A five-day general strike was suspended in the West African country of
Guinea on March 4, after the government, the business association and
the two union confederations that called the strike reached an agreement
on relatively substantial wage increases.

The unions—the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) and the
Labor Alliance of Guinean Workers (USTG)—reserved the right to renew the
strike if the government or businesses fail to live up to the agreement.
Workers had been demanding a fourfold increase in wages. The protocol
of agreement sets as an aim the doubling of wages.

This sounds like a tremendous pay increase, but most workers in Guinea
bring home less that $1 a day. Prices have shot up ever since the
government made an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and started floating its currency March 1, 2005. Even though Guinea has
a vast agricultural potential, with rich, well-watered soil, the price
of rice—a staple—has shot up to $22 for a 110-pound bag, well beyond the
reach of most workers. Rice is generally imported.

Working people in Conakry, the capital, are so poor they are unable to
buy food in advance and generally shop for each meal.

Besides agriculture, Guinea is endowed with diamonds, gold, iron ore,
rare metals and uranium. It contains two-thirds of the world’s aluminum
ore, bauxite. But except for the African countries hit by war — Angola,
Liberia, Congo, for example — it is one of the poorest countries on the
continent.

Guinea’s poverty, even though it has been independent for nearly 50
years, can be traced back to French President Charles de Gaulle’s
reaction when Sékou Touré, a union leader who was leading Guinea’s
struggle for independence, said no to remaining in the neocolonial
trading bloc France wanted to construct in West Africa. Touré said, “We
prefer liberty in poverty than riches in slavery.”

In retaliation, the French did not even leave a light bulb behind. They
took records, rolling stock, cars and trucks, office furniture,
telephones and any move able telephone equipment. They emptied
pharmacies, piled up their medicines and burned them. They imposed a
nearly total financial and economic blockade of Guinea, which survived
only with limited aid from the Soviet Union and lost two decades of
development.

When Lansana Conte took power in 1984 in a military coup, Touré’s
economic policies had already moved towards a free market, capitalist
model. Even after Conte ran and won two elections, the narrow elite that
had established itself maintained a tight hold on most of Guinea’s
available income, after the demands of the World Bank and IMF were
satisfied.

The organizing and support for the strike ending March 4 was extremely
solid. One of the few gas stations that stayed open in Conakry was
between the barracks for the military police and the parliament build
ing. Despite the police presence, youths attempted to close it Feb. 28,
the second day of the strike. Banks, most transportation, and mining as
well as most government offices were closed and stayed closed until the
strike was suspended.

Both the CNTG and the USTG held a meeting the day the strike ended in
the main Trade Union Hall in Conakry, where Guinea’s independence was
proclaimed in 1958. Radio France International carried some of the
meeting live, and the cheers, applause and satisfaction of the leaders
over their victory was evident.

Hadja Rabyatou Sera Dialla, leader of the CNTG, said, “This hall is
historic. The independence of Guinea, it was proclaimed here and today,
we are still here! I am crying because, for me, today is 1958... . All
Guineans observed the strike, even the beggars who came to this Hall to
say that they were observing the strike because the people who gave them
food didn’t have any. Today is your victory. Thanks to you, we have
been heard. We told our lenders that we no longer have any debts, the
African people have already paid our debts... .”

Luis M’bemba Soumah of the Free Union of Teachers and Researchers of
Guinea, said “Today is historic. Guineans were blocked by fear, but we
have swept it aside. Now it is finished! I hope that things are going to
get better. We are going to keep our eyes on them, the members of
government. They asked us to stop the strike and we said ‘Nyet’ but when
the union leaders said stop, we did!”

El-hadj Ibrhima Fofana of the USTG said that Sera Dialla was a woman
that unions could count on to stand up to the pressures of the
government, the parliament and even women’s organizations, which didn’t
support the strike. Fofana added, “The unions have given the government
a choice: pay off our debts or nourish the people of Guinea.”

A general strike that lasts for five days and stays solid indicates that
the people of Guinea are fed up with the hunger and poverty they face
every day and will take strong measures to improve their lives. The
strike was suspended but the vigilance will endure.