ORKERS for the British firm
Constructors John Brown, which is building the Algerian Government-owned oil pipeline from the Sahara to the Mediterranean coast, went on a partial strike on January 11th to protest against the dismissal of a number of Algerian employees. According to a spokesman for the company the dispute affects only some of the workers at Laghouat, central point of the 500-mile long pipeline. The spokesman said the company had in fact dismissed a number of Algerian technicians and labourers at Laghouat, but in agreement with the Ministry of Labour and the unions it had taken on an equal number at Ghardia, farther south. The Laghouat strike is seen in Algiers as symptomatic of the wide and still spreading labour unrest in Algeria. | Workers employed by foreign firms have been striking for varying periods over the past two months. Salary increases, special bonuses and improved working conditions have been the main demands. The Algerian Government have given tacit support to the workers’ demands and to the strikes. They did not, however, support the action when 7,000 dock workers stopped work and paralysed Algiers’ port. After three days of discussions, the National Workers’ Union ordered the men back to work and the ports