Workers at Petroci launch 72-hour strike: union

Employees at Ivory Coast's state oil company Petroci began a 72-hour strike on Tuesday to protest a wave of recent layoffs as union leaders threatened to broaden the walkout to other firms if the workers' demands were not met.

Fifty of the company's 600 employees were made redundant last month and another 150 employees are expected to follow, union leaders have said, a move prompted by an audit recommending that the company cut costs and staff.

"Our employer violated all the rules and refuses to agree to the workers' demands. We have in front of us an employer that doesn't respect anything," said Jeremie N'Guessan Wondje, a Petroci employee and secretary general of the SYNTEPCI union.

Wondje said SYNTEPCI would consider expanding the strike to include workers from 16 other companies, including refining and logistics firms represented by the union, if a rapid resolution of the dispute was not reached.