The major union in Tunisia declares a statewide strike as the president’s crackdown intensifies

The influential UGTT union in Tunisia said on Friday that it would go on strike nationally on January 21 for the first time since President Kais Saied took over broad authority. The action was planned in protest of Saied’s increasing crackdown on critics and in demand of pay discussions.

The impending strike raises the possibility of social upheaval amid mounting dissatisfaction with the North African nation’s deteriorating public services, potentially crippling important public sectors and straining an already financially challenged administration.

In 2021, Saied shut down parliament and imposed decree-based governance, which the opposition referred to as a coup but which he claimed was an attempt to eradicate widespread corruption and poor management.

With a commitment to resist, the million-member UGTT denounced the degradation of civil liberties and Saied’s attempts to stifle democratic discourse and political parties, warning that the situation was getting worse.

“Your threats and your prisons don’t scare us. We have no fear of going to jail. After a union demonstration on Thursday, UGTT General Secretary Nourredine Taboubi declared, “We will continue our struggle.”

In the midst of a protracted cost-of-living crisis that has driven many Tunisians to the edge, the UGTT move reflected growing dissatisfaction about deteriorating freedoms and Saied’s crackdown on opposition leaders, journalists, and civil society organizations.

Rights campaigners claim that since 2021, Saied has detained prominent opposition politicians, strengthened control over the judiciary, and demolished or marginalized civil society organizations and opposition parties, notably the UGTT.

No one is above the law, according to Saied, who has denied meddling in the legal system.

The UGTT, which was instrumental in Tunisia’s democratic transition from decades of tyranny after 2011, has continued to publicly criticize what Saied’s detractors say is a rapid return to authoritarianism.

The UGTT has criticized Saied’s subsequent actions, seeing them as an attempt to solidify one-man rule, despite having previously supported his plan to close parliament in 2021.