CDC workers announce 10-day strike over safety, salary concerns

An alliance of Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC) workers trade unions has announced a 10-day “peaceful industrial action” from May 1 to May 10.

The strike action is motivated by two major concerns: safety workers especially regarding separatist attacks, and payment of about 28 months of salary arrears, they stated in a release.

The CDC workers trade unions say they want the “complete elimination of the hazard at the work places in CDC that has brutally taken lives of more than 26 CDC workers”.

They are also asking for the “payment of 28 months arrears of salaries to CDC workers”, as was agreed during a follow-up meeting with the Prime Minister on September 30, 2021.Lastly, they also demanding the designation of a workers’ representative at the CDC Board.

The current industrial action comes nine months after CDC workers in Tiko staged a sit-down strike asking for the payment of 27 months of accumulated salaries. CDC’s management blames the ongoing conflict in the Northwest and Southwest Regions for its inability to fulfill its responsibilities towards workers.

The conflict has grounded hundreds of hectares of CDC plantations, with separatist fighters launching countless attacks on workers to frustrate production. The latest of such attacks was in February this year, where armed separatists attacked CDC banana sector workers at Mondoni, Tiko, killed six people and injured dozens of others.

The CDC was Cameroon’s second largest employer after the State, prior to the armed conflict that started in 2017.