The Nationwide Truckers’ Strike in Algeria Enters Its Fourth Day: Legitimate Demands in the Face of Repression and Threats

🗓️ Published on: 04/01/2026

For the fourth consecutive day,Algeria is witnessing growing and widespread support for the open-ended nationwide strike by transport workers, marking one of the largest professional protest movements the country has experienced in recent years. The strike, involving hundreds of thousands of truck drivers and transporters of goods and fuel, has led to a near-total halt in the transport of commodities and petroleum products, resulting in severe disruption and visible paralysis across national and regional road networks.

This situation has had a direct and tangible impact on everyday life. Public anger continues to mount as markets are progressively emptied of essential goods following four consecutive days of suspended freight transport. Despite the scale of the disruption, there are still no credible or serious indications that the authorities are addressing the real structural causes of the crisis.

Security Crackdown Instead of Dialogue

Rather than responding to the legitimate demands of transport workers or opening serious and responsible channels of dialogue, the authorities have once again resorted to a security-based approach. Since the very first day of the strike, dozens of videos circulating on social media have documented repeated interventions by police and gendarmerie forces, including threats directed at transporters and attempts to coerce them into resuming work by force.

These methods have failed to break the strike. On the contrary, they have been met with widespread resistance and a collective refusal to submit to intimidation. Many transport workers have publicly stated, through testimonies and recorded video statements, that they have stopped working altogether as drivers and have shifted to other professions. They insist that returning to work under the current conditions is simply impossible in light of the new traffic law, which imposes harsh and inhumane penalties for the slightest mistake, without any consideration for working conditions or the realities of the profession.

Rejecting the Stigmatization of Drivers as “Road Terrorists”

Statements made by government officials, including the Minister of Transport, labeling transport workers as “road terrorists,” have triggered waves of outrage and condemnation throughout the sector. Transport workers have denounced these remarks as irresponsible and provocative, arguing that they have directly fueled anger and social tension instead of contributing to de-escalation.

Drivers, supported by experts and large segments of the public, emphasize that the real danger on Algeria’s roads does not originate with drivers themselves, but rather from chronic structural failures. They point to poorly designed and severely degraded infrastructure, widespread potholes and crumbling roads, the absence of public lighting, the lack of proper road signage, chaotic road markings and barriers, and the proliferation of speed bumps installed without prior warning.

They also highlight the widespread presence of open construction sites operated by contractors who disregard even the most basic safety standards. According to them, these systemic deficiencies are the direct causes of deadly traffic accidents, not drivers who are forced to work under dangerous conditions and then punished without mercy.

Threats by Naftal: A Dangerous Escalation

In this context, Naftal issued a strongly worded statement threatening transporters with contract termination and legal proceedings. Transport workers and trade union observers view this statement as a clear expression of a coercive and repressive logic, rather than a genuine effort to seek solutions.

Instead of announcing concrete measures to suspend or revise the unfair traffic law, the company opted for the language of threats. This position aligns closely with a broader governmental approach that, according to many analysts, increasingly relies on security forces and the judiciary as instruments for managing social crises, rather than engaging in dialogue with social actors and civil society.

Attempts to Break the Strike and Ride the Wave: A Complete Failure

The protest movement has also faced attempts to undermine and break the strike, particularly by the General Union of Algerian Workers. A meeting was announced between this union and the Ministry of the Interior, resulting in superficial measures such as raising transport fares. This decision was widely perceived as shifting the burden of the crisis onto ordinary citizens, instead of addressing the core issue at stake, namely the traffic law itself.

The move sparked fierce backlash from rank-and-file workers, and the slogan “The UGTA does not represent me” quickly became one of the most widely shared messages on the fourth day of the open-ended strike. As a result, the credibility of the government-aligned union has deteriorated even further, reaching what many workers and transporters describe as an all-time low, particularly after its repeated and unsuccessful attempts to break the strike.

Following this clear failure, the head of the union confederation, Ammar Takjout, appeared in the media on 4 January 2026, declaring that he and his organization opposed what he described as “unorganized and chaotic strikes.”

He issued thinly veiled threats against the striking transporters—statements that political analysts interpret as an implicit admission that the union has lost both its political leverage and its capacity on the ground to undermine the strike, and is no longer able to play that role

Position of the Trade Union Confederation of Productive Forces

The nationwide strike by transport workers is neither chaos nor “road terrorism.” It is a legitimate protest movement against an unjust law, failed public policies, and the systematic marginalization of workers’ voices.

Any attempt to end this strike through force, intimidation, or illegitimate union maneuvering will only deepen the crisis and further expand the scope of social anger.

The only serious and responsible way forward lies in suspending the implementation of the new traffic law, opening genuine and transparent dialogue with the real representatives of transport workers, undertaking a structural overhaul of road infrastructure, and fully respecting trade union rights and the right to strike as fundamental pillars of any genuine and lasting social stability.

“A video statement by the organization’s president, Brother Raouf Mellal, addressing the issue.”