COTE D'IVOIRE: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PUBLIC

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000648 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB PGOV ECON EFIN IV SUBJECT: COTE D'IVOIRE: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS LAUNCH UNLIMITED STRIKE REF: (A) ABIDJAN 428 (B) ABIDJAN 633 (C) ABIDJAN 549 ¶1. (U) Summary: On June 15, primary and secondary public school teachers began unlimited strikes to protest the lack of government response to their demands for a housing allowance and salary increases. The government did not respond to a three-day strike held from June 6 to June 8 by the Collective of the Unions of the Education and Training Sector (Collectif des Syndicats du Secteur Education et Formation -- CSSEF). As a result, CSSEF and the Movement of Primary School Teachers for the Defense of their Rights (Movement des Instituteurs pour la Defense de leurs Droits -- MIDD) have launched their strike and shut down all public primary and secondary schools in Abidjan and an estimated 90% of schools in the government-controlled south. MIDD and CSSEF launched their strikes on same day, something that leaders from both organizations disingenuously claim to be coincidental. End Summary ¶2. (U) Key Players: MIDD was created in September 2005 and applied for union status in April 2006 but has not yet been granted this status. Its strike is therefore technically illegal. The movement claims membership of 32,000 out of 35,000 primary public school teachers. The MIDD has launched two other strikes: the first from March 13 to 17, and the second from April 3 to 11 (ref A),which were suspended after talks with the Prime Minister's office. During those negotiations, the government rejected all of MIDD's demands. CSSEF is a collective of primary and secondary school unions, from which MIDD is excluded. As MIDD counts the overwhelming majority of primary school public teachers among its members, CSSEF is composed mostly of secondary school teachers. ¶3. (U) Demands: MIDD's primary demand is for a housing allowance equivalent to USD 200 per month. The CSSEF has multiple demands: an upgrade in pay scale for those secondary school teachers who have advanced degrees, immediate payment for teachers who grade exams (currently, teachers who grade exams must wait until the following academic year to be paid) and, like MIDD, a housing allowance for primary school teachers. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: It is highly unlikely that the simultaneity of the two strikes is coincidental. That CSSEF has included MIDD's principal objective of a housing allowance to its own list of demands even though CSSEF's members are almost all secondary school teachers, suggests a de facto alliance between the two organizations. The strikes, when added to the university professors' strike resumed on June 13 (ref B),mean that the vast majority of public school students in the government-controlled south cannot attend classes and are at risk of having to repeat the scholastic year. Moreover, private primary and secondary school owners have not withdrawn their threat to shut down their institutions unless they receive the unpaid subsidies which are still owed to them by the government. (Ironically, students in the New Forces-controlled north, which had suffered hardship from a lack of accredited teachers and the inability to take end-of-year exams since the rebellion began in 2002, are now better off scholastically than their counterparts in the south.) The combination of frustrated students (and parents) with time on their hands is a recipe for further unrest. Hooks