State government employees and teachers in Baja California, Tabasco, Hidalgo and Chiapas took to the streets this week, protesting unpaid salaries and year-end bonuses.

The largest protest took place in Hidalgo where 14,400 retired teachers have yet to receive their yearly bonus of 6,500 pesos (US $325).

Authorities explained that they are in arrears for 100 million pesos but have no money.

In protest, the retired teachers set up at least 20 roadblocks on highways around the state at 9:00am yesterday and maintained them for the next 10 hours.

Also yesterday, thousands of government workers in the Baja California cities of Mexicali, Tijuana and Ensenada occupied several government facilities to demand payment of their aguinaldo, or year-end bonus.

Spokesman Lázaro Mosqueda explained that some 2,500 employees and 2,000 retired workers protested when the bonuses were not paid by the December 20 deadline.

The secretary of the government workers’ union in Baja California, Arturo Gutiérrez, said there were about 4,000 active workers in the state who have yet to receive the payments.

In Tabasco there were four days of protests by state government workers, teachers, health and education administrative staff and retirees, who mounted eight roadblocks around the city of Villahermosa for up to nine hours at a time.

The protesters said they will resume their demonstrations if the money has not been paid by December 27.

In Chiapas, teachers at the state-run Cobach preparatory schools protested yesterday outside the governor’s offices in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, demanding the payment of their bonuses and salaries owed since December 15.

Teachers’ union leader Víctor Manuel Pinot Juárez said more than 7,500 teachers are affected, and that 200 million pesos (US $10 million) is owed.

Source: El Universal (sp)