Algeria: Government Repression Provokes Union Hunger Strike

The ITUC is demanding that the Algerian authorities stop repression of the country’s emerging independent trade union movement. A wave of harassment of members of the National Independent Union of Public Administration Personnel (SNAPAP) has led to seven members of the union’s board, including four women, starting a hunger strike on 6 May. One of them, Fayza Abrakan, has been admitted to hospital in a serious condition.

Workers in the Ministry of Justice, hospital doctors and employees in the education and municipal sectors have been protesting against heavy-handed management and a general crack-down against the independent union movement and other civil society groups. Much of the repression has been focused on women workers, who are at the forefront of the growing movement for democratic rights in the workplace and society.

“The Algerian authorities are not only ignoring the calls for change. They are actively repressing those organisations and individuals who are demanding their rights. We call on the government to immediately stop this repression, including the anti-union actions which violate Algeria’s Constitution and internationally-recognised human rights” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.