Bolivian Workers Strike for Third Day Over Fuel Prices and Wage Demands

Protests in Bolivia entered a third day as three separate groups called for changes to agricultural, educational and labour policies. The country’s main trade union, the Bolivian Workers’ Centre, issued a strike call that coincided with International Workers’ Day observances.

On Tuesday, union members along with transport and education workers demonstrated in the streets, leading to clashes with police. Law enforcement officers fired tear gas at protesters near the presidential palace in La Paz. In nearby El Alto, public workers blocked streets using buses, cars and trucks.

The strikes halted public transport in several major cities including La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba, Oruro and Sucre.

The South American nation has been experiencing its largest economic crisis in 40 years, marked by a currency shortage and budgetary pressures. The government ended a decades-old fuel subsidy that had kept petrol prices at 2006 levels. As a result, a litre of diesel fuel rose from 3.72 bolivianos to 9.80 bolivianos while premium petrol increased from 3.74 bolivianos to 6.96 bolivianos.

Transport workers reported that the shift to lower-quality fuel damaged engines in their cars, trucks and buses. They are seeking compensation from the government for the repairs. The workers have also called for shorter queues at filling stations and repairs to roads.

The strikes created at least 70 roadway blockages nationwide, according to the Bolivia Highway Association. The Bolivian Workers’ Centre has called for an indefinite general strike. A teachers’ union separately demanded a state-funded single free public education system.

The Bolivian Workers’ Centre is seeking a 20 percent increase in the minimum wage, which currently stands at 3,300 bolivianos per month after rising from 2,750 bolivianos the previous year. The union is also calling for pension increases and reductions in salaries for government officials.

One union statement declared a "general, indefinite and active strike" until demands are met. The country faced consistent budget deficits linked to a commodity price collapse in 2014. When the current administration took office last year, total debt stood at 95 percent of GDP and liquid reserves were less than one month of imports.

In February the government requested $3.3 billion in financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund. By March the country’s inflation rate had fallen to 15 percent from a peak of 25 percent the previous July.