TEGUCIGALPA – Thousands of public-sector doctors and teachers protested in the Honduran capital for a second day against a delay in payment of their salaries in June.
The government “has not paid the majority of teachers the salary they are owed for this month,” union leader Orlando Mejia told reporters.
More than 2.5 million public-school students missed classes Monday and Tuesday due to the strike of some 61,000 teachers, who are paid an average monthly wage of $350.
In a statement, teachers demanded that “President Porfirio Lobo meet payment dates of the 20th of each month.” They also complained about getting bank deposits many days after deposit dates.
The doctors’ strike also seeks payment of a wage adjustment for the first half of 2012, and comes on top of a month-long walkout by 2,600 auxiliary nurses.
Darío Zúñiga, head of the emergency pediatric unit at the Tegucigalpa Teaching Hospital, said that striking doctors are only attending to emergency and critical patients.
