“The Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) has lost its influence on its environment, and the consequences will be disastrous for the country,” former and current trade union leaders said on Saturday.

They said at a meeting organised by the Tmimi Foundation for Scientific Research and Information entitled “About the role of the UGTT after the revolution: direct negative and positive practices during the last four decades”, that the labour organisation deviated from its path and broke the law after holding an extraordinary non-electoral congress last year during which it was decided to amend Article 20 of the internal regulations to serve the interests of a number of trade unionists at the expense of others.

They said that the members of the UGTT executive board are entitled to more than two mandates, whereas previously the candidacy was limited to two successive mandates.

For her part, Amal Dkhil, a member of the Secondary Education Union in Mhamdia (Governorate of Ben Arous), said that her membership was frozen along with a group of trade unionists for a period ranging from 6 to 10 years for having denounced the amendment of the internal regulations, considering that these practices only complicate the situation and aggravate the division within the UGTT.

In turn, Former Deputy Secretary-General of the UGTT, Mohamed Ali Boughdiri, said that the division of the trade union movement has led to the slackening of trade union action at the regional and sectoral levels.

Source: Tap News Agency