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Volume 15,
Number 1 |
Also
in this section:
Seguro
Social clerical workers' strike continues
by Eric Jackson, mostly
from other media
Those annoying Panama City traffic
jams that have been happening every work day this year? Yes, the
construction of the Cinta Costera, the installation of new sewer lines and
other construction projects have had a domino effect that has slowed
traffic on many metro area arteries. But the extra added push toward
gridlock has come from striking Seguro Social clerical workers and their
supporters.
The blockages have been most
frequent on the Transistmica in front of the Arnulfo Arias Hospital
Complex, but they have been interposed in other places as well. There and
in Colon there have been some clashes with riot police and arrests of
strikers, and there have also been at least three incidents of drivers
trying to run down picketers.
The government is pleading poverty,
alleging that due to wage increases granted after the doctor's strike in
late 2007, it can't afford a raise for the clerical workers, most of whom
are represented by the National Association of Social Security Fund
Administrative Functionaries (ANFACSS). With the old contract expired as
of the end of the year, ANFACSS walked off the job on January 4.
A couple of smaller organizations
that bargain for sections of the Seguro Social clerical force are also
bargaining for a new contract and also on strike.
The government's hard line toward
ANFACSS may in part be predicated on that organization's history of scant
support for other Seguro Social unions, and the expectation that unions
whose picket lines weren't honored by clericals won't walk out in
solidarity. Although that may be the case, neither will members of the
other unions do the work of the striking clericals and that has meant the
nearly total paralysis of outpatient services at the Seguro Social
hospitals and clinics. Critical services like the emergency rooms and
kidney dialysis are continuing without disruption, but thousands of
non-emergency appointments have been called off and it has been an
extra-special ordeal for Seguro Social patients to get prescriptions
filled.
Over a week and one-half of the
strike, the government gradually raised its offer of no pay raise to one
of $60 per month, to start in June just before the Torrijos administration
leaves office, and a $200 bonus, to be paid by the next administration.
The strikers are not taking that as anything made in good faith. They're
demanding a $200 bonus and $75 more per month, starting immediately.
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2009 by Eric Jackson email: editor@thepanamanews.com or e_l_jackson_malo@yahoo.com Mailing
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