Civil servants denounce gov’t for salary reduction

The chairman of Cote d’Ivoire’s Union of Civil Servants Apollinaire Djedje on Friday denounced the government’s decision to reduce the salaries of civil servants who went on a three-day strike in January.“Some of the workers who have received their salaries for the month of February have realized that there was some deductions,” Djedje said.For the workers who failed to turn up at their duty stations, the government had executed the threat to reduce their salaries for the three days when they failed to go to work.“This measure is very unfair,” the official of the workers’ union said, as he promised to lodge a complaint with the public service minister and file a case at the Supreme Court.“A general assembly of the workers will take place on March 9 to discuss the situation,” he promised.Cote d’Ivoire’s Public Service Minister Gnamien Konan said that “the government’s decision to reduce the salaries of the concerned workers was based on the law.”“In case of a strike, the law provides for the proportional reduction of salaries. The striking workers had been informed of the risks they were exposing themselves to,” Konan said