450,000 Chilean public employees launch strike

Santiago, Nov 4 : Close to 450,000 Chilean public employees went on strike Tuesday demanding an across-the-board wage hike of eight percent.

The civil servants, represented by the ANEF union, also demand the establishment of a monthly minimum wage of 250,000 pesos ($460) and regularised status for temporary workers and contractors, who don't receive health coverage or other benefits.

The 48-hour strike has caused problems for the people in state agencies.

It has also halted activity in hospitals and doctors' offices, where according to the unions, 80 percent of the workers have joined the strike, though skeleton crews remained on duty to deal with emergencies.

ANEF leader Raul de la Puente accused the ministers of finance, Andres Velasco, and of labour, Claudia Serrano, of not keeping President Michelle Bachelet's promise to improve working conditions for civil servants.

De la Puente also considered "unacceptable" the government's offer of a 2.5 percent wage increase for 2010.

"The negotiation will be difficult if we're starting from this basis," he said.

Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma criticised the strike by pointing out that talks are already underway between the authorities and union leaders.

"This is something that has no justification. The only ones who will be hurt here are those who use public services," Perez Yoma said, adding that the call to go on strike was an "extremely bad" decision.

--IANS