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A top Uruguayan labor union launched a 24-hour strike on Thursday, bringing a halt to public and private infrastructure across the country.
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Clinics, schools and transportation services will not be available in several areas of the country. Water, electricity and emergency services will continue unaffected.
Most public and private universities will also be closed, as well as state and private banks. Public offices such as the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the National Library, the Civil Registry, Public Registries and the National Lottery will not offer their services.
Strike organizers with the PIT-CNT union said the actions were held to demand that the government of President Tabare Vasquez fulfill his promises to increase public investment and support workers’ demands.
This is the second nationwide protest held by the union this year — the first one was held last month.
“It is a strike by all branches, without exception, which implies, as the trade union movement has always done, to maintain those services that are essential and have to do with safety and health,” Fernando Pereira, secretary general of the PIT-CNT said.
Strikers are demanding increased investment in education, respect for collective bargaining agreements, protection for people with disabilities, unemployment securities and modifications to a tax bill that is currently being discussed in Congress.
“We consider that they have had some levels of progress, but we see it as frozen now,” Pereira said, indicating that the slogan of the strike is “stagnation brings backtracking.”
“It is a strike that clearly has the connotation of making demands.”
The Union of Transportation Workers and the Medical Union of Uruguay are also participating in the strike.
The PIT-CNT currently has more than 400,000 affiliated workers.
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