tunisia

 

 

 

Interview with Hafaiedh Hafaiedh, General Secretary of the Tunisian Union of Elementary School Educators

February 2nd 2011

"The UGTT can only exist if it defends justice and progress."

 

[Note: The following interview was published in the February 2, 2011 issue of Informations Ouvrières, the weekly newspaper of the Independent Workers Party (POI) of France.]

 

Question: The Administrative Council of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) has just voted to recognize the Ghannouchi government, which includes two government ministers from the ranks of the old regime, including the Prime Minister himself. What is your evaluation of this new situation?

 

Answer: This position was taken yesterday by the Administrative Council of the UGTT. This body was asked to ratify the results of negotiations held between the top UGTT officials and the new government.

 

We must recall that the Administrative Council of the UGTT met on January 21 and issued a statement that states clearly and emphatically that it would not accept or recognize any government that includes in its ranks members of the old regime. But after this last round of negotiations, the UGTT leadership accepted the presence of two government ministers who had been in the old regime of Ben Ali -- including Prime Minister Ghannouchi himself. This proposal was accepted by a majority of the Administrative Council of the UGTT.

 

As far as I am concerned, as a representative of the Union of Elementary School Educators, I voted against this proposal -- as did the representatives of the Union of Secondary School Educators, the Postal Workers Federation, the Public Heath Care Workers Union, the Union of Youth and Infant Care Workers, the Regional Federation of Sfax, the Regional Federation of Bizerte and the Regional Federation of Jendouba. We all voted against, thereby expressing the demands of the working class as a whole through its mobilizations. We stated that we do not accept any modifications to the line adopted by the Administrative Council of the UGTT on January 21.

 

All these unions and federations -- such as the regional federations in Sfax or Bizerte (an industrial working class bastion), or the Regional Federation of Jendouba (which is closely attuned to the aspirations and actions of the Tunisian workers' movement) -- represent more than 50% of the UGTT membership who refuse to recognize this new government. This means that the majority of unionists in Tunisia have taken a clear stand that is consistent with the decision of the Administrative Council of January 21.

 

Today, with the decision by the UGTT leadership to recognize this government formed by Ghannouchi, there is a deep contradiction in the union federation that needs to be addressed very seriously.

 

It is important to note that all the union bodies that voted against the Administrative Council's latest proposal have enormous social weight in the battles that will take place within the UGTT, at every level, to ensure that our union joins up with the movement to drive out the representatives of the old regime from the government. The Union of Primary School Educators has 50,000 members. The Union of Secondary School Educators has 55,000 members. The Postal Workers Federation, the Public Heath Care Workers Union, the Union of Youth and Infant Care Workers, the Regional Federation of Sfax, the Regional Federation of Bizerte and the Regional Federation of Jendouba -- all are very powerful.

 

We know that the entire working class refuses to recognize the government of Ghannouchi; they view this government as the continuity of the regime of Ben Ali and his accomplices, his gang. For the UGTT to recognize this government means placing its own principles, not to mention the aspirations and demands of the unfolding revolution, in a filing cabinet.

 

Question: In every protest action and mobilization across Tunisia today the people are uniting behind the call of "Down with Ghannouchi! Down with the RCD! [the party of Ben Ali, Ghannouchi and their cabal].  In your opinion what is the way forward for the working class, the youth, and all the people of Tunisia to have their voices heard?

 

Answer: The UGTT is an organization that follows democratic rules. But I have to state clearly that when questions of principle that deal directly with the goals of our trade union federation are involved, it is not possible for democracy to be confined to the vote of the Administrative Council of the UGTT -- because well over half of the UGTT membership have stated unambiguously and repeatedly that we cannot accept a government that has even one representative of the old regime.

 

This is not a question of democracy; it is a question of basic principles that determine the existence of the UGTT as an independent union federation of the working class in our country. Today the situation looks like this: We are a majority in the UGTT to have this position on the Ghannouchi government, but we're the opposition -- even though we express the overwhelming stance taken by the Tunisian people.

 

How will the voice of all those who are fighting for a clean break with the old order, for the departure of the two ministers of the RCD from the government  ... how will this be expressed, including within the UGTT?

 

As I said, while we represent the majority of members in the UGTT, we don't have a majority on the Administrative Council. My own union has 50,000 members on the Administrative Council. But we have only one representative on this body. Some unions with only 700 to 800 members have the same weighted vote on the Council as we do.

 

So now it's time to give voice to the people through the power of the street -- through mobilizations, demonstrations, and strikes. Elementary school teachers staged a two-day strike on January 24-25, a strike that has been temporarily suspended.

 

The government and the media have launched a fierce campaign to try to pit the parents against the teachers of primary schools. For the time being, we have decided to stop the strikes, In order to get out our message that we have the same interests as the people as a whole, we are organizing parent-teacher meetings in all the schools. And we are going to continue our struggle until the Ghannouchi government falls.

 

Elementary school teachers are determined to win; they are deeply attached to democracy and progress. They are not in the camp of those who wheel and deal politically behind the scenes in Paris, London or wherever else.

 

We unionists are the rightful heirs of Hached and Hammed Ali el-Hammi -- that is of true democrats rooted in the causes of progress, justice and freedom. The UGTT was created -- and it can only exist -- if it continues to defend these principles, as is did in the battles for independence, and in 1977, in the preparation of the general strike of 1978.