Algeria - 2011

Algeria’s economic dependence on oil and gas exports remains a major cause for concern, along with the poor job prospects for young people. The official unemployment rate is 10%, but the actual figure is closer to 25%. The price of foodstuffs continued to soar, fuelling discontent among a population still largely living in poverty. Civil liberties are heavily constrained by the state of emergency that has been in force since 1992.

Independent unions repressed :

Independent unions in the education and health sectors, although highly representative, had enormous difficulty making their demands heard by the authorities. The scant progress or promises made in terms of pay, for example, were only secured after many months of protest staged in spite of the intimidation suffered at the hands of the authorities. Several strikes were declared illegal. Threats were brandished that the strikers would face mass dismissals and the unions would be de-registered. Many trade unions have still not been recognised, or their names have been usurped by government-backed dissidents, in a bid to undermine their representativeness.

Although still in gestation, a trade union centre trade union centre A central organisation at the national, regional or district level consisting of affiliated trade unions. Often denotes a national federation or confederation. , the CSA (Confédération des syndicats algériens) was formed in April by the four most representative unions in the health and education sectors, the CNAPEST (Conseil national autonome des professeurs de l’enseignement secondaire et technique), the UNPEF (Union nationale des travailleurs de l’éducation et de la formation) the SNPSP (Syndicat national des praticiens de santé publique) and the SNPSSP (Syndicat national des praticiens spécialistes de la santé publique). The confederation criticised the exclusion of independent unions from the process of revising the labour law.

Strike suppressed in industrial suburb of Algiers: On 6 and 7 January, anti-riot police brutally suppressed a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in Rouïba, an industrial suburb to the east of Algiers. At least five workers were injured. The 5000 employees of the national automobile company SNVI (Société nationale des véhicules industriels) had downed tools on 4 January; the action then spread to other companies in the area. The workers were demanding pay rises as well as marking their opposition to a pension reform and the main decisions of a tripartite agreement concluded at national level in December 2009.

Vocational training union awaiting registration since 2002: The national union of vocational training workers SNTFP (Syndicat national des travailleurs de la formation professionnelle) has been trying in vain to register since 2002. In March, in the response addressed to the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights Committee on Freedom of Association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework , the government claimed that the union was to blame for the delay. It also explained it had carried out investigations into the founding members and that several of them had police records that cast doubt on their credibility. The Committee on Freedom of Association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework refuted these arguments and urged the government to register the SNTFP without delay. In April, the Minister of Vocational Training announced that he would only negotiate with the UGTA (Union générale des travailleurs algériens), and that he could not recognise trade unions that have not been registered.

Freelance journalists harassed following strike:

The stringers staging a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike at El Bahdja radio were forcibly ejected by the police on 7 March and the management of the national radio broadcasting corporation ENRS, which controls the station, filed charges against seven of them for illegally occupying its premises and staging a wildcat strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike . The strikers were suspended and barred from the radio station. Several protests were staged.

Despite the charges being dismissed by the Algerian judiciary and the mediation mediation A process halfway between conciliation and arbitration, in mediation a neutral third party assists the disputing parties in reaching a settlement to an industrial dispute by suggesting possible, non-binding solutions.

See arbitration, conciliation efforts of the national federation of Algerian journalists FNJA and the national journalists’ union SNJ, the radio’s management refused to compromise. It demanded that as a precondition to their reinstatement the journalists must sign a public statement testifying to political and foreign manipulation (the International Federation of Journalists, IFJ, had supported the strikers) and must agree to be transferred to other radios. Several journalists, under pressure, agreed to these conditions. The ENRS journalists, some 900 in total, had called the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in protest at their status as eternal stringers. They had just, moreover, learnt that their set fees were being replaced with piecework rates, making their employment even more precarious.

Repression following two strikes in cement industry: Two “illegal” stoppages were held at a Lafarge Group cement plant. In May, the staff downed tools for six days after a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike notice was served by the branch of the UGTA (Union générale des travailleurs algériens) at the company. The management retaliated by trying to get rid of three trade unionists. In June, Lafarge’s failure to honour its pledge to keep on 145 agents hired through a security firm, with the arrival of a new subcontractor in charge of security services, led to another work stoppage. The 145 dismissed workers had to be forcibly evicted by the police. Seven of them, including the head of the branch union, were arrested on 19 August, after Lafarge’s management filed charges against them for proffering threats and obstructing work and freedom of movement. The seven security workers were released on 31 August and condemned to pay a fine.

Authorities shut down Maison des syndicats:

On 12 May, the Algiers city authorities ordered the closure of the Maison des syndicats, the premises rented by the national independent union independent union A trade union that is not affiliated to a national union. Can also be a union that is not dominated by an employer.

See yellow union

of public administration staff, the SNAPAP (Syndicat national autonome des personnels de l’administration publique), which also served as a meeting venue for several independent unions. A trade union forum bringing together unionists from several countries in the Maghreb region was due to be held there two days later.

The pretext presented was that “public meetings and gatherings were being organised without prior authorisation, foreign nationals were invited without notifying the relevant authorities or requesting authorisation, and the space was being used as a meeting place for young men and women from different countries in the region”. As the notice was served to the owner rather than the lessee, the SNAPAP was deprived of the right to contest the decision. Independent trade unions were also deprived of a place to meet and hold debates, in a context where requests to authorise meetings in public places are systematically rejected.

Tripartism in crisis at ArcelorMittal: In June, the management at the El Hadjar steelworks owned by ArcelorMittal succeeded in efforts to ban a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike on procedural grounds, which were contested by the local branch of the UGTA (Union générale des travailleurs algériens). The UGTA finally called for the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike ’s suspension. Three strikes were staged during 2010 at the complex employing some 7000 people with ever growing concerns about their future given the refusal to meet their pay demands, the ever wider use of contract labour and the large number of employees being dismissed. In November, Farah Lotfi, the UGTA branch secretary at ArcelorMittal, denounced the “oppression and constraints exerted by the multinational” and the management’s refusal to recognise the tripartite agreements.

Administrative and legal offensives against two SNAPAP leaders:

On 24 October, the authorities refused to renew the passport of Mourad Tchiko, an executive member of the national independent union independent union A trade union that is not affiliated to a national union. Can also be a union that is not dominated by an employer.

See yellow union

of public administration staff, the SNAPAP (Syndicat national autonome des personnels de l’administration publique). The union leader is facing legal action for defamation, instituted by the General Directorate for Civil Protection. He was suspended from his post as a fireman in December 2004 for having organised a sit-in.

Rachid Malaoui, the president of the SNAPAP, has not been allowed to travel to France or any other Schengen countries to maintain and develop links between his union and its European counterparts. After having to undergo urgent surgery in France in 2006, the Algerian administration has since refused, in breach of the Franco-Algerian social security convention, to settle his hospital bill. For Public Services International (PSI), to which the SNAPAP is affiliated, this is “effectively a breach of the right to freedom of movement and trade union freedom”.

Trade unionism forbidden in many oil and gas multinationals:

Many multinationals operating in the oil-rich south of Algeria continued to show hostility towards workers’ demands. The general workers’ union UGTA repeatedly denounced the anti-union practices deployed by multinationals in the Hassi Messaoud region. Companies have prohibited workers from organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. and pressing for better working conditions.

Over recent years, workers attempting to exercise their trade union rights have faced threats and harassment. Legal rulings ordering employers to reinstate workers who have been dismissed or faced arbitrary decisions have been ignored. On 5 March, Meryem Mehdi ended a 79-day hunger strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike following an agreement with her former employer, British Gas. Several protests in front of ministries and the multinational’s headquarters had led nowhere. Yacine Zaïd, a former employee of Compass, is another of the rare victims who managed to capture the media’s attention. Dismissed by the British group in 2006, just after trying to set up a branch of the UGTA, his blog has often served as a platform for denouncing workers’ rights violations in these multinationals.