Summary:

On 27 June 2023, the Council of Global Unions (CGU) comprised of a number of international labor unions issued a joint statement asserting that Tunisia is “sliding into totalitarianism” based on the current actions of the government.

The CGU, which claims to represent as many as 200 million workers worldwide, raised a broad range of concerns about the conduct of the presidency, the parliament and the judiciary including:

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• The use of Law 54 to detain journalists and restrict freedom of expression and freedom of the press
• The prevention of journalists from directly monitoring the activities of parliament
• The prevention of journalist from directly monitoring legal proceedings of the anti-terrorism court

The statement, signed by nine global unions, called for “the President, the Parliament and the judiciary to reverse course and guarantee freedom of expression for all in Tunisia.”

Outlook:  

Tunisia’s influential public sector labor union, the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) has been quiet on the political scene in recent months. The UGTT pressed for a national dialogue throughout the spring, but after the expulsion of European labor organizers, the UGTT has taken a less confrontational approach to expressing discontent with President Kais Saied.

However, the union has undoubtedly continued working behind the scenes and is almost certainly part of the influences driving an effort to avoid the reforms previously agreed-upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Many of the reforms agreed to with the IMF set out to address Tunisia’s sprawling public sector wage bill and subsidy program, which the UGTT is determined to protect.

As plans have emerged for a revised reform program, our team will be watching for responses from the UGTT which has traditionally wielded significant power to mobilize Tunisians for protests and demonstrations, but has failed recently to bring its claimed million members into the streets to demand political change.

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