Union générale des travailleurs algériens

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The General Union of Algerian Workers ( French Union générale des travailleurs algériens , often abbreviated to UGTA ; Arabic الاتحاد العام للعمال الجزائريين, DMG al-Ittiḥad al-ʿāmm li-l-ʿummāl al-ǧazāʾiriyyīn ) is a trade union in Algeria . It was founded by the FLN during the Algerian War in 1956 and was the country's unified union until 1990.

history

The organization was founded in 1956 by the FLN underground during the 1956 Algerian War. After the country gained independence, the UGTA took over the role of the unified union in the one-party state created by the FLN. At the time of independence in 1962, the organization had around 300,000 members. After Ahmed Ben Bella had asserted himself in the FLN's internal power struggle as president, the UGTA was politically closely tied to the party. An attempt by Ben Bellas from the ranks of the UGTA militiamen as a counterweight to the army had no consequences when the military came to power under Hourai Boumedienne in 1965. Large parts of the members were supporters of self-governing factories and farms, in contrast to the leadership set up by the FLN. In 1969, 12.8% of the country's industrial operations were in self-government sponsored by the UGTA. Over time, however, this model came to a standstill in favor of state capitalism .

With its secular orientation, the organization came into ideological opposition to the emerging Islamist currents in the country as early as the 1960s. At the end of 1990, as part of the political liberalization of the country, the UGTA lost its status as a unified trade union when the Islamic Salvation Front was allowed to set up its own workers' organization.

UGTA is a member of the International Trade Union Confederation (IGB). In the membership list of the IGB, the membership of the UGTA is given as 2,567,600 (as of November 2017).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Mahfoud Bennoune: The Making of Contemporary Algeria 1830 - 1987 , Cambridge, 1988, pp. 97, 104, 123, 139
  2. ↑ John Ruedy: Modern Algeria - The Origins and Development of a Nation , 2nd edition. Bloomington, 2005, pp. 198f, 206-208, 275, 287
  3. ↑ Michael Willis: The Islamist Challenge in Algeria , Reading, 1996 p. 41, p. 125f
  4. ↑ IGB Membership List , accessed on May 22, 2018

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