Truck Drivers’ Strike: Legitimate Demands in the Face of Denial and Stigmatization

🗓️ Published on: 11/01/2026

The truck drivers’ strike continues across numerous provinces of the country and remains ongoing to this day, clearly reflecting the depth of the crisis affecting this vital sector and the growing level of anger and frustration among drivers.

The Trade Union Confederation of Productive Forces has documented multiple testimonies from drivers who stated, openly and without ambiguity, that they are prepared to leave the profession altogether and seek alternative livelihoods if clear and binding guarantees are not provided to suspend the adoption of the newtraffic law in its current form.

Criminalizing the Strike: A Dangerous Drift and a Violation of Workers’ and Human Rights

The official and media discourse that seeks to stigmatize the exercise of the right to strike and equate it with threats to state security represents a dangerous and unacceptable drift. The right to strike is a fundamental human right, guaranteed by the Algerian Constitution—particularly Article 70—and protected by the conventions of the International Labour Organization, most of which Algeria has ratified. There is no more peaceful or legitimate means for workers to express their social and professional demands.

Threats to state security or the national interest have precise legal and political definitions and cannot, under any circumstances, be confused with a peaceful collective action carried out by workers defending legitimate rights. This deliberate conflation serves only the logic of repression and sets a grave precedent that undermines public freedoms and trade union rights.

Announcements of “Ending the Strike”: Systematic Misinformation

The Confederation notes with deep concern the constant flow of statements issued by the Algerian General Union of Workers (UGTA), published daily in national newspapers, repeatedly claiming that the strike has ended—despite the fact that this strike has no connection whatsoever to the UGTA or to the unions affiliated with it.

Even more striking is the total silence maintained by both public and private media during the initial days of the strike, despite the massive participation of workers and the collective halt in activity that paralyzed the transport sector nationwide for over a week. This paralysis was such that military trucks were reportedly deployed to ensure the transportation of goods at the national level.

This raises a legitimate question: what are the real objectives behind flooding the media landscape with misleading statements? Why was a legitimate workers’ protest ignored at its outset, only for the narrative of “ending the strike” to dominate later, in a clear attempt to mislead striking workers and deceive both national and international public opinion?

Facts on the ground refute these claims. The strike remains ongoing, and despite repeated attempts, this organization has failed to break it or influence the striking workforce—revealing the depth of the disconnect between it and the workers it claims to represent.

Dialogue Without Real Representatives: The Authorities Talking to Themselves

It is both incomprehensible and unacceptable that the President of the Council of the Nation, or any official authority, would open so-called“dialogue”channels with organizations that have no connection to the striking workers or their grassroots base.

Through this approach, the authorities are not engaging with workers but rather engaging in self-dialogue, remaining entirely detached from the lived professional and social realities of truck drivers and from the concrete demands being raised on the ground.

Clear and Legitimate Demands… A Fully Lawful Strike

The demands of the striking drivers are clear, reasonable, and legitimate. They include, first and foremost, the suspension of the traffic law bill in its current punitive and unjust form; the availability of original spare parts, which have become scarce and prohibitively expensive, threatening the sustainability of the profession; and the rehabilitation of deteriorated and potholed roads across the country, which daily lead to unintentional violations such as lighting failures and technical damage caused by poor infrastructure.

These demands do not undermine the national interest, as some claim. On the contrary, they serve it directly by seeking to ensure minimum conditions of safety, dignity, and professionalism in the transport sector—conditions that grant the strike its full legal and moral legitimacy.

Independent Unionism: Systematic Exclusion and Imposed Representation

No serious solution to the crisis can be envisioned without addressing the repression suffered by the Independent Union of Road Users last year, which was arbitrarily prevented from operating. Its founding members were summoned by the General Directorate of Internal Security in an attempt to force them to abandon their independent trade union project.

Today, the government must assume its responsibility by allowing this independent union to freely organize and operate, instead of imposing the UGTA as a “representative” body, despite its total failure to genuinely represent workers and its growing rejection across sectors and professions.

Arrests and Imprisonment of Strikers: A Dangerous Escalation and Strike-Breaking Attempts

Recent weeks have witnessed systematic campaigns of arrests targeting strikers, with some being imprisoned on charges related to “undermining the national interest.” Repression has extended even to citizens who merely filmed strikers and shared videos on social media platforms.

In a recent appearance on North Africa Television, the President of the Trade Union Confederation of Productive Forces stated:

“The security crackdown and the instrumentalization of the judiciary to suppress the truck drivers’ protest movement expose the political bankruptcy of the authorities and their refusal of any genuine dialogue. Repressing independent unions capable of organizing responsible strikes while ensuring minimum service will only accumulate social tension. When that tension eventually explodes, the authorities will find no one left to negotiate with.”

The Strike Is Not a Security Crisis, but a Symptom of Policy Failure

The truck drivers’ strike is not a security issue. It is the direct result of failed public policies, the absence of meaningful social dialogue, and a trade union representation imposed by force.

Any genuine way out of this crisis necessarily requires acknowledging the legitimacy of workers’ demands, respecting the right to strike, and engaging in serious and responsible dialogue with the true representatives of workers—away from denial, misinformation, and tutelage.