MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's public sector 2-day strike for higher wages

Workers marched through downtown Santiago

Thousands of Chilean public sector employees began a two-day strike on Tuesday to demand higher wages to counter the highest inflation in 14 years.

Prison workers, health workers and teachers blew whistles, banged drums and waved banners as they marched through downtown Santiago, the latest in a series of protests against President Michelle Bachelet's unpopular ruling centre-left coalition. Schools, health facilities, garbage collection and other public services shut down. The National Association of Fiscal Employees (ANEF), which groups workers from across the public sector, is demanding a 14.5% pay increase for its members. "We are going to fight for a dignified increase, a real increase, for all public sector workers," Raúl de la Puente, head of ANEF, told marchers in a main square in Santiago. Protesters said they were simply asking for their pay to be kept in line with inflation, which hit 9.9% in the 12-month period through October, the highest pace since 1994.