City cleaners set to strike

Municipal sanitation workers have declared a strike next week to demand permanent jobs instead of short-term employment, in a bid to pressure the government ahead of the results of a competition by the state's ASEP hiring agency.

The announcement of the March 27 walkout came a day before the deadline expires on the ASEP platform for workers to apply for jobs in municipal sanitation services and amid rumors that a large number of fixed-contract workers will not be rehired.

The majority of these contracts, meanwhile, expire at the end of the month and municipal authorities are concerned that the ASEP process will not be completed in time for them to get new staff.