Bissau, June 4, 2025 (Lusa) - The health and education sectors in Guinea-Bissau are set to begin a three-day general strike on Monday, June 9, the spokesperson for the Social Front told Lusa on Wednesday, criticising alleged breaches by the government.
The position of the Social Front, which includes unions from both sectors, is a response to “the failure to comply with a memorandum” signed with the government last March, which Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embaló promised to “enforce” last May, said Yoyo João Correia.
On May 15, Sissoco Embaló asked the Social Front to suspend the general strike that had been called so that the government could find a solution to the unions’ demands.
“Given the government’s failure to comply, the Social Front is once again forced to give new strike notice, which is due to start next Monday, as a way of pressuring the government to comply with the memorandum of understanding,” said Yoyo João Correia.
The commitment, said the union leader, was to pay at least nine months of back wages to health professionals “who have been without pay for a year and a half, and to continue paying in the following months.”
In its list of demands, the Social Front denounces that the so-called new entrants to the health sector have not been paid for 17 months, demands compliance with the law for the appointment of school and hospital directors and improvements in working conditions.
The strikes also aim to demand the payment of a set of subsidies enshrined in law, but which health and education professionals have not received, according to the Social Front.
The platform also demands clarification of the complaint by the Guinea-Bissau Nurses’ Association, according to which several professionals in that branch of medical activity have been placed in the system without being qualified with a professional licence.
The spokesperson for the Social Front urged employees in both sectors to remain united so that they can speak with one voice to put pressure on the government and thus obtain better salaries and working conditions.
“Only by standing together can we achieve something, can we get better wages, better working conditions, see better wages being paid, but also achieve other important conditions in the world of work,” said João Correia.
If it goes ahead, the strike scheduled to begin on Monday will be the fifth wave of industrial action organised by the Social Front in the last 16 months.
MB/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
