UNRWA workers union in West Bank to start open strike

Members of the Union of Arab Employees at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in the West Bank will start on Tuesday an open strike until meeting their demands, topped by upping their salaries. In a statement issued Monday, the union said the UNRWA administration left the workers no option other than the open strike, referring to what it termed as "intransigent measures" adopted by UNRWA against the employees and failure to improve their livelihood. The union added that it was ready to negotiate any positive proposals, but the proposals offered did not meet the minimum demands of the workers. The union workers in Gaza have also staged protests to call for salary increases. UNRWA was founded in 1949 to serve refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries after hundreds of thousands were displaced from Palestine when Israel was created. The agency's most recent mandate extends to June 30, 2014.