"the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild (WBNG) Executive Council" soutient le SNJT

From the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild (WBNG) Executive Council

Resolution to support the inalienable right of Tunisian journalists to form and join the union of their choice, to collectively bargain their terms and conditions of employment, and to operate free from all government interference in their chosen unions and in their workplaces.The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) was established in January 2008 after decades of struggle by Tunisian journalists to form a union beyond the reach of government control. Many journalists and their family members were jailed, beaten, put under house arrest and/ continuous surveillance, defamed, or forced into exile during the struggle.Since its formation, pro-government elements, with the support of the Tunisian judiciary, have manoeuvred to stranglehold the union's executive bureau, culminating in a putsch on August 15 in which the advisor to the ruling party's general secretary took power. The 'extra-ordinary congress' at which the putsch happened was held at a venue donated by the government, and a message was sent from the meeting praising the government of Ben Ali.In defiance of the extra-ordinary congress and its putschists, the SNJT will hold a congress on September 12 to legitimately elect its leaders. In the lead-up to the congress, more than 100 police officers have surrounded its offices, the founding general secretary has been assaulted by police, and it is widely expected that the congress will be forcibly blocked or interrupted on Saturday.Events thus far have had a chilling effect on union members. The events expected to surround the congress could be the nail in the coffin of this new but historically important union in Tunisia and the Arab World.President Ben Ali is expected to be re-elected President of Tunisia on October 25, renewing an uninterrupted mandate that began when he took power in a coup in 1987.The WBNG calls upon President Ben Ali of Tunisia to guarantee an immediate end to all physical violence, psychological intimidation, legal manoeuvring and work-place harassment on the part of the Tunisian security forces, judicial system, state employers and members of the ruling political party against all members of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.In doing so, the WBNG joins with the International Federation of Journalists and the International Trade Union Confederation in demanding freedom of association for journalists in Tunisia . The establishment of a journalist's union, able to operate independently of the government machine, is essential to breaking the deadlock on freedom of expression in Tunisia, and in restoring dignity to the profession in one of the Arab World's darkest spots for press freedom.