Union Tunisienne Des Industrialistes, Compagnies, Artisans (UTICA)

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UNION TUNISIENNE DES INDUSTRIALISTES, COMPAGNIES, ARTISANS (UTICA)

Tunisian federation of employers.

The Tunisian Union of Industrialists, Businessmen, and Artisans (UTICA) was created during the third congress of the Neo-Destour Party on 17 October 1948. Initially called Union Tunisienne de l'Industrie et du Commerce (Tunisian Union of Industry and Commerce) and later the Union Tunisienne de l'Industrie, du Commerce, et de l'Artisanat (Tunisian Federation of Industry, Commerce, and Handicrafts), the union represents the interests of Tunisian employers as signatories of pacts regarding wages and work conditions in the Tunisian market. As of 2003, Hédi Djilani became the president of the union.

UTICA regularly negotiates wages and working conditions with the government and the Union Générale des Travailleurs Tunisiens (General Union of Tunisian Workers; UGTT). Based on these negotiations, the government sets annual wages for the labor force. The 1956 labor code guarantees a minimum wage, provides for arbitration to settle disputes, authorizes union membership, sets the work week and other labor standards, and provides for social security and disability insurance payments. The government also seeks to ensure that wages do not lag behind inflation. In May 1999, the Tunisian government increased minimum monthly wages in the public and private sectors by between 3.3 percent and 3.7 percent. Amendments to the labor code in 1994 and 1996 allowed firms to consider an employee's productivity when evaluating salary, to set working hours according to their needs, and to base part of an employee's salary on productivity; it also allowed layoffs based on economic or technological needs.

Since 1986, Tunisia's economic restructuring program has led to the privatization of a number of public conglomerates, the reduction of food subsidies, and a general liberalization of the economy. Tunisia's economic liberalization is linked to structural adjustment policies under the patronage of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, upon which the country depends for financial support. The liberalization of Tunisia's economy has taken place within the framework of a structural adjustment program (1986); adherence to the General Agreement on Terms of Trade (GATT) in 1989 and membership in the World Trade Organization since 1994; and the signing of a free-trade agreement with the European Union in 1995.

UTICA supported the construction in 1999 of the Elgazala Technology Park in Ariana (a city north of Tunis). The union views the transfer of technology and automation to Tunisia as a key to the country's economic diversification and a necessary step toward attracting foreign investment.

In the international sphere, UTICA has become prominent in strengthening economic ties between the Tunisian government and other developing nations. In March 2003, UTICA signed a series of agreements with its Moroccan counterpart, the Confédération Générale des Enterprises du Maroc (General Confederation of Enterprises in Morocco), to promote the integration of both economic regions. The two organizations called for the implementation of the Moroccan-Tunisian free-trade agreement, the creation of a databank of joint industrial projects, and the deregulation of customs duties. Outside the Arab world, UTICA has played a prominent role in the strengthening of commercial ties between Tunisia and Pakistan. In October 2002, UTICA signed an agreement with its Pakistani counterpart to set up a joint business council between their respective national chambers of commerce.

see also union gÉnÉrale des travailleurs tunisiens (ugtt).