Tunisia's top union UGTT challenges President Saied after his supporters tried to 'storm' the union's headquarters

A decade after helping topple the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia, the country's largest labour union is now confronting President Kais Saied in a dispute over workers' rights and political authority in what could reshape the nation's fragile democracy.

On 17 August, Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) announced a nationwide protest in Tunis for 21 August, accusing the government of undermining workers' rights and using intimidation to curb strikes.

"The government has shut down every door to dialogue", said Sami Tahri, the union's spokesperson.

Part of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning "national dialogue quartet" in 2015, the UGTT is one of the few influential counterweights to the president, whose critics have largely been jailed since his power grab in 2021.

Earlier this month, the union said a group of the President's supporters tried to storm its headquarters after a three-day nationwide strike. Videos showed several dozen people gathered outside, denouncing "corruption" and "squandering the people's money".

President Saied said he shared the protesters' grievances, insisting they had not intended violence, contrary to claims by the union and rights groups, and called for union accountability.

"There are files that must be opened because the people are demanding accountability... so that their money can be returned to them," Saied said in a video posted on the presidency's official Facebook page.

UGTT leaders have rejected corruption allegations as intimidation and urged authorities to present any evidence in court.

Prime Minister Sara Zanzari has intensified the stand-off by scrapping provisions that allowed union officials to take paid leave from their jobs, a practice dating back to independence in 1956.

She called the arrangement an abuse of public funds. The UGTT denounced the move as "a declaration of war".

After Saied's supporters' attack, the UGTT's members gathered in downtown Tunis chanting "the union will not be humiliated, you guard of the Italians," a reference to Saied's controversial migration deal with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The slogan prompted pro-government supporters to call for the prosecution of UGTT leader Noureddine Taboubi and his colleagues.

The union has long accused the authorities of systematically undermining its influence and workers' rights, using delays in social and economic reforms as pressure tactics.

Rights groups say the government's actions fit a wider pattern of shrinking freedoms.

"After going after political parties and civil society groups, it appears the authorities are now targeting trade unions, one of the last pillars of democracy in Tunisia," Bassam Khawaja of Human Rights Watch (HRW), told AFP.

Analysts warn the risk of escalation is high, as President Saied moves to curb the powers and legacies that could limit his authority.

"The government could seek to detain union leaders on charges of politicising labour activism, or attempt to weaken the movement by reshaping its leadership," wrote Salah Eddine El-Jourchi, bureau chief of Al-Araby Al-Jadeed in Tunis.

Since 2022, the Saied administration has detained dozens of opposition politicians, judges, journalists, and activists, prompting widespread criticism that Tunisia is sliding back towards authoritarian rule.

Saied insists freedoms are guaranteed under the 2022 constitution and denies interfering in the judiciary.

Founded in 1946, the UGTT has played a central role throughout Tunisia's modern history: from resisting French colonial rule to challenging autocratic leaders Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

It was also pivotal in the 2010 revolution that toppled Ben Ali and ignited the uprisings across the region, dubbed as "the Arab Spring".

Since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, the union has opened its headquarters as a space for pro-Palestine groups to meet and organise rallies and initiatives aimed at breaking the siege on Gaza.

Today, with more than 700,000 members, the union retains strong mobilising power.

However, many Tunisians blame repeated strikes in transport and phosphate production for dragging down the economy, a view Saied has tapped into as the country faces deepening financial strain.

For now, the UGTT has stopped short of calling a general strike, but it has warned that such action remains on the table if talks with the presidency fail.