Noureddine Taboubi, the head of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), the main trade union organization in Tunisia, called into question, on Monday May 1, the negotiations that have been going on for months between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). for a new loan intended to bail out the coffers of an over-indebted country. During his speech in Tunis, more than 2,000 activists marched through Sfax, the country’s second city, with placards denouncing “an IMF government” and saying “no to colonization”.
“We approve of the position of President” Kaïs Saïed, who rejected the “dictates” of the IMF in early April for the granting of a credit of nearly 2 billion dollars, said Mr. Taboubi. Despite an agreement in principle from the IMF on this loan in mid-October, the talks have stalled for months, for lack of a firm commitment from President Saïed to restructure a hundred heavily deficit public groups and lift subsidies on various basic products.
According to Mr. Taboubi, Mr. Saïed “aligned” with the UGTT, which opposed any sale of public companies and the lifting of subsidies. “It makes us wonder about the value of negotiations between the government and the IMF,” he said. The measures advocated by the IMF will “further impoverish the Tunisian people”, who face high inflation (over 10%) and high unemployment (over 15%), according to Taboubi.
Several trade unionists arrested
In a virulent press release a few days ago, the UGTT noted “glaring differences” between Kaïs Saïed and his government, accusing Prime Minister Najla Bouden of “secretly” negotiating with the IMF a program “known to a small team, accustomed to adopting ready-made recipes”. The union had lambasted “international donors who seek such opportunities to dictate their terms and dominate the economies of countries in crisis like Tunisia”.
In his speech on Monday, Taboubi also called for the release of several trade unionists arrested in recent weeks and denounced “an abusive attack” on trade union rights. He cited two of them, the last of whom was imprisoned on Friday for a post on social networks considered to be harmful to the person of Kaïs Saïed. “The incarceration of UGTT activists, the falsification of files by certain ministers who oppose the trade union movement, the launching of campaigns of denigration and contempt and the harassment of trade unionists do not scare us! “, he said.
