Chilean workforce ends strike

Justin Zipser

A strike of the government workforce of Chile has officially ended today after getting word that the Chilean government would enact a 10 percent wage increase, CNN.com reports. The strike had been going on since this past Monday. Those on strike, who numbered near 500,000, were looking for a 14.5 percent wage increase, but the government supposedly only wanted to raise it by 6.5. Government officials offered a 9.5 percent increase yesterday, which was rejected. With growing pressure to secede to the strikers demands, both parties agreed on the 10 percent increase today, which would go into affect December 10th.

The strike had practically paralyzed most of Chile's major cities because garbage was not picked up, and hospitals couldn't properly operate (the article cites that ~3,000 surgeries were postponed). While the measure to increase the wage has not been voted yet in Chile's lower house of government, it is widely expected to be passed when it is voted on later today.