UGTT<\/a>), the country’s most powerful trade union. Today, he faces a major internal leadership crisis. At the same time, the UGTT has seen a significant decline in its influence within power circles, especially after President Ka\u00efs Sa\u00efed’s power grab in July 2021.<\/p>\nFor the past six months, an open struggle has been underway within the UGTT’s executive bureau. Five members have chosen to boycott the leadership, while five others\u2014former union officials\u2014have come together in a collective aiming to redefine the union’s direction.<\/p>\n
The roots of this crisis go back to 2020, when the executive bureau revealed its intention to remove the two-term limit for its members. Tensions escalated further when the bureau forced the amendment through during an extraordinary congress in July 2021. In September 2024, the bureau suspended the activities of the national council\u2014the union\u2019s second-highest body\u2014just as it was preparing to vote in favor of holding another extraordinary congress to elect a new leadership.<\/p>\n
A Reform Plan in the Works<\/h3>\n
In response, five deputy secretary-generals split from the bureau in late November 2024: Monem Amira, Slaheddine Salmi, Othmen Jallouli, Tahar Barbari, and Anouar Ben Kaddour, the son of a prominent UGTT figure from the 1980s. Ben Kaddour has emerged as the group\u2019s leader, though they remain distinct from the more radical opposition faction known as the \u201cSyndical Meeting\u201d (Rencontre syndicale).<\/p>\n
Ben Kaddour has kept communication channels open with Taboubi. The union leader has proposed moving up the next congress\u2014which was originally scheduled for 2027\u2014to no later than early 2026. Meanwhile, some within the union are calling for it to take place during the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n
A broad reform plan is already taking shape, with a focus on developing a new strategy for \u201cindependent union action,\u201d meaning a trade union movement free from state influence.<\/p>\n
Winds of Change?<\/h3>\n
Once known for influencing ministers and government agendas, the UGTT\u2019s leadership now finds itself sidelined. Even Taboubi, who once supported the president\u2019s 2021 power move, has not been seen at the presidential palace in quite some time.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the “Syndical Meeting,” which now operates outside the UGTT structure, is calling for a sweeping overhaul of the organization from top to bottom. They demand the resignation\u2014voluntary or forced\u2014of the national executive bureau, which they accuse of “union corruption” and a “putschist leadership.”<\/p>\n
They are also targeting the privileges of top union officials, who benefit from official cars, fuel allowances, and generous monthly bonuses\u2014perks that, according to insiders, have significantly increased in recent years. It’s a taboo subject within the UGTT.<\/p>\n
You can also read: The liquidation of Namaa Tounes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UGTT: The Tunisian Syndical Giant on the Verge of Implosion. Since 2017, Noureddine Taboubi has led the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT),<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25107341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[525],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25107392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-and-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25107392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25107392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25107392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25107341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25107392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25107392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labidikm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25107392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}