SULAIMANI (ESTA) – Teachers and employees from Halabja Education Directorate went on strike on Wednesday in protest of salary delays in the Kurdistan Region.
Ongoing budget disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Baghdad have fueled salary delays and education workers are yet to receive payment for the month of February.
The KRG needs 784 billion Iraqi dinars per month to make payroll and pay all the public employees including teachers, said a member of the Kurdistan Parliament Ali Hama Saleh.
The Kurdistan Region’s revenue for salaries almost completely depends on oil exports, foreign funds and 200 billion Iraqi dinars ($137 million) promised by the federal government.
The federal government, however, has yet to transfer the money to the Kurdistan Region.
