Tunisian public sector demands salary increases and warns of widespread deterioration
via Business News1 min read
The public sector group of the Tunisian General Labour Union UGTT met on April 18, 2026, to address the economic, social, and professional situation in Tunisia. They called for urgent measures, including salary increases for the current year. Participants emphasized their commitment to the UGTT and their pride in the public sector as a pillar of the national economy, stating that public sector agents continue to perform their duties with a high sense of responsibility despite difficulties. The group highlighted an accelerated deterioration of working conditions, citing deficiencies in occupational health and safety, decaying infrastructure, and a lack of resources and equipment. They also noted a governance deficit, which directly impacts the sector's performance and service quality. The statement further pointed to the declining living conditions of workers due to continuous price increases and lamented the absence of serious and effective dialogue between worker representatives and supervisory authorities, which they believe hinders reforms and delays concrete solutions. In response, public sector representatives are demanding a salary increase for 2026 to offset the erosion of purchasing power and a tangible improvement in working conditions. They reiterated their commitment to social dialogue as a central lever for effective and sustainable reforms. The group announced its mobilization for the trade union gathering scheduled at Mohamed Ali Square for Labour Day, urging al
Free daily or weekly digest of the most important stories from across 18 African countries. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Business News.
During a series of site visits, President Kaïs Saïed addressed various administrative dysfunctions, particularly concerning water and electricity services. Visiting the Ghdir El Golla hydraulic complex and the Oued Medjerda flood protection project, the President acknowledged the efforts of technical teams but strongly criticized persistent failures. He stated that the situation, marked by repeated power outages and water distribution issues, cannot continue, emphasizing the need for officials to take responsibility and accelerate reforms. Saïed stressed that each region should have its own maintenance workshops and spare parts to reduce intervention times for repairs. He also highlighted the importance of a national water management strategy to better utilize resources and called for the preservation of national heritage, inspecting the restoration of the historic Qantara Bizerte bridge. The President's visits, following a period of absence, underscored his commitment to reforming state services and improving public administration responsiveness.
Tunisian Olympic champion Ahmed Ayoub Hafnaoui secured two gold medals at the Florida Summer Championships in the United States. On the night of Saturday, July 18 to Sunday, July 19, 2026, he won the 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3 minutes 50.45 seconds. This victory followed his earlier win in the 200-meter freestyle, where he finished in 1 minute 50.76 seconds. These performances indicate a strong return to form for the 23-year-old swimmer, who is aiming to be in peak condition for upcoming international events, including the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, Italy, scheduled from August 21 to September 3. Hafnaoui rose to prominence with his 400m freestyle Olympic title at the Tokyo 2021 Games. He further solidified his status at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, winning two world titles in the 800m and 1,500m freestyle, and a silver medal in the 400m. He also earned a world silver medal in the 1,500m short course in Abu Dhabi in 2021. His recent double gold in Florida sends a positive signal about his readiness to compete among the world's top swimmers.
On Sunday, July 19, 2026, users worldwide experienced a major outage affecting the web versions of Facebook and Instagram. Attempts to log in from computers resulted in error messages. Facebook displayed "Account temporarily unavailable. Your account is currently unavailable due to a site issue. We hope to resolve this quickly. Please try again in a few minutes." Instagram's web version showed "Sorry, something went wrong. We're working on it and we'll get it fixed as soon as we can." Mobile applications for both social networks appeared to be functioning normally, suggesting the outage primarily impacted browser-based services. The specialized website DownDetector reported a significant increase in user complaints early in the morning, confirming the widespread nature of the incident. Many users also reported their difficulties on other accessible social media platforms. As of now, Meta has not released a statement regarding the cause of the outage or an estimated time for full restoration of services. Users are advised to wait or use the mobile applications, which seem unaffected.