President of the Union, Mohammed Marzouki told the media on Wednesday that because the government had failed to meet workers rightful demands -- regularization of temporary workers to permanent workers status, payment of full benefits, better working conditions and increased pay throughout -- the Union had no choice but escalate its social movement by declaring a general strike.

He personally apologized to residents for the ill-effects such a strike will have on their lives and the city, explaining the government had left the Union with no other alternative.

Street cleaners have called on the government to answer their plight for better social coverage ever since 2011 uprising. When the transitional government was sworn in back in February 2012, Prime Minister Mohammed Salem Basindwa promised workers their situation would be carefully looked at and all wrongs righted. 18 months down the line and a series of strike movements see the Union back where it started, on the picket line.

The strike coincides with a similar action from Yemen Central Bank workers, who last Saturday - 12.01.2013 - halted all activities in critic of the government's refusal to meet their Union's demands.

Political analyst, Marcy Kreiter told the Yemen Post 2013 could well see the birth of Yemen's very own Labour action movement, one of the many after shocks of 2011 revolution. "Yemen hit the reset button in 2011, politically, socially and culturally. We are now witnessing the ripples of the pro-democracy movement ... Only time will tell how Yemen will translate change."