Four union representatives were released on Dec. 8 after being arrested just days before for their roles in a strike deemed “illegal” by the government.
According to the Confederation of Burundi Unions (COSYBU), more than 90 percent of government workers answered the call for a three-day strike starting on Dec. 3. Workers extended the strike indefinitely in retaliation to the arrests.
The strike was a response to the government’s failure to deliver promised pay raises promised by President Pierre Nkurunziza six months earlier. The government has withheld the raises under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to raise revenues first.
COSYBU has said that the strike will continue and that 5,000 nurses and other health staff have joined the action.
