Hospital workers join Ecuador strike

By Mario Naranjo

  
QUITO, Ecuador, May 17 (Reuters) - Protesting Ecuadorean teachers were pushed 
back with tear gas Wednesday and medical workers joined them in their strike 
demanding higher wages and economic stability in the debt-laden South 
American nation. 

The demonstrations marked the third day of an indefinite general strike 
against the government's move to adopt the U.S. dollar to end a deep economic 
crisis -- a move unions and Indians say will raise prices rather than bring 
economic stability. 

Transport and business carried on as usual with the strike having little 
impact on life in the capital Quito or cities across the Italy-sized Andean 
nation. 

``There are 24,000 hospital workers who have now joined the strike,'' Popular 
Front president Luis Villacis told Reuters. ``The strike will be of an 
indefinite duration until the government answers our questions on its 
actions.'' 

The Ecuadorean government threatened Tuesday to take legal action to force 
striking teachers back to work. Classes have been cancelled for 3 million 
students. 

In Quito, an attempt by teachers to march to the presidential palace 
Wednesday was repelled by police firing tear gas. 

Teachers, civil servants and oil worker unions had promised on Monday to 
paralyse state offices, hospitals and schools in a protest against the 
dollarization plan. 

They are convinced that exchanging roughly $400 million worth of sucres for 
dollars will jack up the price of goods and deepen the poverty that 62.5 
percent of the 12.4 million population already lives in. 

Unions promised a big demonstration May 24 ahead of an expected May 25 roll 
out of economic reform plans to back the dollarization plan. 

The government of President Gustavo Noboa, Ecuador's fourth president since 
1997, has promised to cut energy subsidies, push ahead with privatisations 
and cut deficit to get International Monetary Fund back-up economists say is 
necessary for the dollarization plan to succeed. 

Noboa replaced Jamil Mahuad after a bloodless coup in January that was led by 
Indians and rebel army units opposed to adopting the dollar as the Ecuadorean 
currency. 

The 62-year-old former academic has pushed forward with his predecessor's 
reforms, including dollarization. In the past three years, the South American 
nation has been punished by El Nino storms, bank closures and low prices for 
oil exports. 

In 1999 Ecuador suffered one of its worst economic crises in five decades, 
with 60.7 percent inflation, a 7.5 percent economic contraction and the sucre 
losing two-thirds of its value. 

The government is negotiating with private-sector bondholders after its 1999 
default on more than $6 billion in debt. 

Noboa's reform plans are backed by a $304 million loan agreement with the 
IMF, which opened the way to $2 billion in credits from foreign institutions. 

Ecuador is not the first Latin American nation to adopt the dollar. Panama 
started using it almost a century ago, and Argentina pegged its peso 1-to-1 
to the dollar in 1991. 

But Noboa may succeed where his predecessor failed. 

Polls show the bearded, 62-year-old Noboa has had a popularity rating of 45 
percent to 50 percent since taking over on Jan. 22 from Mahuad, who had only 
10 percent backing before his ouster. 

Still, the National Union of Educators (UNE) said its members have the right 
to strike and warned that dialogue with the government had broken off because 
``we don't believe in the words of President Noboa.''