Fuel transport workers in Tunis have launched a 48-hour strike to demand better working conditions, wage increases, the disbursement of previously agreed allowances from 2019 and the settlement of social security dues. Al Jazeera correspondent Saifeddine Bouallegue reported that the strike, organised by the General Federation of Oil and Chemicals and lasting until Thursday, prompted citizens to rush to petrol stations, threatening widespread paralysis in a country that relies almost entirely on trucks for fuel distribution. Khaled Bettin, general manager of the national oil distributor Agil, confirmed that fuel remains available but urged a swift resolution to the strike to avoid further disruptions.
The union action coincides with mounting public anger across Tunisia over recurrent electricity and water outages, rising prices and medicine shortages. More than five years after President Kais Saied suspended parliament and began ruling by decree, old grievances are resurfacing as the space for civil society and political dissent narrows significantly. Experts suggested the fuel strike is a symptom of a much broader macroeconomic crisis, characterised by inflation, eroded purchasing power and the state’s inability to secure external funding.
Kholoud Toumi, a Tunisian economist, told Al Jazeera that the current situation is the result of overlapping internal and external pressures. Any disruption in transport, production and supply raises the cost of activity.” She also noted that the government’s failure to secure foreign funds has forced a reliance on domestic borrowing, which has negatively impacted investment and consumption. The broader economic crisis has reignited debates over reforms that international financial institutions have pushed.
Toumi described those reforms as a “medical prescription” the International Monetary Fund had issued but Tunisia’s government had failed to implement so far. The economist said the primary obstacle was opposition from the country’s main trade union, the Tunisian General Labour Union, better known by its French acronym, UGTT. The General Federation of Oil and Chemicals, which is leading the transport strike, is affiliated with the UGTT.
However, some analysts framed the current crisis as a legacy of long-term mismanagement and ongoing union disputes rather than recent policy failures. Souhaib al-Mazriqi, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the fuel strike stems directly from a conflict between the labour union and the employers union. Ahmed al-Ghiloufi, a political analyst, told Al Jazeera that the government must bear full responsibility for the mounting public anger and lack of transparency.
There is one ruler who rules the country, and he must bear the responsibility.” Al-Ghiloufi also questioned the economic data released by the government and its crackdown on the political opposition.
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