TUNIS: Tunisia’s powerful UGTT trade union confederation, locked in a dispute with the government over economic reforms, has said it is open to compromise ahead of February strikes — “but not at any price.”
Secretary general Noureddine Taboubi told AFP the Tunisian General Labour Union, which played a key role in the country’s 2011 revolution and democratic transition, wants to be involved in elections later this year.
The UGTT staged a mass public sector strike last week as talks with the government on social and economic reforms remained deadlocked.
It has since called further strikes for February 20 and 21, demanding bigger public sector wage increases in a country battling soaring unemployment and inflation of 7.5 percent.
“We don’t want to strike for the sake of striking,” Taboubi said in an interview Monday.
“We have announced another strike in a month, in the hope that we’ll find a compromise. But not at any price.”
Public sector employees make up around a quarter of Tunisia’s workforce.
The UGTT has demanded higher public sector pay rises than those on offer by the government, as well as guarantees protecting some of Tunisia’s many publicly owned companies from privatization.
It said some 90 percent of public sector workers had observed the January 17 strike, which caused mayhem in the country’s airports, despite calls from President Beji Caid Essebsi for them to stay at their posts.
Taboubi said Monday that negotiations were still in progress, noting there were four weeks left to reach an agreement.
Prime Minister Youssef Chahed has said the state of Tunisia’s public finances means it cannot meet the UGTT’s demands.
But the UGTT has sharply criticized the government for accepting a 2.4-billion-euro loan from the International Monetary Fund in exchange for pledges to carry out sweeping economic reforms.
Eight years after the overthrow of long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the UGTT is one of the few opposition forces that is united ahead of this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
Taboubi said it would play a role in the polls, pledging to remain “peaceful and civilized.”
“I repeat: this has nothing to do with wanting to bring down this government or any other,” he said.
Tunisia trade unions mull ‘compromise’ ahead of strike
Tunisia trade unions mull ‘compromise’ ahead of strike
- Tunisia’s powerful UGTT trade union confederation staged a mass public sector strike last week as talks with the government on social and economic reforms remained deadlocked
- It has since called further strikes for February 20 and 21, demanding bigger public sector wage increases
Hamas says path for Gaza must begin with end to ‘aggression’
- Trump’s board met for its inaugural session in Washington on Thursday, with a number of countries pledging money and personnel to rebuild the Palestinian territory
GAZA CITY: Discussions on Gaza’s future must begin with a total halt to Israeli “aggression,” Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas said after US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace met for the first time.
“Any political process or any arrangement under discussion concerning the Gaza Strip and the future of our Palestinian people must start with the total halt of aggression, the lifting of the blockade, and the guarantee of our people’s legitimate national rights, first and foremost their right to freedom and self-determination,” Hamas said in a statement Thursday.
Trump’s board met for its inaugural session in Washington on Thursday, with a number of countries pledging money and personnel to rebuild the Palestinian territory, more than four months into a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted however that Hamas must disarm before any reconstruction begins.
“We agreed with our ally the US that there will be no reconstruction of Gaza before the demilitarization of Gaza,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader did not attend the Washington meeting but was represented by his foreign minister Gideon Saar.
Trump said several countries, mostly in the Gulf, had pledged more than seven billion dollars to rebuild the territory.
Muslim-majority Indonesia will take a deputy commander role in a nascent International Stabilization Force, the unit’s American chief Major General Jasper Jeffers said.
Trump, whose plan for Gaza was endorsed by the UN Security Council in November, also said five countries had committed to providing troops, including Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Albania.
