New strikes loom in Port Sudan

The Alternative Port Workers Union of Port Sudan has threatened to step-up protests after a Philippine company announced it won the bid to operate the southern port in Port Sudan for 20 years.

Osman Taher, head of the Union, considers the process of bidding for the southern port evidence for the full privatisation and warned of its dire consequences for the workers and their displacement.

The Presidency assumed full responsibility for what was arranged.

Taher expected the company to lay-off workers, saying that the country would lose huge sums during the next 20 years because of privatisation of the port in addition to the serious effects on the economy because the company will convert its revenues into foreign currencies.

He expressed his surprise at the privatisation of the southern port, despite its well-known success.

Privatisation

In May, more than 20,000 cargo workers carried out a comprehensive strike in all ports of Port Sudan for nine hours on Tuesday in protest against the state government establishing holding companies to replace the association of cargo and unloading workers.

A number of cargo workers told Radio Dabanga that the strike led to total paralysis in the ports of Port Sudan and stopped the movement of landing and shipping of goods.

The Union of port workers has renewed its warning of the privatisation of the southern port of Port Sudan, highlighting that the policy will result in the displacement of tens of thousands of workers.

Teachers

In eastern Sudan, teachers in Kassala threaten to embark on a strike, starting next Sunday, to protest the delay in salaries and not to pay the allowance for the meal since April.

The union threatened to turn the strike into a permanent strike on July 29 if their demands are not met.