Three days before an expected public sector strike in Tunisia, the government called the General Labor Union to hold a meeting with its leaders, in an attempt to postpone this measure, which would lead to complete paralysis in a country going through a deep economic crisis.
The government’s invitation to meet with the federation came after negotiations between the two parties were on hold, despite the latter’s announcement of his demands last month.
However, the leader of the General Union of Labor, Tariq Al-Saidi, confirmed to Al-Hurra website that “the strike is in place until this moment, because there are no outcomes so far, but we are waiting for the delegation to come up with something useful.”
“total paralysis”
In his interview with Al-Hurra, the professor of economics at the Tunisian University, Rida Shakandali, warned that there will be complete paralysis in all sectors, in the event of the strike, noting that it comes in light of “a very difficult circumstance that is witnessing almost all economic indicators declining, and a trade deficit.” It worsened during the first five months of this year.
If an agreement is not reached, public enterprises and institutions (159 institutions and establishments) may respond in a full strike next Thursday.
Al-Skandali explained that the economic paralysis will lead to a reduction in financial inputs in hard currency, and thus the difficulty of providing basic materials imported by the country, in addition to the fact that the government will struggle to distribute wages to employees at the end of the month.
The union had said in a statement that “the strike also comes due to the government’s deliberate principle of negotiation, disavowal of the implementation of the concluded agreements and its unwillingness to reform public institutions in light of the insane rise in prices and the deterioration of the purchasing power of employees,” with inflation reaching 7.5% in April (within a year), which are “indicators of Very dangerous,” according to Al-Shandali, in addition to unemployment exceeding 18 percent, with a debt exceeding 100 percent of the gross domestic product.
What are the demands?
Al-Saidi clarifies that the government has not implemented old agreements, such as issuing basic laws to restructure public institutions, and we also demand the abolition of Circular No. 20, which prevents negotiation between unions and state public institutions.
He explained that the government issued a circular prohibiting negotiations between unions and institutions without reference to the government and prior coordination, and this means stopping the negotiation, which the union considered a blow to its role as an organization, noting that Tunisia has 160 economic production institutions affiliated with the state, or the government participates in a large part that exceeds one-fifth in cent.
The third point, which the union demanded, according to Al-Saeedi, is an increase in wages, “because since four years ago the workers did not receive any increase in wages.”
Al-Saidi refers to a fourth point, which he described as “main and central”, “which is that the union calls for reforming public institutions that have debts and a surplus of workers, instead of the government seeking to privatize them.”
He added, “We feel that there are intentions from the government behind the reluctance to reform these institutions until it misses the opportunity and justifies its efforts to privatize them, in order to address by selling these companies the large deficit in the budget, which amounts to 20 billion dinars, or 6.5 billion dollars, and to obtain a loan from a fund International Monetary”.
He continued, “For example, there are companies’ names that any government always puts forward for public discussion in preparation for their privatization, such as the gum factory, which generates a lot of money, and some public banks, ports and shipping companies, which are the target only,” noting that the General Labor Union fears a slowdown. In opening the repair file to miss the opportunity.”
He stressed that “the union offered its agreement to give up some workers in order to prevent the sale of these government companies… I mean, if there are a thousand workers in the factory and 200 of them can be sacrificed, while giving them their rights, otherwise he will be less than 50 years old and provide a living allowance, this is better.” Closing the factory and laying off all workers.
stalled negotiations
The government submitted a reform plan to the International Monetary Fund that provides for a public sector salary freeze, a gradual reduction of some government subsidies, and the restructuring of state institutions.
But the International Monetary Fund wants these promises to have the support of social partners, including the Tunisian General Labor Union, to ensure their implementation.
Tunisia, which is experiencing a deep political crisis, is requesting aid of about four billion dollars, the third in 10 years for the country from which the Arab Spring was launched.
Al-Skandali confirmed to Al-Hurra that negotiations have completely stopped between the government and the International Monetary Fund, as the latter requires the participation of the Tunisian General Labor Union, because he knows that this most important trade union institution is necessary to implement what will be agreed upon.
The professor of economics at the Tunisian University says: “The union, in turn, announced that it would not participate in this dialogue, but rather announced that it would not sign an agreement with the International Monetary Fund because the negotiations are mainly related to wages in public jobs and support, and this directly affects the working class, and therefore there is a great difficulty. in reaching an agreement.”
He warned that “if we do not reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to finance the state budget, this will lead to the erosion of savings from the hard currency, as indicated by Fitch’s latest classification, and thus will lead to difficulty in importing the necessary food, equipment and raw materials for Tunisians, and lead to a decline in the value of The Tunisian dinar, and consequently a further rise in inflation.
For his part, Al-Saidi replies that “our position in the union is not an absolute rejection or closing the door to negotiation with the IMF, but the problem with reading the government, we must work to convince the international institution and deviate from the ready-made recipe that it puts when borrowing any country from it.”
He stressed that “the International Monetary Fund is a partner that must be borrowed from, and this is a foregone conclusion, but the problem is that we are more royalist than the king, meaning that the government seeks to please him more than necessary. We must negotiate with the IMF and convince it of Tunisian specificity and a joint program.”
He explains, “The International Monetary Fund has a standard called the percentage of wages of gross national product and that it should not exceed eight to ten percent, and this does not conflict with an increase in wages, because the problem is a rise in wages as much as weak growth.”
He added, “Of course, when the growth does not exceed two percent, the mass of wages will appear to be large, although the wage rate in Tunisia is the weakest compared to the countries of the world, as the average wage for an employee in the private sector is $150, while the average in the public sector is It is roughly $250, and it is shameful for any government to put more pressure on it to reduce it rather than work to increase it.”
Shakdali agrees with him, saying that the solution lies in the government negotiating with the Tunisian General Labor Union and the International Monetary Fund, and raising wages to preserve the purchasing power of citizens.
“There must be a social approach that depends on raising wages and thus increasing consumption, which leads to raising economic growth,” he said, noting that this requires negotiating strength with the International Monetary Fund.
And the union announced, last month, its refusal to participate in talks on a new constitution, called for by Tunisian President Kais Saied, and political parties were excluded from him.
After months of political paralysis, Saeed, who was elected at the end of 2019, announced that he assumed full executive and legislative powers on July 25, and dismissed the prime minister and suspended parliament before dissolving it last March.
To get out of the political impasse, the Tunisian president proposed a roadmap that stipulates the organization of a referendum on a new constitution on July 25, and early legislative elections on December 17.
The Secretary-General of the Tunisian Labor Union said on Thursday that the union was “largely targeted” by the authorities after it refused to participate in the “new constitution” talks called by Saied.
If the strike is carried out in the state’s economic public sector, it will be added to the professional strike that the judges are carrying out for the second week, after President Kais Saied refused to reverse the decision to dismiss dozens of them.
Said dismissed 57 judges this month, accusing them of corruption and protecting “terrorists”, accusations the Tunisian Judges Association said were mostly politically motivated. The strike began on the fourth of June.
Saeed’s decision sparked a wave of domestic and foreign criticism. International human rights groups accused him of dealing a “strong blow to the independence of the judiciary.”