Haiti - Ultimatum : The education sector under threat of another strike
On Saturday March 13, the Union of Employees of the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (Syndicat des employés du Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle - SEMENFP) issued an ultimatum to the Government to issue the debit cards promised to employees of the Ministry of Education by March 29, 2021. The strikers also demand respect for the principle of "equal pay for equal work" and denounce the fact that employees of departmental services with the same status and the same qualifications receive a lower salary than their colleagues in the capital.
Although the union recognizes that the process of issuing debit cards is underway, Marie-Antoinette Médor, spokesperson for the union deplores a delay of more than three months "They treat us like poor parents".
The union threatens to go on strike on March 29 if their demands are not met We will be at our posts, but we will not work until the debit cards are delivered, assured the unionist warning the government that a new work stoppage, added to the socio-political crisis and the health crisis, would jeopardize the development of education at all levels...
Already in February, teachers' unions joined the call for a strike by other structures against insecurity to protest that insecurity violates the rights of students.
"In various parts of the country, children have been forced to stay at home. It is an attack on education rights. We are awaiting the response from society to force the government authorities to assume their responsibility in the education of young people ," declared Magalie Georges, trade unionist and career teacher, also Secretary General of the National Confederation of Educators of Haiti (CNEH ).
