Niger

The Council of State, ruling on the dispute between dismissed trade union representatives and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), invalidated their dismissals, on 11 July 2018. The CNPC is nevertheless categorically refusing to reinstate the workplace representatives. On 24 August 2018, in a letter to the general secretary of SATRAP (oil workers’ union), the managing director of the Chinese company wrote: “We would remind you that the union representatives were dismissed pursuant to the letters of 14 December 2016 sent to the 15 representatives. This decision is final and the CNPC will not call it into question.”

Thirty-five people were injured, four seriously, on 18 April, during clashes between students and the police at the university of Niamey. According to the students’ union at the university, UENUN, several students were also arrested. The demonstrators were calling for the reinstatement of five students that had been expelled in March as well as for the payment of their grants and respect for academic freedom. The rector had taken a decision authorising the police to handle security on the campus.

On 25 March, 24 demonstrators and civil society leaders were arrested following clashes with the police in Niamey. The demonstration against the 2018 finance law, deemed anti-social by civil society, had been prohibited on security grounds. The main civil society representatives, Ali Idrissa, Moussa Tchangari, Nouhou Arzika and Abourahamane Lirwana, were prosecuted on 11 July for “organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. and taking part in a prohibited demonstration” and “colluding to damage public and private property”. On 24 July, they were given three-month suspended sentences. An alliance of civil society groups, the political opposition and a number of trade unions have been organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. regular demonstrations since October 2017 to press for the repeal of the law. The CNT also pointed out that several of these demonstrations had also been banned by the authorities.

Baba Alpha, general secretary of the information and communications union SYNATIC (Syndicat des Travailleurs de l’Information et de la Communication) and a journalist for the private TV channel Bonferey, was held in police custody on 30 March and found guilty, on 3 April, of forgery and the use of false documents to obtain Nigerian nationality in 2011. In a press release, his trade union recalled the fact that the trade unionist was born in Niger to Malian parents, had been schooled and had worked for his whole life in Niger. His 70-year-old father was also arrested, on charges of complicity. On 18 July, Baba Alpha and his father were sentenced to two years in prison, fines of 300,000 CFA each, stripped of all civil and political rights for ten years and were banned from any form of employment in the public sector. Baba Alpha, who rejected all the accusations, is well known as an outspoken critic of the government. The suspension of his civil and political rights is therefore seen as a way of excluding him from any form of public expression.

According to the education trade unions CAUSE-Niger and the SYNACEB, the boycott boycott A collective refusal to buy or use the goods or services of an employer to express disapproval with its practices. Primary boycotts are used to put direct pressure on an employer, while a secondary boycott involves the refusal to deal with a neutral employer with the view of dissuading it from patronising the target employer. of the classroom assessments to measure teachers’ skill levels, organised by the minister of primary education, literacy, promotion of national languages and civic education (MEP/A/PLN/EC), on 15 and 16 July, resulted in at least 50 people being arrested for unarmed gatherings, several people being injured, including three seriously, and several pregnant women being traumatised. Although the Council of State deemed inadmissible the petition submitted by CAUSE-Niger/SYNACEB to cancel the tests, the trade unions called for a boycott boycott A collective refusal to buy or use the goods or services of an employer to express disapproval with its practices. Primary boycotts are used to put direct pressure on an employer, while a secondary boycott involves the refusal to deal with a neutral employer with the view of dissuading it from patronising the target employer. of the assessment. The contracts of several dozen teachers who refused to take part in the assessment were subsequently terminated on the orders of the relevant ministry.

On 10 April, a student demonstration in Niamey led to clashes with the police. At least 313 people were arrested, 57 of whom were released, and 109 were injured (88 demonstrators and 21 police officers). Moreover, according to the USN (Union des Scolaires Nigériens), Mala Bagalé Kelloumi, a third year sociology student died after being hit in the nape of the neck by a teargas grenade. According to the government, the death had no link with the police and was the result of a fall. An inquiry has been opened to determine the circumstances of the death. The USN denounced the unprecedented police brutality unleashed on the pupils and students demonstrating against the delays in the payments of allowances, social welfare and fees. The vehicle carrying the heads of the USN was chased by the police and overturned. Several people were injured. According to Soumana Sambo Housseini, general secretary of the USN, the incident was not a police blunder but a deliberate attack on opinion leaders.

On 17 March, Seyni Harouna, first deputy general secretary of the education union SYNACEB (Syndicat National des Agents Contractuels et Fonctionnaires de l’Éducation de Base), was arrested and then held in police custody. Accused of usurping a title, he was released some days later, on 21 March, after being heard by a judge. Seyni Harouna had represented his union during the negotiation of an agreement concluded on 13 December 2016 between education sector trade unions and the inter-ministerial committee chaired by the minister of the interior. The week prior to his arrest, the main teachers’ unions, CAUSE-Niger and the SYNACEB, had staged a five-day 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 , accusing the government of failing to honour its commitments. The interior minister, Bazoum Mohamed, reportedly responded to 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 and the trade unions’ demands with threats against the trade unions and their leaders.