Instead of higher wages, they got only rubber bullets! by Barbora Misakova

Weather and money – these two things are complicating our lives the most, I would say. While there is actually nothing we can do to improve or even stop bad weather, one would expect that after so many years what human race uses the money, we will finally know how to use and distribute them properly. Strikes in South Africa prove the opposite. Teachers and health workers are striking in the streets over pay. Open-ended strike that has already lasted 3 days is fighting for higher wages for more than 1.3 civil servants especially nurses and teachers represented by unions. After two days of strikes several confrontations erupted between police and public employees. Polic! e fired water cannons and rubber bullets on Thursday to block some 150 striking workers who tried to enter Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. Rubber bullets were also fired at striking teachers who tried to cross a barricade near a Johannesburg highway. Even though health workers, like police and immigration agents, are not allowed to strike, most of King Edward VIII Hospital’s staff had joined the stay-away. Doctors are the only workers there now and they must do everything from feeding patients to cleaning the hospital. As Nonto Beko, hospital’s spokeswoman has said: “We basically do not have anyone in the hospital except the doctors and the nurses from the army. People are all out striking.” These strikes are annual events in South Africa. This year public workers postponed their strike threat until after the World Cup. For all that, this gesture did little to close the gap with government over wages.

related story (sgx18029):! http://www.france24.com/en/20100819-south-african-police-fir...

by Barbora Misakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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