Major groups reiterate general strike on November 14

SANTO DOMINGO.- The Alternative Social Forum and other social groups Monday morning reiterated their call to a general strike for 24 hours November 14, asking the labor, productive and academic sectors to join the mobilization, guaranteeing it will be peaceful and with innovative forms of protest.

They said the only way the Government can avert the strike is to show it wants to solve their demands and willingness for dialogue, noting it has yet to respond to any of their grievance

"We’ve given the Government of the PLD party a period of four months to respond to the proposals demanded by this coordination which has integrated various social sectors. The answer has been a spread of the ills: widening citizen insecurity, a growth in crime, higher family staple prices and despite global market’s plummeting oil prices, it hasn’t been reflected in a lower electricity bill. On the contrary we have more blackouts," said organizations spokesman Ramon Ramirez.

The Forum’s organizations, which staged a strike in July that left one person dead, also demand compliance with the Law which earmarks 4% of the Gross Domestic Product to Education; 5% of the Budget to the Santo Domingo State University (UASD), lower food, fuels and medicine prices and an amendment to the Hydrocarbons Law.