Tunisia’s largest labor union, the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), on Friday called for a nationwide general strike on January 21 — the first since President Kais Saied seized broad powers — in protest against his escalating crackdown on critics and in demand of wage negotiations.
The planned strike is expected to paralyze key public sectors and increase pressure on a government already mired in financial distress, raising the risk of social unrest amid growing anger over deteriorating public services.
Saied shut down parliament and began ruling by decree in 2021, a move he said aimed to root out corruption and mismanagement. The opposition, however, has described it as a coup.
The UGTT, which counts nearly one million members, warned of worsening conditions and condemned the erosion of civil liberties and Saied’s attempts to silence political parties and democratic debate, vowing resistance.
“Your threats and your prisons will not intimidate us. We do not fear arrest… We will continue our struggle,” union leader Noureddine Taboubi said on Thursday following a union protest.
The union’s move reflects mounting frustration over shrinking freedoms and Saied’s tightening grip on opposition leaders, journalists, and civil society organizations, amid a severe economic crisis that has pushed many Tunisians to the brink.
Human rights activists say that since 2021 Saied has dismantled or marginalized political parties and civil society groups, including the UGTT, imprisoned leading opposition figures, and strengthened his control over the judiciary.
Saied has denied meddling in judicial affairs, insisting that “no one is above the law.”
The UGTT, which played a central role in Tunisia’s democratic transition after the 2011 uprising that ended decades of dictatorship, has long been one of Saied’s most outspoken critics. Although it initially supported his 2021 decision to close parliament, it later opposed his subsequent measures, describing them as an attempt to entrench one-man rule.