Nourredine Taboubi, head of Tunisia’s most powerful labour union, resigned on Tuesday, union sources said, a month before a planned nationwide strike over President Kais Saied’s escalating crackdown on dissent.
Taboubi’s departure could weaken the UGTT labour federation, which is widely seen as the last strong bastion of democratic civil society in the North African country. The UGTT had no immediate comment on Taboubi’s reported exit.
The one-million-member UGTT, which played a key role in Tunisia’s post-2011 democratic transition from decades of dictatorship, has sharply criticised Saied’s accelerating drift back to authoritarian rule.
The UGTT has called a nationwide strike for January 21, the first since Saied seized sweeping powers, to protest at his mounting crackdown on critics and demand wage negotiations.
Saied’s critics say arrests of opposition leaders, civil society groups, and journalists underscore an authoritarian turn by the president since he took on extraordinary powers in 2021 to rule by decree.
Saied said he took on wider powers to root out rampant corruption and mismanagement. The opposition called his action a coup.
High inflation, shortages of some basic goods, and poor public services have also fuelled discontent and led to a wave of street protests.
Reuters/Shakirat Sadiq