The Trade Union Movement of Tunisian University Teachers

Abstract

In his study, al-Saidani starts with the rise of mass popularity of Tunisia’s public university, its excessive centralism, and the stages of its structural changes to consider the problems of its operation, governance, and pedagogy, and the internal and external responses characteristic of Tunisian university institutions, over the last two decades in particular. He then sets out a historical periodization of university teachers’ union movement based on three indicators: the organizational structure in its relation to the democratic nature of union activity, the representativeness of its relationship with participation in union activity, and the relationship with the centralized union leadership, as represented by the Tunisian General Labor Union. The author then attempts to cast light on the required strategies for union organizations representing Tunisian university teachers, such as the prospects for implementing partnership, consultation, and planning. The extent of the democratization of union practice is linked with the general political context and the degree to which it facilitates the practice of political and union freedoms, such as the one that led to the explosion of the Tunisian revolution on December 17, 2010.