A powerful wave of workers’ struggles has rocked Algeria in recent weeks. Shelagh Smith investigates how battles in the workplaces have evolved alongside the Hirak protest movement. More than two years since the Hirak protest movement erupted in Algeria against a fifth mandate for President Bouteflika and the regime which has ruled Algeria since independence…
A PDF version of the new MENA bulletin on Bahrain can be downloaded here: Bahrain Bulletin March2012 The bulletin features the latest news on the repression of trade unionists following the uprising last year, and shows how the UK government is continuing to sell arms to the Bahraini government. It also reveals how a member…
One year ago in Tunisia workers were playing a vital role in the protests sweeping the country against the Ben Ali regime. “The trade unions’ role is one of the most striking aspects of the December protests”, wrote the Tunisia expert Christopher Alexander in the magazine Foreign Policy. On the 7th January thousands of lawyers…
Yesterday, the 5th January, marked a new stage in the month long ‘Dignity strike’ in Syria, which has spread to all of Syria’s major cities and involved thousands of workers. The latest phase involves disruption of traffic and the creation of ‘noise disturbances’, with people urged to occupy the streets, bang pots and drums, and…
A national strike by Social Security workers took place in Tunisia on December 8th, with workers from the National Medical Care, Retirement and Social Security funds taking part. The workers were demanding that the government covers their social security provision, a benefit they enjoyed prior to 1990. The striking workers held sit-ins at government offices…
Shops, markets, schools, transport services and factories were all closed in the first stages of a general strike against the Assad government in Syria. The ‘Dignity Strike’ began on December 12th and activists hope it will intensify up until the end of December, bringing in more groups of workers as well as university students. The…
Industry in Ismaliya has been paralysed over the past 5 days with workers in 20 factories on strike. A military crackdown on the workers left 36 injured and led to 10 arrests. Read more here.
