Workers at Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) and other industry bodies were to restart strike action from December 27 to demand better pay and conditions and management changes, a union official said.
The workers went on strike earlier this month for two days, blocking shipments of cocoa from the world's top grower as BCC export documents were not processed. But their union then suspended the stoppage for talks with the government.
"It's an unlimited strike. As long as the directors of the (cocoa) sector are still there, we won't return to work," said union representative Augustin Kouassi N'Goran. He added the union demanded to talk directly with Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo. "... the procedure for exporting cocoa will be stalled," he said, adding the country's agriculture minister had refused to meet union representatives for talks as they had hoped when they suspended the earlier strike.
Warehouse workers labouring for exporters located in the West African state's two ports also went on strike for nearly four days earlier this month, demanding better pay from the recruitment agencies which employ them.
