APA-Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) – The transitional authorities in Burkina Faso and trade unionists are now at loggerheads.
On Monday, the Trade Union Action Unit (UAS) called for a postponement of the annual meeting with the government which was scheduled for Tuesday, according to a letter seen by APA.
The country’s main trade union organisation felt that preparations for this important meeting with officials of the executive were “incomplete,” and blamed this on the “repressive measures” against critics of the government’s alleged mishandling of national affairs.
According to the UAS, trade union leaders are being threatened.
“Clearly, this context does not guarantee a calm climate for negotiations, which implies freedom of expression and opinion,” noted the signatories of the note addressed to the Minister for the Civil Service and Labour, Bassolma Bazie.
This request for a postponement comes after a wave of summons for leaders of trade unions and human rights organisations, as well as journalists, to go to the front.
Captain Ibrahim Traore announced on Monday that “there will be no more question of letting bad behaviour get the upper hand.”
“Individual freedoms do not take precedence over those of the nation. A nation is not built on indiscipline and disorder,” he said, inviting those with proposals to forward them to his office.
Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambela, on Monday condemned the attitude of the trade unions, which “were absent during certain heroic struggles, but have suddenly appeared out of nowhere to deceive the population with pseudo-revolutionary language.”
DS/ac/fss/as/APA