PA employees to strike next week

The employees union in the West Bank will go on strike Sunday to protest the Palestinian Authority's failure to meet their demands, a union chief said.

Bassam Zakarneh said that the union gave the PA government a fair chance, and now they are forced to step up their protest starting with a one-day strike on Sunday, followed by a two-day strike the week after that, and three days the next week and so on.

An open strike will begin on Oct. 6 if the union’s demands are not met.

Zakarneh said that the union’s decision was made in a meeting on Tuesday that discussed not receiving raises for the high cost of living, and the government’s failure to implement previous agreements.

The high cost of living raise is a percentage added to the annual salary of employees and is determined by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Zakarneh added.

He pointed out that the union was willing to give up any escalations if an agreement is reached with the government and the union’s demands are met.