Despite the success of Tunisia’s transition to democracy, the transitional period has presented the country with important socioeconomic challenges. Among them, public sector reform has proven to be a major concern for post-2011 governments. Massive recruitments operated in the aftermath of the outset of Ben Ali’s regime have led to a significant increase in the size of the public sector. As a consequence, the increase in Tunisia’s public sector wage bill combined with high subsidy payments and stagnating revenues, has caused severe macro-economic imbalances.
Starting from 2015, the fiscal imbalances and the worsening of economic situation pushed the government to negotiate financial stabilization packages with the IMF in return for credit lines. Aiming at reducing the budget deficit, the government sought to freeze hiring in the public sector and suspend salaries increase that had already been agreed upon with the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) and its affiliated sectoral unions. This agreement has made the reform of public sector a central point in the austerity measures exacerbating conflicts between the UGTT and the government.
This research analyses the main points of contention at stake focusing on two main points: the cuts in the budget of the education sector negatively affecting teachers’ working conditions on one hand and the freezing of employment in this sector and beyond in the public sector. This paper will analyze the challenges related to the public sector reform and contentious politics associated to the introduction of austerity measures. It emphasizes on the conflict between teachers’ union, a sectoral union affiliated to the UGTT on the one hand and the government on the other. It will shed light on the strategies pursued by different actors, namely, the teachers’ union, the leadership of the UGTT and the government. It aims lastly at analyzing how the contentious interactions between these actors have shaped the relations between sectoral unions within the UGTT and between the latter and the government and how the outcome of these conflicts would impact the prospect of democratic consolidation in Tunisia.
