A senior official from the main union has been arrested in Tunisia after calling a highway strike

Feb. 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Tunisian authorities have arrested a union leader on Wednesday after calling for a general strike of road workers in the country starting on February 12, amid increased criticism and demonstrations against the country’s president, Kais Saied. , who in July 2021 assumed all powers by dissolving the Government and suspending Parliament, later dissolved.

The General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), the country’s main union, has indicated in a statement published on its website that the detainee is the deputy general secretary of the Tunisian Road Union -part of the UGTT-, Anis al Kaabi, without any details on his whereabouts or the reasons for his arrest.

The general secretary of the UGTT, Nurredín Tabubi, has detailed that the union has hired the services of a lawyer to analyze the case of Al Kaabi, while stressing that the arrest of the unionist is “a blow to the work of the unions”. and “a violation of international agreements ratified by the Tunisian state.”

Thus, he recalled that the Tunisian Constitution “stipulates respect for trade union freedoms and the right to strike” and has lamented “the panic and negative effects on Al Kaabi’s family” due to the arrest. Therefore, he has made the government “fully responsible for the repercussions.” Tabubi has also called for the “immediate” release of the detainee.

Tensions have been running high in recent weeks over a dispute between Saied and unions over plans to cut spending to win an aid package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The UGTT and three other organizations launched a National Salvation Initiative last week to counter recent actions by the Tunisian president.

The African country held the second round of the legislative elections convened by Saied on Friday, again marked by an abstention rate close to 90 percent, after participation did not reach nine percent in the first round, a record low worldwide. However, the president called for a “different reading” and attributed the abstention to the fact that “during the last ten years, Tunisians have found that Parliament has become an institution that abuses the State.”

For his part, the leader of the opposition National Salvation Front, Ahmed Neyib Chebi, demanded on Sunday that the president leave office after the “fiasco” of the second round of parliamentarians and maintained that this figure “shows that very few support the Said’s process”.

Saied has promoted since July 2021 a series of measures to reform the political system of Tunisia, including a constitutional referendum, approved in the midst of the opposition boycott, which reinforces the powers of the Presidency. The opposition has denounced an authoritarian drift of the president and has demanded his resignation.