TUNIS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The general strike in the public sector scheduled on Jan. 17 will go ahead as the negotiations between the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) and the government failed, a UGTT official said Tuesday.
"The negotiating session held tonight between the UGTT delegation and the government did not result in an agreement on the civil servants' salary increase claims," Hfayedh Hfayedh, deputy general-secretary of UGTT, said in a statement.
The government has been negotiating over two proposals that were refused by the UGTT, which claims that the salary increase for civil servants should amount to 2.2 billion dinars (737 million U.S. dollars).
"The government is proposing to make tax increases to leave the wage bill intact," said Hfayedh.
Moez El Joudi, an economic expert, warned that the general strike of the public sector will have a considerable impact on the national economy.
