LUXUS – HOTELS : BUT NO EDUCATIONAL STAFF SALARIES

Iraqi Kurdistan: Educational staff of Sulemani strike against delays in salary

shafaaq.com  6-3-2014 – SULÊMANÎ, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Staff of the Education Directorate of Sulêmanî [Sulaimaniyah] announced on Thursday, a strike to protest on the delay in the payment of their salaries.

“42 days has passed and the employees didn’t receive their salaries for February , noting that this has a negative impact on the living conditions of the staff and the workflow within the Directorate,” The general director of Sulêmanî Education, Najim al-Din Ali said. He said that he supports the demands of the employees and demanded Kurdistan Regional Government KRG to find a solution to this crisis as soon as possible.

A number of ministries in Kurdistan has been unable to pay the salaries of its employees as a result of the financial crisis and lack of liquidity in the banks after Baghdad stopped paying the salaries of the staff of the region on the background of approving the budget for the current year crisis. Baghdad has cut salaries for the employees of the region for the current and previous two months in unprecedented move and Erbil responded to resort to the Federal Court, while Kurdish bodies and organizations demanded the KRG to take steps to respond, including cutting off water on the rest of the Iraqi provinces.   

A march has been organized by the Communist party of Kurdistan and Kurdistan Toilers party in Sulêmanî on February 11, to submit a memorandum to the office of Kurdistan parliament about the formation of the government crisis and the delay of salaries and other issues.

The staff and workers of electricity and water departments in Sulêmanî city in Iraqi Kurdistan region protested on February 10, in front of their departments against the delay in the payment of their salaries for January, causing the closure of one of the main streets in the province.  The KRG Ministry of Finance released a statement on Monday and announced,” the reason for the delay of February’s salary of KRG employees is that the Iraqi Ministry of Finance has not send the budget of January yet.” Rich people of Sulemani finance Iraqi Kurdistan government-owned banks, Kurdistan Investors Union put 100 billion Iraq dinars in the Central Bank of Kurdistan Region-Sulêmanî on February 12, which they collected from the region’s investors and businessman, so that KRG can distribute the employees delay salaries.