Officials say bus drivers will soon be back at work. Not so, say the strikers, reports Reem Leila On 3 October two of the Public Transport Authority's (PTA) 27 garages resumed work after Minister of Manpower Ahmed El-Borai released statements to the press that LE60 million would be allocated to increase salaries. According to Ghanem Ali, head of South Giza Central Administration, 95 buses at Al-Mounib garage and 55 at Badr garage have now begun services. "Soon the strike will end at all of the PTA's garages," says Ali. That may well prove an overoptimistic prediction. Twenty five garages were continuing with their sit-in as the strike entered its third week. In addition to demanding salary increases bus drivers want 200 per cent of their salaries as incentives, new uniforms, upgraded vehicles, better bonuses, the dismissal of the PTA's Mubarak-era management, the sacking of El-Borai, improved pensions and sustained insurance payment. They are also demanding that the PTA be affiliated to the Ministry of Transport rather than to individual governorates. According to Ali, PTA head Mona Mustafa met with the bus drivers' representatives and told them she had submitted a request to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to increase the proportion of ticket revenues received by bus drivers and ticket collectors to two per cent but "the strikers' representatives refused to agree on the offer without first consulting their colleagues". Since the strike began the PTA is losing an estimated LE1 million a day. The situation escalated last week when 11 bus drivers began a hunger strike. Strikers are currently blocking Gesr Al-Suez Street after the army forced them to move from Qasr Al-Aini Street. "None of our demands has been met yet," says Secretary-General of the General Union of Independent Public Transport Workers Mohamed Abdel-Sattar. "Officials have not released any timetable. Initially El-Borai said LE138 million would be allocated for salary increases, and now we discover it is LE60 million. No date has been set for when the salary increases take effect. We are tired of all these false promises." According to Abdel-Sattar, nothing was resolved at last week's meeting with the minister. "The minister promised to pay the 200 per cent incentives within 10 days. As usual nothing has happened. The strike will continue until an official memo from Sharaf's office is delivered to all 27 garages with a clear timetable for the meeting of our demands." In related news 1,500 doctors protested in front of the cabinet's headquarters on 2 October. The move is a continuation of the strike that began on 10 September when doctors in public hospitals in several governorates withdrew all non emergency services. In Suez, Ismailia and Gharbiya 100 per cent of hospitals were affected, in Alexandria 70 per cent. Health officials have denied newspaper reports that two newborns died as a result of the doctors' action. "The twins who were delivered at Kafr Al-Zayat public hospital were very premature," said Amr Qandil, deputy minister for preventive medicine. "One died immediately. The second died minutes after being placed in an incubator."
