The confrontation between the General Union of Tunisia, President Sis is escalating Politics News

The General Labor Union in Tunisia (UGTT) is preparing to take over President Kais Says in a protest scheduled for August 21.

The Union called for a protest against what it says is the government’s attempts to undermine workers’ rights, and to use intimidation to curb strikes, in reference to the UGTT transportation for a period of three days at the end of July.

Since he seized power on July 25, 2021, Saied has radically undermined the role of parliament and political parties while he was giving himself a significant increase through a constitution that was revised according to his decrees.

However, UGTT’s ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of members stand as one of the remaining few meters for the master, analysts say.

“UGTT has always been more than just a labor union,” said Hamza Meadb of the Carnegie Institute, who was widely written in the organization.

He said about the liberation of Tunisia from France in 1956: “It was founded even before Tunisian independence, and played an important role in achieving this.”

“Since then, he played an economic role … in addition to a political role, as in 2015, when the main force was behind the establishment of the national dialogue,” Midp continued, referring to a political crisis when UGTT and three other civil society organizations helped prevent Tunisia’s collapse after the reference.

Unavoidable confrontation

Things arrived at the head between Ugtt and Saied on August 7 when hundreds of supporters of Saied gathered outside the Ugtt headquarters, accusing “corruption” and “dispelling the people’s money” after a three -day transport strike in late July.

The next night, Saied defended the anti -union demonstrators, and they repeated their calls for union “accountability” and to confirm that, in contrast to the claims submitted by UGTT groups and rights groups, his supporters did not mean violence.

“There are files that must be opened because people are demanding accountability … so that their money can be returned to it.”

Other confrontations between the president and the union were inevitable, but many analysts refer to what they say is a union that weakens due to internal splits and the threat to its decades’ monopoly on the strength of the Union in Tunisia.

“Over the past two years, Ugtt has been silent, and certainly on the political side of things,” a political analyst remaining in Tunisia told Al -Jazeera, provided that its identity was not disclosed.

They said about the Mayo decision to change the laws that affected many UGTT members: “Saied reviewed the Labor Law without consulting them.”

“In the past, a decision on this scale was unimaginable,” he said.

Weak union

A large part of the relatively low round in UGTT lies in an internal rupture, motivated by its decision in 2021 to extend the mandate of the Board of Directors from two to three periods, which was said to have split the Federation’s membership and its undermining.

“There are many in Ugtt who see Resolution 2021 as a coup from the union, which really weakened the council’s decision to do anything,” said Midib.

“You cannot also avoid the fact that the financial situation throughout the country is getting more worse, which means that the primary membership in the state-based middle class-also suffers from blame on a council they do not already mention this either.

“Therefore, when Cis call” a corrupt union “… this is logical for a lot of his membership.

He concluded by saying: “It is also easy, (given its long history and its close relationships with all the previous governments in Tunisia) that Saied draw it as part of the elite of the country that hindered its people.”

A competitor appears

The moves to undermine the ugtt base is already ongoing.

On Monday, the government announced that it would stop the long practice of allowing the union officials to receive their governmental salaries while they were in the field of union business, with more of these moves expected.

Saied is also said to encourage the competitive union for Tunisian workers (UTT), which analysts such as the author Hatem Naft say to try to benefit from any weakness in the UGTT link between UGTT and its membership, to enhance its position.

He added that the extent of this will be in light of the previous condemnations of the UTT leadership regarding corruption fees, still must be seen.

UTT was ready to enter any violation that Ugtt left was clear last week, when it issued a statement accusing his competitors of what he said was “defamation” of the president.

NAFTI said the government may also seek to stop the practice of UGTT membership fee from the salaries of state employees in the source before transferring funds to the union, which would give UTT more hope to win members away from Ugtt.

“Kais Says will move against Ugtt has been written from the first day,” said Nafiti by the island’s pirates from Paris, where he now lives.

“The popularity does not allow any mediator between the leader and the people, so first, get rid of competing political parties, then civil society and the media.

“Even TV networks that support no longer show political programs,” he said.

“UGTT was the next logical step.”