HAITI: Pain at the Pump Spurs Strike Actions
By Jeb Sprague and Wadner Pierre
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38228
PhotoA normally bustling street in Port-au-Prince on Jun. 13, 2007 during the two-day transport strike.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jun 19 (IPS) - A two-day transport strike last week gripped Haiti's major cities and underscored a mounting crisis over fuel prices, which rose nearly 20 percent in just two weeks.
On Jun. 12 and 13, transport workers shut off their engines, leaving residents of Port-au-Prince and other urban centres largely without the services of taxis or the colourful buses and pick-up trucks known as tap-taps.
A spokesperson for the Initiative de Secteur de Transport, an ad hoc strike committee representing 18 transport unions, Benissoit Duclos, said the action was driven by three pressing issues.