According to local media, Tunisian General Trade Union has welcomed on the 2nd of December 2020, the first group of migrant workers from West and Sub-saharan Africa as union members today.

In a statement, the Labor Union stressed that the handing over of a number of African workers in Tunisia membership cards to the union is a historic step that confirms the leading role of the working organization in defending freedoms and human rights, confronting racism and ensuring justice between races, noting that the representative of the International Labor Organization considered this step Bold and spoke for the first time in the Arab and African region ».

On the occasion, Tunisian General Union also stressed the importance to provide a legal framework that protects African workers and other workers in Tunisia from exploitation, racism and striking at their social and economic rights.

Representatives of sub-Saharan African immigrants working in Tunisia expressed their pride in this gesture and this stance on the part of the Tunisian General Labor Union, according to the same source. For her part, Assistant Secretary General of the Union in charge of the Department of International Relations, Naima Hammami, highlighted the union’s interest in migrant workers in Tunisia, regardless of their nationality, in implementation of what is stipulated in the Federation’s Basic Law. Organize them by union. Al-Hamami revealed that there are four bodies concerned today within the union with the rights of African immigrants, namely Greater Tunis, Sousse, Sfax and Medenine.

According to the report of the Tunisian National Commission to Combat Trafficking in Persons for the year 2018, 172 foreigners who were vulnerable to exploitation in domestic workers, construction, entertainment, agriculture and others were pledged.