Strike at the Global Port

Workers of the Global Port in Bujumbura are on strike since Monday September 22. They call on the Ombudsman to negotiate with the Global Port direction.-By J.Berchmans Siboniyo

There are no workers at Bujumbura Global Port ©Iwacu

“It all began on February 7th, 2014 when we learned of a plan of firing 85 workers from SYTRACO, a syndicate of workers of the Global Port”, it says in the strike warning letter to the Director General of the GP, signed by the SYTRACO Syndical committee. “This layoff is due to the economic motives as the direction stated. To implement the plan, the direction fired the Assistant Secretary General of our syndicate Mr. Richard Hatungimana. After some investigation we found out the accusations resemble Mr. Adalbert Ndabakundiye, the Interim Director of exploitation. He should also bear the same punishment.”

The workers indicate that they work under unbearable conditions and they deplore the inequity in their salaries. They demand to be treated as stipulated in the labour law. “Women are harassed at work”, they say. Furthermore, they ask for their allowances of last year and the work uniform.

When the strike began, the direction obliged the workers to get registered and resume work without any changes to their working condition. If they didn’t, they would be viewed as deserters and consequently bear the consequences. This Wednesday morning the directors called the police to remove all the strikers from the Port. The workers then headed to the Ombudsman and asked him to negotiate with the direction. The latter told them to return to work and promised to start a dialogue between both sides.