Crisis in Algeria between PM and trade unions

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune yesterday held a consultative meeting with heads of governmental and private sector organisations, as well as the largest trade union in the country to contain a crisis between the two sides that broke out after a businessman was banned from participating in a government event.

The meeting was held at the government headquarters in Algiers and included nine organisations representing governmental and private economic institutions, as well as the leadership of the General Union of Algerian Workers, the most prominent trade union in the country.

The Algeria Press Service reported that the meeting, which took place during closed sessions, culminated in the agreement to hold an official gathering between the three parties, called the tripartite meeting on 23 September in Ghardaïa in order to discuss several economic and social matters.

On 15 July, Tebboune refused the presence of Ali Haddad, head of the Algerian Business Leaders Forum, in an official ceremony in the capital, according to local media.

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The situation prompted the President of the General Union of Workers, Abdelmadjid Sidi Said, to leave the ceremony in solidarity with Haddad.

On 18 July, following a meeting in the capital, trade unions and the General Federation of Algerian Workers issued a statement expressing their “deep concern about the treatment of the president of the forum Ali Haddad.”

They added that “it is undeniable that what the Prime Minister has done affects the spirit and the mission of the national economic and social contract of growth, which is an important platform for social dialogue between the government and economic as well as social partners.”