More than 50 percent of Chile's public sector workers stopped work on Monday to protest a 4 percent pay increase offered by the government for 2008, which the workers consider too low, government officials said.
The authorities must understand what the workers are not willing to accept and what a decent pay increase is, Raul Puente, president of the Public Sector Workers National Grouping told media.
He also estimated that 65 percent of workers had stayed away from work.
The union is seeking a 12 percent pay rise, and a minimum salary of 500 U.S. dollars a month, citing an inflation spike.
Chilean consumer prices have risen 6.5 percent in the first 10 months of the year, up from 2.6 percent in 2006.
The stoppage is expected to affect 500,000 workers, some of whom had already staged a partial protest last week, after what they described as the scant notice paid to their demands.
The workers include civil servants, hospital staff and librarians, which means Chileans will lose access to routine public health care and other services.
The strike will run until 5:00 p.m. local time, (2100 GMT), after which strike leaders return to talks at the Finance Ministry with Finance Minister Andres Velasco, and Labor Minister Osvaldo Andrade.
"We know that today's meeting will be very important and that is why we are hoping the government will change its proposal," in time for talks, Puente said.
Ricardo Lagos Weber, secretary general to the Chilean government, expressed his confidence in the negotiating process in a statement.
Source: Xinhua
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