TEACHERS PRESS ON WITH HUNGER STRIKE AS UNION

C O N F I D E N T I A L ALGIERS 000905

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2018
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ELAB SOCI AG
SUBJECT: TEACHERS PRESS ON WITH HUNGER STRIKE AS UNION
PLANS WEEKLY SIT-INS

REF: ALGIERS 865

Classified By: CDA, a.i. Thomas F. Daughton; reasons 1.4 (b, d).


1. (SBU) Algerian contract teachers on a hunger strike since
July 15 (ref) are continuing their efforts to pressure the
Ministry of National Education (MNE) into negotiations
concerning unpaid salaries, recent lay-offs and appointments
in Algeria's career teaching service. Relations between the
authorities and protesters remained tense during the past
week, and MNE officials have stubbornly refused to
acknowledge the teachers' demands. The National Council for
Contract Teachers (CNEC) and the Autonomous Union of
Administration Staff (SNAPAP) coordinated efforts to organize
another series of sit-ins in front of the Presidency on
August 5 and 12. In both cases, Algerian police impeded
unionists, contract teachers and civil society activists from
assembling near the heavily-guarded compound. Local press
reported that on August 12 police detained some participants
for the duration of the planned sit-in. SNAPAP and CNEC
announced to the press that they have filed a complaint with
the ILO and WHO, and vowed to stage weekly sit-ins until the
government agrees to talks.


2. (C) Algeria's independent French-language newspapers
continued to devote significant -- and increasingly dramatic
-- coverage to the strike. The pages of several dailies on
August 13 ran headlines alleging the "brutal" treatment and
"severe repression" that protesters had suffered. One
article even featured a picture of police in full riot gear
on the heels of a crowd of what appears to be hundreds of
fleeing Algerians. In reality, the picture turned out to be
an archival photo unrelated to the strike. Journalists who
covered the August 12 sit-in told us that despite the
dramatic headlines, the protesters "were not beaten." Salima
Hanane, a contract teacher in Algiers, told us that no more
than 20 protesters showed up for each sit-in, and said that

although police forcefully prevented people from gathering,
she has not heard of anyone having been seriously injured as
a result.


3. (C) COMMENT: The contract teachers have been on hunger
strike for 30 days and neither side in the dispute has
signaled a willingness to compromise. Although the
government has shown relative restraint in its use of force,
the MNE's obstinate refusal to speak with the teachers seems
only to be fueling the teachers' determination to continue
the strike and risks deepening the crisis as Algeria draws
closer to the start of the school year. Prominent human
rights lawyer Mostefa Bouachachi, who attended both sit-ins,
told us the situation was deteriorating and that sooner or
later the government would be forced to sit down with the
teachers. He predicted, however, that the conflict would be
far more complicated to resolve if the government waited
until the school year got underway.
DAUGHTON