Jordanian teachers win anti-austerity strike

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

After a week-long impasse, the government in Jordan has reached an agreement with the teachers’ union. This puts an end to one of the longest strikes in the public sector ever in the country.

About 1.5 million students had to deal with no lessons for about a month. Many parents left their children completely at home during that time out of solidarity.

The teachers took to the streets because they felt they were being paid too little. They demanded an average salary increase of 50 percent. In the agreement that has now been concluded with the government, increases of 35 to 60 percent have been agreed. The agreement will start next year …

while Prime Minister Omar al Razzaz is trying to limit government spending in order to pay off the record-high government debt.

It is feared that people in other professions in the public sector will also take to the streets for a higher salary.

The NOS article does not mention WHO fears that. Maybe people who think that money, rather than on education and other public services, should be spent on endless wars (like the bloody Saudi government’s war on Yemen, in which Jordanian soldiers also fight on the Saudi side), and on making people like Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, United States President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman even richer.