UPDATE - Tunisia gov't, labor union reach deal on public wages

UPDATES WITH ENDORSEMENT OF DEAL BY UGGT

By Adil Essabiti

TUNIS (AA) – Tunisia’s largest labor union on Thursday concluded a preliminary deal with the government to increase public-sector salaries.

The draft agreement calls for raising the salaries of some 650,000 civil servants, Tunisia’s total public-sector workforce, a source from the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGGT), told Anadolu Agency.

At a Thursday press conference, UGGT Secretary-General Noureddine Taboubi announced that the terms of the deal had been approved by the union’s administrative committee.

The deal is expected to be officially endorsed by the government on Thursday evening, Taboubi added.

He did not disclose any details of the agreement, which comes following months of talks between the UGGT and government negotiators.

Last month, the union threatened to organize a two-day general strike by civil servants on Feb. 20 and 21.

And on Jan. 17, thousands of Tunisian civil servants stayed home as part of a general strike organized by the UGGT to demand higher wages.

That strike, however, failed to persuade the government to meet longstanding demands for higher public-sector salaries.

Since Tunisia’s popular uprising in 2011, the country has weathered at least three major labor strikes to protest deteriorating economic conditions.

Tunisia was the birthplace of the "Arab Spring" uprisings that swept the Middle East and North Africa in early 2011.

Tunisia’s popular uprising forced its authoritarian ruler, Zein Al Abidine Ben Ali, to step down -- and eventually leave the country -- after almost 25 years in power.