Jordan's government said on Sunday it has reached apay deal with the teachers union to end a one-month strike, the country'slongest public sector strike that disrupted schooling for more than 1.5 millionstudents.
The deal came after the strike threatened a deepeningpolitical crisis when the government last week began legal steps against theunions after they rejected pay hikes they said were "bread crumbs"and the government said it could not afford to give more.
The pay deal will see salaries rise by 35% to 60%from next year. It comes after weeks of deadlock with the governmentintransigent over meeting an original 50% pay rise demanded by the unions thatit said would strain the heavily indebted country's finances.
Officials said King Abdullah had ordered thegovernment to reach the hefty wage deal which tests the ability of PrimeMinister Omar al Razzaz to stay on track in implementing tough fiscal reformsbacked by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) aimed at reducing a record $40billion public debt.
The government fears new pay demands by other publicsector employees, including doctors, and pension increases for retired soldierswould wreck efforts to restore fiscal prudence needed for a sustained economicrecovery.
Dozens of activists from the powerful teachers union,whose members succeeded in forcing the government to agree to substantial payhikes after a four-week standoff, celebrated in front of their headquarters inAmman.
"The teachers got their demands," saidNasser Al Nawasrah, deputy head of the Jordanian Teachers Syndicate. He calledon his organisation's 100,000 members to immediately resume teaching pupils inaround 4,000 state schools that had been affected by the strike.
Tens of thousands of pupils headed to state schoolacross the country on Sunday for the first time since Sept. 5. The unionsannounced the strike after the authorities used tear gas to disperse thousandsof teachers who had congregated to press for the wage demands near governmentheadquarters.
Manyparents had kept their children at home out of solidarity with the strikingteachers.
