Deterioration of workers’ social conditions has reached unprecedented level, says UGTT’s Taboubi

Tunis: "The deterioration of the social conditions of workers, and the people in general, has reached an unprecedented level, to the point where no-one is able to bear or justify it any more", Secretary General of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) Noureddine Taboubi said on Wednesday. Speaking before hundreds of trade unionists at the Mohamed Ali Square downtown Tunis on the occasion of Labour Day, Taboubi said that it is time for all sectors and all trade union structures to vigorously defend the rights of their members. "The people's poverty is terrifying and has no equal", he indicated, adding that it is not possible to remain silent or to justify these deplorable conditions by the legacy of former governments or regional or international crises. In this respect, Taboubi said that "the current government is mainly responsible for this crisis, as it refuses to listen to any proposals for a solution and criminalises criticism while insisting on taking decisions unilaterally". Taboubi also reaffirm ed the UGTT's commitment to social dialogue, pointing out that the UGTT undertakes to impose this right and to demand improved conditions for workers and the implementation of signed agreements. "All legal achievements in the labour field are the fruit of activism and negotiation and can in no way be the result of unilateral decisions," he underlined. On this occasion, Taboubi recalled that the right to organise is guaranteed by the Constitution and by international laws signed by the Tunisian government. "The right to organise was achieved by trade unionists from generation to generation since colonialism and throughout decades of dictatorship, and it cannot be waived today under any pretext, threat or pressure," he pointed out. According to him, the UGTT is not optimistic about the political climate prevailing in the country. The hard-line policy in all areas can only lead to crises, he added. Taboubi also strongly condemned the Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people and the direct support o f the United States of America, Europe and even Arab countries for this war. In this respect, he called for sparing no efforts to support the Palestinian people and to achieve the promulgation of a law criminalising normalisation with the Zionist entity in Tunisia. Representatives of many national organisation, notably the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries (UTAP) and the National Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT) have attended this workers' rally organised to mark Labour Day and to inaugurate the UGTT's newly renovated headquarters. A national march was later organised from the UGTT headquarters along Avenue Habib Bourguiba downtown Tunis to the January 14 Square. Trade unionists and workers raised slogans in support of the Palestinian people. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse