Tunisia halts as unions challenge president

• The powerful UGTT confederation called on three million public sector workers to strike.
• They halted work at 159 state agencies and public firms to seek salary cuts and reforms.
• The walkout comes as Tunisia prepares to initiate formal talks with the IMF on a fresh bailout proposal.

TUNIS: Flights were cancelled, public transportation came to a halt, and government offices were closed in Tunisia biggest trade union confederation’s statewide strike on Thursday, adding to the strain on a president already dealing with a litany of problems.

The powerful UGTT confederation called on three million public sector workers to strike, halting work at 159 state agencies and public firms to seek salary cuts and reforms.

In Tunis, post offices and public utilities were shuttered.

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Public television aired repetitions and a statement stating that employees were on strike.

At the capital’s main airport, check-in desks were vacant and people watched cancelled planes.

“This strike is the culmination of a collective failure by more than 10 Tunisian governments, the UGTT, the International Monetary Fund and Tunisia’s international partners,” said Tunisian economist Fadhel Kaboub.

It will remind the IMF that Tunisians can only take so much economic suffering.

The walkout comes as Tunisia prepares to initiate formal talks with the IMF on a fresh bailout proposal.

The UGTT has demanded a new accord to enhance public sector salaries for several years.

The IMF made a bailout package dependent on trade union backing, which has enhanced the UGTT’s leverage.

The government proposed a reform plan to the global lender that freezes public sector wages, reduces subsidies, and restructures publicly owned firms.

The UGTT, which warned against “painful reforms” to please the IMF, requested guarantees that state sector enterprises, including monopolies, would stay publicly held.

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The employment minister, Nasreddine Nsibi, said the government may requisition personnel for vital services.

While the UGTT claims the strike isn’t political, it comes as President Kais Saied faces criticism for excluding opposition forces from his “national dialogue.”

The president fired the cabinet and suspended an elected parliament last July, then dissolved the legislature in March and sacked scores of judges this month.