Region | Palestinian Territories

Palestinian unions threaten strike

Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad plans to start paying partial salaries to government workers at the start of each month, a step union leaders said on Saturday fell short of the unity government's promises

  • Agencies
  • Published: 23:38 May 3, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • The Hamas-led government does not have enough funding from overseas to pay for salaries of government employees, who have been staging rallies demanding for their wages.
  • Image Credit: Reuters

Occupied Jerusalem: Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad plans to start paying partial salaries to government workers at the start of each month, a step union leaders said on Saturday fell short of the unity government's promises.

Government employees' union chief, Bassam Zakarneh, threatened a new round of work stoppages, starting with a one-day "warning" strike on Wednesday, to demand full wages and back pay.

Hamas Islamists formed a unity government last month with President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction in a bid to end internal fighting and ease a year-old economic embargo.

But tensions between Hamas and Fatah remain high, particularly in the Gaza Strip, and a Western ban on direct aid to the Palestinian Authority remains in place.

"We are going to perform half work if they are going to give us only part of our salaries," said Zakarneh. "If this government does not live up to its promises, we will consider entering an open-ended strike."

The union's stance underscored the difficulties Fayyad and the unity government face meeting the expectations of Palestinians who have not received their full wages since Hamas Islamists came to power in March 2006.

Fayyad is counting on receiving at least $55 million a month from Arab League members to cover about half of the Palestinian Authority's monthly payroll.

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