UNION REPORTS INCREASING GOT HARASSMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001155 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/MAG - LAWRENCE AND DRL/IL - DEMARIA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2016 TAGS: ELAB KDEM PGOV TS SUBJECT: UNION REPORTS INCREASING GOT HARASSMENT REF: A. TUNIS 816 ¶B. TUNIS 299 ¶C. 05 TUNIS 2206 ¶D. 05 TUNIS 1455 Classified By: AMBASSADOR WILLIAM HUDSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) AND (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: During a May 10 meeting, (UGTT) Assistant Secretary General Mohammed Trabelsi told Laboff the UGTT SIPDIS continues to face GOT interference in its activities. Trabelsi said a senior GOT official (NFI) recently warned UGTT leadership, "if you interfere in our issues, we will interfere in yours." Since then, Trabelsi reported the GOT has tried to defame the current UGTT leadership and obstruct UGTT activities. Legislative debate has begun on filling the vacant UGTT seats in the Chamber of Advisors with non-affiliated workers. Additionally, GOT-associated organizations tried to flood the newly created Tunisian Social Forum, of which the UGTT was a founding member. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Having complained of GOT interference in February (Ref B),Trabelsi said problems increased in the past month after the UGTT began to organize a study on local development in the northwest city of Le Kef. "The highest levels of authority," according to Trabelsi, called UGTT Secretary General (SYG) Abdessalem Jerad to warn that local development "is our issue. If you interfere, we will interfere in your matters." Shortly thereafter, Trabelsi said, the GOT stepped up its efforts targeting the UGTT. Initially, local newspapers (which are GOT influenced) began to publish articles from former labor leaders criticizing Jerad's leadership of the UGTT. One argued that the current leadership is "unable to find solutions to workers' complex problems." While dismissing the articles, as "everyone knows the press has no credibility," Trabelsi said the GOT is now trying to disrupt other UGTT activities. ¶3. (C) Most significantly, Trabelsi said that on May 9, the Chamber of Deputies reviewed draft legislation that would fill the UGTT's fourteen vacant seats in the Chamber of Advisors. In 2005, the UGTT refused to nominate candidates for these seats, arguing that the election process was not democratic (Refs C and D). Trabelsi explained that the draft legislation would change the constitution so that nominations for the labor seats would not be required to come from within the UGTT. If this change took place, the vacant seats could be filled with workers not associated with the UGTT, thus removing the UGTT from the political process. (NOTE: On May 11, Tunisian media reported the Chamber of Deputies had approved a draft law regarding the term in which vacancies must be filled, but did not mention the UGTT seats. END NOTE.) ¶4. (C) According to Trabelsi, individuals affiliated with the ruling RCD party also disrupted the UGTT's May 1 Labor Day celebration in the southern town of Tozeur. Trabelsi said about sixty pro-government individuals, some of whom had traveled over eight hours from Tunis to participate, threw rocks and hurled insults at the regional UGTT headquarters in Tozeur. Trabelsi alleged that the demonstrators were clearly aligned with the government, as none of the insults targeted the GOT, RCD or the local authorities. Trabelsi further commented that the police were complicit, as officers had blocked off the two ends of the road in front of the building, thus creating a private space out of a public road, as it is illegal to demonstrate in public areas. ¶5. (C) Finally, Trabelsi detailed GOT efforts to infiltrate the newly established Tunisian Social Forum (TSF). The TSF is modeled after the World Social Forum (www.forumsocialmundial.org.br),a forum to discuss alternatives to neo-liberal policies and globalization, and was founded by the UGTT, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) and the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH). Trabelsi said that more than 64 pro-government and quasi-independent NGOs approached the founders about joining - a clear GOT effort to prevent the development of an independent organization. After the founding members asked these NGOs to provide their charters showing they are independent organizations and their adherence to the World Social Forum principles, only eight groups provided the necessary information and were accepted. While Trabelsi said the forum is not purely politically focused, the globalization focus naturally relates to democracy and human rights and thus represented a threat to the government. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: The UGTT's relationship with the GOT is increasingly complex. After the ruling RCD party, the UGTT has more members and better organization than any other civil society group. While claiming not to have political aspirations, some UGTT activities occasionally attract negative attention from the government. The government is increasingly applying the same civil society harassment methods (Ref A) to the UGTT as it does to opposition NGOs. What is unclear is how long the UGTT can maintain a degree of independence; it will be important to monitor RCD involvement in the UGTT Congress - and the election of the executive board members - scheduled for early 2007. END COMMENT. HUDSON