By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 27 November 2013:
Nearly 200 workers from the General Cleaning Company of Tripoli (GCCT) demonstrated in front of the . . .[restrict]General National Congress (GNC) today over unpaid wages and working conditions.
“We have not received money to pay salaries for three months including our own, although we even work on Fridays and public holidays,” GCCT office manager for Tripoli’s Abu Seleem district Abdulhadi Mohamed Ali told the Libya Herald.
“We do not have health insurance,” Ali said, adding that there was also a significant lack of basic equipment, such as gloves.”He pointed out that it was well-known that dealing with rubbish carried the risk of picking up serious diseases.
The protestors, a colourful sight in their orange uniforms, claimed they were marginalised by the GNC and government. They pointed out that the GCCT works 24 hours a day to maintain the cleanliness of the city, but the lack of equipment and support was preventing them from working efficiently.
The problem with salary payments is also having a knock-on effect on the home-life of some workers. One furious demonstrator shouted: “Where are the oil revenues?” He told this newspaper that he was on the verge of losing his house. “If this continues, I will have to divorce my wife and put my children into an orphanage because I can no longer support them,” he said. [/restrict]
