(Bloomberg) — Tunisia’s government and an influential labor union agreed on a wage hike for public sector workers, a move that could help ease frictions as the North African nation seeks International Monetary Fund aid.
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The government and the UGTT union agreed to a 3.5% increase in wages for roughly 680,000 public sector and civil service employees, the state-run TAP news agency reported Wednesday. The increase would be effective next year and runs through 2025, it said.
The UGTT has frequently clashed with the government, a problem for securing IMF aid. The IMF says broad consensus is needed among key stakeholders in Tunisia to unlock the support.
Read also: Top Tunisian Officials Differ Over Urgency of Securing IMF Deal
Tunisia is embroiled in its worst political crisis in over a decade. It has been struggling to revive its economy which was battered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic ripple effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Inflation has been climbing steadily, squeezing the population where youth unemployment has long been a major challenge.
The UGTT has opposed government spending cuts and austerity measures and has also voiced concerns about President Kais Saied’s assuming broader powers — a move critics dub a coup in the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings. Saied says this is untrue and has blamed the ailing economy on mismanagement and corruption by previous administrations.
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