In the final communiqué read by the spokesperson for the trade unions, Teixeira Cândido, the trade unionists welcomed the mass participation of workers in the general strike, its success, and, in particular, the three trade unionists from the province of Huambo arrested on the first day of the strike "and arbitrarily taken to court."
Teixeira Cândido highlighted that the trade unions strongly condemned the acts of intimidation during the strike, announcing that they will launch criminal proceedings in the coming days against all those who carried out threats and coercion, the evidence of which the trade unions gather.
The union centrals stressed that they will not accept disciplinary measures against workers who joined the general strike, including salary, emolument and holiday discounts, because they were "the only ones who expressed a desire to find solutions at the negotiating table".
They also declared that they remain available to continue negotiating with the Government, "as long as the proposals respond to the minimum current cost of living, particularly in relation to the minimum wage, as well as the update of public service salaries".
"The union centrals vehemently protest the behavior of the public press for attempting to manipulate information and censoring news about the general strike," said Teixeira Cândido, general secretary of the Angolan Journalists' Union.
The second phase of the interpolated general strike is scheduled for April 22nd to 30th and the third phase for June 3rd to 14th of the current year.
The workers delivered to the Government, on September 5th, a statement of demands, with demands for an increase in the national minimum wage, civil service salaries and tax reductions.
In December, negotiations began with the Government, but the workers concluded that there was no satisfactory response from the executive to their demands, with differences remaining.
The trade unions began by demanding an increase in the minimum wage from the current 32,000 kwanzas, to 245,000 kwanzas, a "flexible" proposal, however, to 100,000 kwanzas and an increase in public service salaries, in the order of 250 percent.
The executive decided to propose a minimum wage depending on the size of the company, namely 48,000 kwanzas for small companies, 70,000 kwanzas for medium-sized companies and 96,000 kwanzas for large companies, which was rejected by the unions.
In 1998, the first interpolated general strike was carried out, carried out by CGSILA lasting three days, this being the second general strike, but the first bringing together the three union centrals.
