The strike isn't affecting the tourism life. It's barely affecting the locals. I myself live and work in Aruba. The strikes are only for some government offices. They want a 4% raise.
The only thing I've noticed is the traffic jam downtown in the afternoon and that my garbage hasn't been picked up in 1 week. Most resorts and restaurants don't use the governments sanitation service, they use Ecotech, an independent recycling company. So the island is still getting cleaned up.
The airport is the same as usual. The delays are not related to the strike. The delays are related to Curacao. Curacao actually regulates the air traffic in Aruba. They give the permission for plaines to land and depart. Allot of people don't actually know this.
The government election is next year. September 2009. The slowest month of tourism on the island.
It doesn't matter where you are in the world, politicians will be politicians. Unfortunately the politicians in Aruba are not different from the rest of the world. I hope the strikes do stop soon.
If you are a tourist coming to the 'One Happy Island' rest assure you will be seeing an 'One Happy Island'. The people who are striking hired deejays to stand along side of the road to give them music as they are striking. So still when the Aruban people strike we party. One happy island indeed!
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