Public sector workers in Chile are holding protests in the capital city of Santiago to demand that the government allocate more investment to the country's public spending budget and improve wages for workers.
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The protests were organized by the National Association of Fiscal Employees, ANEF, and the Public Sector Union. Organizers said they had decided to change the action from a strike to a protest after the government called for negotiations on Friday.
ANEF president Carlos Insunza said the most important demand for the workers is to avoid an economic readjustment, meaning less allocation of budget funds for public workers.
"We understand that not working brings costs to citizens and it seems to us that if the objective of the call was fulfilled, which was to set up a negotiating session, it was more reasonable to mobilize with less impact with respect to the users of the public services," Insunza said.
...Se escucha, se escucha la @anefchile está en la lucha... pic.twitter.com/7YoJHhIA1I
— ANEF (@anefchile) October 17, 2017
@anefchile is in the struggle
The president of the association added that as long as the government continues to engage in dialogue with the workers, they will change their calls of action.
"It seems to us that, obviously, depending on the way the process goes, we will have different calls," Insunza said.
Public workers will to continue to provide services to citizens who require them.
Protesters are asking for a six percent readjustment of the public sector's budget. They expect to begin talks with the government on Friday.