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Tunisia union calls for action against draft budget

By AFP
Tunisia Tunisia's powerful UGTT labour union criticised the new government of Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, for failing to make good on a pledge to tackle corruption.  By Fethi Belaid AFPFile
OCT 17, 2016 LISTEN
Tunisia's powerful UGTT labour union criticised the new government of Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, for failing to make good on a pledge to tackle corruption. By Fethi Belaid (AFP/File)

Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia's powerful UGTT labour union on Monday called on workers to mobilise against the government's draft budget for 2017 which stipulates a public sector salary freeze.

The government on Friday approved a draft budget for next year that forecasts 2.5 percent growth and a civil service pay freeze lasting at least a year.

The draft has yet to be approved by parliament.

But the UGTT cried foul on Monday, saying in a statement that it "categorically rejects all the measures it had warned against... including postponing pay rises".

It also called on "all workers from all sectors to mobilise to defend their rights" and urged unions nationwide to "mobilise and prepare to fight for the rights of workers by all legal means".

The UGTT also criticised the new government of Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, which took office at the end of August, for failing to make good on a pledge to tackle corruption.

It said there has been "no real will to fight corruption and contraband and face fiscal evasion", adding that it held the government responsible for any future "social destabilisation".

While Tunisia is considered to be a rare success story of the Arab Spring, the authorities have failed to resolve the poverty, unemployment and corruption that preceded the ouster in 2011 of veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

In a rousing speech to parliament after taking office, the new premier spoke of the dire state of the economy and said "we are all responsible" and "we will have to make sacrifices".

"If nothing changes by 2017 austerity will follow," Chahed warned.

Tunisia's battered economy grew by just 0.8 percent last year compared with 2.3 percent in 2014.

A wave of jihadist attacks, including two last year that killed dozens of foreign tourists, has further exacerbated problems in the economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

In May, the International Monetary Fund approved a $2.9 billion loan to help the North African country implement economic and financial reforms.

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