The general strike in Tunisia on Thursday was widely followed. A success for the UGTT in its battle with President Kaïs Saïed.
Kaïs Saïed, the Tunisian president, wanted to bypass the Tunisian General Labor Union. The response of the main Tunisian union was radical: the general strike of this Thursday, June 16 would have been followed by almost all of its 750 members. The reason for the union wrath? Negotiations between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Tunisian State which, against a substantial loan, must promise the Bretton Woods institution privatizations and above all a 000% drop in the state payroll in three year.
And while the IMF asks the Tunisian government that the agreement be "co-signed by the social partners", the palace of Carthage has decided to publish a circular preventing the union from discussing with the ministries. Consequence: the UGTT has already affirmed that it would refuse to sign the proposal made by the Tunisian government to the IMF.
A still influential union
This Thursday, June 16 was therefore to be a real show of force. If the UGTT is omnipresent in the public sector, the question was whether it was still capable of mobilizing. Because the trade union center is at the center of many discussions in Carthage: Kaïs Saïed knows that it is one of the jewels of the country - the UGTT is part of the quartet which won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize - but the political influence of the union is undeniable and curbs the ambitions of the president.
What solutions are envisaged in the corridors of the presidential palace? According to several sources close to the government, there was once talk of dissolving the UGTT. But yesterday's general strike shows that it will be very difficult to kill the union. In the meantime, it is the entourage of Kaïs Saïed who has taken it upon himself to give (bad) publicity to the central trade union: for several weeks, cases of corruption within the UGTT have been resurfacing. The UGTT is also accused of playing politics without being a party.
From support to opposition
The entourage of the President of the Republic of Tunisia has therefore tried to discredit the actions of the UGTT, while the country is going through an unprecedented economic crisis. According to one of the Head of State's relatives, Mezri Haddad, the decision of the UGTT to call for "a general strike is an anti-national action which amounts to high treason and an attack on national security". . The general strike having been a huge success, Kaïs Saïed now knows that he is walking on eggshells with the UGTT.
It now remains to be seen whether the president will put the UGTT back at the center of the discussions or whether he will continue to carefully sideline the trade union federation. While the UGTT had supported Kaïs Saïed after last July 25, the president certainly realized that it was easier to do politics without fierce opposition from the union. This general strike should allow the President of the Republic to review his position on the central trade union. If he sticks to his position, however, the agreement with the IMF may be slow to be signed.