Prior to

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

n independence in 1962, trade unions in Algeria were structured within regional organizations of French trade unions. After independence the

General Union of Algerian Workers The General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA; , ) is the main Algerian trade union, established February 24, 1956 with the objective of mobilizing Algerian labour against French colonial and capitalist interests. It was banned shortly afterwards, i ...

(UGTA) became the sole

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

center. The UGTA was linked with the Front de Libération nationale; however, in 1989, with constitutional changes and new laws the UGTA was distanced from the FLN and no longer retained the position of sole trade union center. Despite this, the UGTA continues to be, in practice, the only center - with few trade unions outside its affiliation. During the

Algerian Civil War The Algerian Civil War (), known in Algeria as the Black Decade (, ), was a civil war fought between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups from 11 January 1992 (following a 1992 Algerian coup d'état, coup negating an Islami ...

the trade union movement was caught in the same violence that killed large numbers of civilians. Both

ICTUR The International Centre for Trade Union Rights (ICTUR) is "an organizing and campaigning body with the fundamental purpose of defending and improving the rights of trade unions and trade unionists throughout the world." ICTUR has accredited statu ...

and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

report many deaths of trade union activists, concluding that the reasons for their deaths are difficult to determine, given the chaotic times. Reasons range from deaths directly related to union activities, through to other political issues (such as fundamentalist views of women teachers), and endemic random violence.

References

International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions Economy of the Arab League {{Algeria-stub