UNION REPORTS INCREASING GOT HARASSMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L TUNIS 001155

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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

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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