Garbage strike hits Dakar

Garbage workers--les ramasseurs d'ordure--in Dakar are on strike, and according to one news source, facing arrests. The workers, employed by the community association of CADAKAR and the French multinational firm Viola, want more pay and better health conditions. Apparently tuberculosis is widespread among the workers and the vaccinations that they receive have not been effective... We noted last year that the demise of the large-scale AMA waste management contract may have been doomed by labor unrest. Since the Italian AMA left town, the French Viola has moved in, at least to the central parts of Dakar. Now apparently it is also running into trouble... Do the garbage workers have a valid grievance? We're told that pay runs only around a couple (U.S.) dollars a day. Of course,the work is hard around the world, good pay or bad... Our sources also tell us that the Dakar labor force is subject to manipulation by political power brokers. The current strike is organized by Le Front unitaire des syndicats du nettoiement. They promise that garbage will pile in the streets if their demands are not met. They want to meet with President Wade to voice their complaints... Senegal's garbage problems have many causes...