Garbage piles up in Al-Qala’a Al-Salih town as sanitation workers strike over unpaid wages

MAYSAN — Accumulated garbage has been reported across several neighborhoods in Al-Qala’a Al-Salih district, Maysan governorate, due to an ongoing strike by street cleaning workers who say they have not been paid for more than three months.

The strike has entered its second week, forcing residents to rent small vehicles at their own expense to collect and dispose of trash at designated landfill sites.

Abu Ali Al-Furaiji, a resident of Al-Zahra neighborhood, told 964media: “We have been severely affected by the garbage accumulation. This is not the first time this issue has occurred in the district. Every time, we have to rent small vehicles at our own expense to remove the trash. Until now, we don’t know where the fault lies, and no one has come forward to explain what’s happening.”

Sajjad Abbas, a worker, said: “We haven’t received any salaries for more than three months. We report to work daily and continue our duties without any financial compensation. How are we supposed to live? What will we eat? We had no choice but to strike in the hope that this action would push the concerned authorities to release our dues.”

Mohammed Hussein, the district’s municipal director, told 964media that financial allocation issues are a recurring challenge for municipalities, many of which rely on central government funding or “petrodollar” allocations for oil-producing areas. These funds often face delays or are only partially disbursed, he said.

Hussein added that more than 220 workers in the district are employed under the petrodollar contract system and that many are on daily wage or temporary contracts without fixed legal guarantees, leaving their salaries dependent on available liquidity rather than a regular monthly schedule.

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