The Senegalese government and union representatives signed a “Social truce” For a period of three years without strike, while the power in place for more than a year faces serious budgetary difficulties and a tense social climate.
Elected on a breakdown program in March 2024, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said he had inherited a “State whose room for budgetary and financial maneuver almost no longer exist”.
Gathered at the Prime Minister’s Office in Dakar, 24 workers ‘union centers and 4 employers’ organizations have signed this government with the government “Social stability for inclusive and sustainable growth”.
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The agreement intends to give a framework to the relations between the social partners for the economic recovery of the country and includes a “Three -year social truce” during which unions undertake not to strike. This pact had been claimed in February by Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko while the social climate was handing up in the country.
“This pact is set up to build a solid and inclusive economy that will allow us to redistribute [les richesses]. We cannot lead this with the management of a social front ”Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said in Wolof before the social partners.
Hidden debt of $ 7 billion
The new authorities accuse the former government of having falsified public finance figures, including a hidden debt of $ 7 billion. To respond to budgetary difficulties, the government has announced a series of measures, including a decrease in the lifestyle of the State, an audit of the public service and a pooling of institutions deemed budgetivores.
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The unions notably criticize the government of numerous layoffs in the public service. They hope that the pact “Will allow to maintain peaceful relationships essential to create the conditions of growth”said Mody Guiro, secretary general of the National Confederation of Workers of Senegal, during the signature ceremony.
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Earlier in the day, several hundred workers met at the call of union centers on the occasion of the May 1. A unions rare in Senegal. At the beginning of the month, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye called his compatriots “Show resilience and solidarity” facing “Challenges” of the disturbing state of public finances.
