Bus drivers at the Cairo Transportation Authority announced the end of their 17-day strike; workers said they wanted to relieve the public and give the Authority one last chance to improve their lives Public transportation workers brought their 17-day strike to an end yesterday and the transportation authority's buses once again hit the road. The workers said they would give the Cairo Transportation Authority (CTA) a four-month period to meet their demands. They added that if their demands are not met by January 2012, they would resume their strike. Workers said they decided to suspend their strike after the CTA said they would issue LE200 to drivers, LE175 to technicians and engineers and LE150 to administrators. Drivers also said that they wanted to relieve poor citizens who were adversely affected by the transportation shutdown. They added that they still insist on receiving the full 200 per cent pay rise promised by the government last spring, andneeded to take them up to the LE700 minimum wage. Mona Moustafa, the head of the CTA, said that the CTA will increase wages for workers based on the budget allotted by the government, ranging from LE45 million to LE128 million. Approximately 100 workers protested Wednesday outside of the Authority's headquarters in Nasr City, to voice their rejection of the strike settlement. Another group of workers at the Mazalat garage in Cairo's Shubra district said they respected their co-workers' call for a halt but vowed to resume the strike before the end of this month, not next year, if the CTA does not cede to their demands.
