Between the hammer and the anvil: the trade unions and the 2011 Arab uprisings in Morocco and Tunisia

This thesis investigates the divergent role of the trade unions in the 2011 uprisings of Morocco and Tunisia. In Morocco, most labour confederations supported constitutional reform that guaranteed the continuity of the incumbent regime. By contrast, in Tunisia, the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT) called regional general strikes that contributed to the downfall of President Ben Ali. These outcomes appear paradoxical in light of institution-based studies of North African trade unions before 2011, in which the trade unions’ mobilising potential was underestimated for “single-trade union” Tunisia and overstated for “union pluralist” Morocco. This thesis argues that, although labour institutions significantly mediate social conflict (or significantly fail to do so), class struggle and class power transcend and transform labour institutions in ways that are missed by institution-based research. Such dynamics are innovatively interpreted through an expanded conception of the working class that goes beyond manual waged workers. In this way, this thesis sheds new light on the relations between the subjectivities that came to the fore in the 2011 uprisings, particularly precarious youths, and long-standing labour confederations. The thesis draws on original empirical material, which is interpreted through a historical sociology framework, which combines autonomist Marxism with elements of historical institutionalism to see working-class power and labour institutions as outcomes of previous class struggles. The historical chapters of the thesis show how different systems of labour institutions and different levels of working-class power were built in the two countries since independence through divergent trajectories of class struggle. The chapters focusing on the 2011 uprisings show how such factors contributed to shaping the role of the trade unions in the protests. This thesis finds that relatively high levels of working-class power facilitated a more active role of the trade unions in protests for social change and contributed – among other factors – to a more extensive change in a democratic direction. Additionally, workers and trade unions were more likely to promote social change in an abrupt and insurrectional manner when they faced a relatively rigid system of labour institutions. By showing how historical rounds of social and particularly class conflict contributed to shaping the divergent roles of the trade unions in the 2011 uprisings of Morocco and Tunisia, this thesis fills a significant gap in the published literature and shows the merits of a historical, class-based, and struggle-centred approach to studying trade unions.