UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Tuesday 6 June 2006

©  Sarah Simpson/IRIN


CONAKRY, 5 Jun 2006 (IRIN) - Guinea’s two most powerful trade unions have 
threatened to call an unlimited general strike from Thursday unless the 
government acts on demands issued two weeks ago.

An unprecedented general strike three months ago brought the capital Conakry 
to a halt and forced the government to promise 30 percent pay rises for 
civil servants and commit to the introduction of a minimum wage for everyone 
else.

But new demands by the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) and 
the Union Syndicate of Guinean Workers (USTG) call for reductions in the 
prices of fuel and the nation’s staple food, rice.

May fuel price rises, implemented in line with International Monetary Fund’s 
(IMF) policy to end fuel subsidies, have forced across the board price rises 
putting greater strain on the average Guinean’s meagre budget.

Also under IMF policy, Guinea adopted a floating exchange rate on 1 March 
2005, and as a result the Guinean Franc has lost 38 percent of its value 
against currencies like the dollar. Informal money-changers on the streets 
of Conakry hawk plastic bags full of tattered Guinean Francs in exchange for 
a few crisp dollars or euros.

And this means that a university graduate lucky enough to work in the civil 
service earning around 200,000 Guinean Francs, has seen that monthly wage 
depreciate 40 percent to the equivalent of US $40. The currency depreciation 
has had a strong impact on food as Guinea, despite its varied environment, 
imports the majority of its rice, the country’s staple. As a result, a 50-kg 
sack of rice is fast becoming out of the reach of most people - at US $22.

Over the weekend queues have been forming at petrol stations as fears grow 
that the government will meet the demands of the fuel vendors and raise 
prices once again.

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