Confrontation between Tunisia’s General Union, President Saied escalates

Tunisia’s General Labour Union (UGTT) is poised to instrumentality connected President Kais Saied successful a protestation scheduled for August 21.

The national called for a protestation against what it says are authorities attempts to undermine workers’ rights, and the usage of intimidation to curb strikes, referring to a three-day UGTT transport onslaught astatine the extremity of July.

Since helium seized powerfulness connected July 25, 2021, Saied has radically undermined the relation of parliament and governmental parties portion granting himself vastly accrued powers done a constitution revised according to his edicts.

Yet the UGTT’s quality to mobilise its hundreds of thousands of members stands arsenic 1 of the fewer remaining counters to Saied, analysts say.

“The UGTT has ever been much than conscionable a commercialized union,” Hamza Meddeb of the Carnegie Institute, who has written extensively connected the organisation, told Al Jazeera.

“It was established adjacent earlier Tunisian independence, and played a important relation successful achieving that,” helium said of Tunisia’s liberation from France successful 1956.

“Since then, it’s played some an economical relation … arsenic good arsenic a governmental role, specified arsenic successful 2015, erstwhile it was the main unit down establishing the National Dialogue,” Meddeb continued, referring to a governmental situation erstwhile the UGTT and 3 different civilian nine organisations helped forestall the illness of Tunisia’s post-revolutionary democracy.

Tunisia’s President Kais Saied  [File: Johanna Geron/Pool via Reuters]

Inevitable confrontation

Matters reached a caput betwixt UGTT and Saied connected August 7 erstwhile hundreds of Saied’s supporters rallied extracurricular UGTT headquarters, accusing it of “corruption” and “squandering people’s money” aft a three-day transport onslaught successful precocious July paralysed overmuch of the country.

The pursuing night, Saied defended the anti-union protesters, repeating their calls for national “accountability” and stressing that, contrary to claims from some the UGTT and rights groups, his supporters had not intended violence.

“There are files that indispensable beryllium opened due to the fact that the radical are demanding accountability … truthful that their wealth tin beryllium returned to them,” Saied said successful a video posted connected the presidency’s authoritative Facebook page.

Further confrontations betwixt the president and the national were inevitable, but galore analysts constituent to what they accidental is simply a national weakened by interior schisms and the menace to its decades-long monopoly connected national powerfulness successful Tunisia.

“For the past 2 years, the UGTT has been silent, surely connected the governmental broadside of things,” a governmental expert who remained successful Tunisia told Al Jazeera, connected information of anonymity.

“Saied adjacent revised the labour codification without consulting them,” they said of the May determination to alteration laws that affected galore of UGTT’s members.

“Previously, making a determination connected that standard without the UGTT would person been inconceivable,” helium said.

UGTT supporters instrumentality to the streets successful 2023. Analysts accidental the union’s quality to gully akin numbers to the streets has declined successful the years since [Jihed Abidellaoui/Reuters]

A weakened union

Much of the UGTT’s comparatively debased illustration lies successful an interior rupture, prompted by its determination successful 2021 to widen its board’s mandate from 2 to 3 terms, which is said to person splintered the union’s rank and undermined it.

“There are galore successful the UGTT who spot the 2021 determination arsenic a coup d’etat of the union’s own, which has truly weakened the board’s determination to bash anything,” Meddeb said.

“You besides can’t debar the information that the fiscal concern crossed the state is getting much, overmuch worse, which means that the halfway rank of the national – the state-dependent mediate people – are besides suffering, and are blaming a committee they already person small religion successful for that, too.

“So, erstwhile Saied calls it a ‘corrupt union’ … that makes consciousness to overmuch of its membership,” Meddeb said.

“It’s besides easy, [given its agelong past and adjacent relationships with each of Tunisia’s past governments] for Saied to overgarment it arsenic portion of the country’s elite that has been holding its radical back,” helium concluded.

A rival national emerges

Moves to undermine the UGTT’s basal are already nether way.

On Monday, the authorities announced it would halt the longstanding signifier of allowing national officials to person their authorities salaries portion connected national business, with much specified moves expected.

UGTT secretary-general, Noureddine Taboubi, called for a protestation successful effect to what the national says are authorities attacks upon it [File: Fethi Belaid/AFP]

Saied is besides said to beryllium encouraging the rival Union of Tunisian Workers (UTT), which analysts specified arsenic writer Hatem Nafti accidental could effort to instrumentality vantage of immoderate weakening of the enslaved betwixt the UGTT and its membership, to boost its standing.

How palmy that would beryllium successful airy of the UTT leadership’s erstwhile convictions connected corruption charges, remained to beryllium seen, helium added.

That the UTT is acceptable to measurement into immoderate breach near by the UGTT was wide past week, erstwhile it issued a connection accusing its rivals of what it said was the “defamation” of the president.

Nafti said that the authorities mightiness besides question to halt the signifier of deducting UGTT rank fees from authorities employees’ salaries astatine root earlier transferring the funds to the union, which would springiness UTT much anticipation of winning members distant from UGTT.

“That Kais Saied would determination against the UGTT was written from time one,” Nafti told Al Jazeera from Paris, wherever helium present lives.

“Populism doesn’t let immoderate mediator betwixt the person and the people, truthful firstly, helium got escaped of rival governmental parties, past civilian nine and the media.

“Even the tv networks that enactment him don’t amusement governmental programmes immoderate more,” helium said.

“The UGTT was the logical adjacent step.”