Algerian Trade Unionists in Critical Condition as Hunger Strike Enters Fifth Week

Geneva, Switzerland (ots/PRNewswire) -

Government Ignores Deteriorating Health of Federal Justice
Workers

In protest against repeated human and trade union rights
violations, nine union members, five women and four men, began an
unlimited hunger strike on 6 May in Algiers, Algeria. Despite urgent
requests for meetings, and daily reports on the workers' rapidly
deteriorating health conditions, the government continues to refuse
to address the judicial workers' issues.

Leaders of the Algerian National Independent Union of Public
Administration Workers are attending the International Labour
Conference in Geneva, Switzerland to call international attention to
this desperate situation. No longer mobile, the workers have
dangerously low blood pressure and sugar counts, are suffering from
muscular pain and can barely speak. A number of the women are mothers
with young children.

Union president Rachid Malaoui explains, "These workers are
demanding that the Ministry of Justice honour the commitments it made
on 22 February 2011 to increase wages and respect workers' rights to
freedom of association and collective bargaining."

"These workers are asking for a dialogue with the Minister of
Justice to discuss working conditions within the justice department.
Yet the Algerian government is refusing dialogue or even
acknowledgement of the protest. For the past year, all doors at the
ministry have been closed," says union general secretary Nassira
Ghozlane.

The hunger strikers began their protest following a government
crackdown on a national protest by judicial workers on 24 April.
According to a statement issued by the administration workers' union,
security forces violently broke up the peaceful protest, wounding and
arresting more than 150 women. Reports of severe police brutality
against women held in detention include cases of multiple bone
fractures, loss of consciousness, and one woman's subsequent
miscarriage.

Workers in the judicial sector, who are primarily women, have led
several protests in recent months against repeated infringements on
their right to organize. Consequently, many workers have been denied
pay, suspended, transferred or dismissed. Additionally, there have
been numerous accounts of verbal and physical harassment of judicial
workers.

The administration workers' union (le Syndicat National Autonome
des Personnels de l'Administration Publique - SNAPAP) is an affiliate
of the global union federation Public Services International. PSI
general secretary Peter Waldorff says: "We call on the Algerian
government to take immediate steps to ensure respect for fundamental
labor rights, including trade union rights and civil liberties."

ots Originaltext: PSI - EPSU
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