested equatorial African country‚ which benefits from plentiful oil reserves as well as tropical hardwood.

Teachers’ unions have threatened to write off the current academic year for pupils if the government refuses to meet their demands for a substantial rise in the minimum monthly salary from 80 000 CFA francs (about R1 600) to 300 000 CFA francs (about R5 995).

“The government shot itself in the foot by deciding to cut the wages of striking staff‚” said a leader of the movement‚ Marcel Libama. “This pointless tactic won’t affect our determination to pursue the struggle for our country. Classrooms have remained shut. This [school] year can no longer be salvaged.”

In rejecting the teachers’ claims‚ the government argued that to comply would mean a spending hike that was “insupportable for the smooth running of the state”.

But as so often in Gabon‚ the last word lies with the president‚ whose role it is to mediate during such clashes‚ though critics hold him primarily responsible for social discontent.

Bongo has ruled since a disputed presidential election in August 2009. The poll was held within three months after his father, Omar Bongo, died in office after leading the country for no fewer than 41 years.

On March 10‚ Bongo called for classes to resume‚ asserting that he had met the main demands of the strikers. According to his spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze‚ the president agreed to performance bonuses and the introduction of a “new pay scale”.

“We want something concrete!” countered an unimpressed maths teacher‚ asking not to be named.

“What does it mean‚ ‘to revise the pay system’? Are they going to raise our basic salary‚ yes or no?”

Recent strikes have also paralysed firms in the private sector. Gabon was nearly cut off from the rest of the world late in February and then early in March when workers at the main internet provider Gabon Telecom walked off the job‚ demanding higher wages.

During the first two weeks of December last year‚ oil workers also downed tools‚ heavily disrupting production and sparking major energy shortages in Libreville. Since oil accounts for 60% of state revenue‚ the tension undermined Bongo’s regime.

Many major infrastructure projects have ground to a standstill for lack of funds. — AFP