2016 ITUC Global Rights Index - Algeria

Contract teachers' protest violently suppressed: On 21 March 2016, in Algiers, a sit-in being held by contract teachers in front of the Education Ministry was violently dispersed by the police. The teachers were responding to the call of the Comité des Enseignants Contractuels et Vacataires (Committee of Contractual and Replacement Teachers). The teachers, some of whom have been in their jobs for 10 to 15 years, have been demanding permanent posts for several years. The demonstrators who refused to move were beaten. According to Human Rights Watch, two women teachers were kicked by police officers. The ITUC, which lent its support to the demonstrators, reported that one of them, Fullah Jalal, had suffered a fracture to her leg. Around thirty teachers who had taken refuge at the Maison des Syndicats and spent the night there were arrested on 22 March, at dawn, and taken to the police station in Mohammedia. They were released at the end of the day.

The protest movement spread. In the Kabylie region, hundreds of contract teachers rallied in Bejaia, from where they began a march to Algiers on 27 March. Many others joined them on route. After over 200km, there were between a thousand and two thousand marchers. But on 4 April, in Boudouaou, on the outskirts of Algiers, the police forced the teachers to end their march. A number of them subsequently embarked on a hunger strike.

These actions were strongly supported by the most active teachers' unions.

Several trade unionists and human rights activists arrested at the Maison des Syndicats: On 6 February 2016, at around 10.30 a.m., on the orders of the Wali (governor) of Algiers, several hundred police officers surrounded the Maison des Syndicats in Bab Ezzouar, to the east of Algiers, to prevent the holding of a meeting to discuss the country's social, economic and political situation. Several people were arrested, including Lofti Allam, president of the Syndicat National du Transport (SNATT), and human rights activists, Salah Dabouz, president of the Algerian human rights defence league, LADDH, and Hacène Ferhati of SOS Disparus (SOS Disappeared).

Relentless repression of social protest in industrial sector: During a strike at the end of April at ArcelorMittal Pipes and Tubes Algeria (AMPTA), two trade union representatives were suspended and then dismissed for "incitement to violence and illegal strike action". The management's refusal to reinstate Lofti Farah, general secretary of the UGTA-affiliated union, and Abdelghani Atil, president of the participation committee, led to a deadlock in the dispute that continued unresolved at the end of 2015.

During a strike initiated on May Day in Oran, two trade unionists (UGTA) were dismissed by the management of the tramway company SETRAM, linked to the French transport group RATP. The strike subsequently spread to Algiers and Constantine and led to the dismissal of a third trade unionist in the capital. The Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) and the International Transport Federation denounced these practices violating the labour law and trade union rights.

In June, six workers on strike at the national gold mining company, ENOR, in Tamanrasset, were dismissed.

During the first half of 2015, workers' representatives at Peugeot-Algeria reported the many tactics used by the management to obstruct the exercise of trade union rights. The local UGTA branch, after receiving no response to two requests to hold a general meeting of workers, finally held the meeting outside the company's premises on 14 March, the day prior to the election of a "participation committee" supported by the management. Acting in breach of the national legislation on labour rights as well as the provisions of the PSA group's global framework agreement on social responsibility, it also dismissed one of the workers' representatives.

In October, the management at transport company ETUSA suspended nine workers, including four trade unionists (UGTA), during a protest.

On 1 December, during a protest at the industrial vehicles company SNVI in the Rouiba industrial zone, anti-riot police repressed demonstrators, injuring several of them and detaining 12 workers, including one trade union representative, for several hours.

Following the establishment of a union (UGTA) in mid-November at SNC BAPIVA, the company in charge of the Tizi-Ouzou cable car project, the management sacked three trade union representatives.