The decision to restore the former trade unions in Sudan .. a necessity or a plot?

Ahmed Fadl-Khartoum

As soon as the gathering of Sudanese professionals stepped up their positions against the military council by calling for a general strike and civil disobedience, the military quickly abolished the ban on trade unions and professional associations controlled by loyalists of the former regime.

Despite indications that regional imperatives have forced the military to review its decision to freeze trade unions, its coinciding with the strikes may not make it an innocent decision.

With dozens of organizations joining the vigil to prepare for a general strike and civil disobedience in response to a call by the professional community, Maj. Gen. Hamdan Hamidi, vice-president of the junta, used his address to civil service leaders on Wednesday and announced the return of banned unions.

And only hours until the decision of the Military Council on the same day to cancel its decision on the freezing of trade unions and professional associations.

Review the decision
The president of the Union of Sudanese Journalists Sadiq al-Rizaqi denies that the decision of the military council was a plot or a reaction to the calls for strike and disobedience.

"Since the decision to dissolve the unions more than two weeks ago, the head of the military junta met with the head of Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, his deputy Hamidati and the senior leaders of the council. He told them that the decision was inappropriate and Sudan would lose international positions.

"I asked the heads of other unions of the Council to review the decision and this was before the recent escalation of disobedience and even before the negotiations between the Council and the forces of freedom and change."

Al-Ruzaiqi points out that the freezing decision started with many shortcomings and was not valid because it has no legal basis. It did not take into consideration regional and international commitments and locations where most of the leaders of the Sudanese professional associations and the Sudan Trade Union Union are concerned.

He stressed that the previous decision would have hindered the regional and global trade union, which would lose the Sudanese positions that were not easily obtained, saying that the unions are part of regional and international unions that refuse government intervention.

External pressure
It seems that members of unions and unions have taken advantage of their positions in regional and international organizations and succeeded in forcing the military council to review the ban on trade unions.

Al Jazeera Net reviewed a letter from the Executive Office and the General Council of the Organization of African Trade Union Unity describing the decision of the Military Council of Sudan to freeze the activity of professional associations as a flagrant violation of the international conventions on trade union freedoms.

According to the letter, the Organization of African Trade Union Unity requested a review of the decision, and threatened to lodge a complaint with the International Labor Organization and all concerned regional and international bodies.

The organization rejected the decision and condemned it as an arbitrary and repressive measure and a violation of regional and international legislation in the area of ​​freedom of trade union work, describing it as a blatant interference in the affairs of trade unions, "which is rejected by the provisions of international conventions on labor."

Siding of the revolution
In contrast, the unions of government institutions rejected the decision of the military council to unblock them, most notably the Central Bank of Sudan Syndicate.

The Syndicate of the Bank of Sudan, "2016-2020," on Thursday resigned, and transferred its functions to the Steering Committee respect for the collection of class and to prevent any differences between employees.

"The military junta's game of dismantling the trade union freeze will not fool us, the revolution has changed the president of the country and we can not accept the entities created by the deposed president," he said.

Mohammed Esmat Yahya, a senior official at the Bank of Sudan and a leader of the Forces for Freedom and Change, did not hesitate to describe the military council's decision as bad intentions and intended to thwart civil disobedience.

"The decision of the Syndicate of the Bank of Sudan is a big blow to the plots that are being forged to disrupt the revolution and strip it of its civilization," Ismat told Al Jazeera Net.

He added that since the victory of the revolution, consultations were held within the Central Bank on how to maintain the unity of workers, and resulted in the establishment of a Steering Committee after the understanding of the former union as non-followers of the former regime.

Workers at the Central Bank of Sudan organized protest vigils in front of Khartoum headquarters, state offices in Dongola in the northern state, Kassala in eastern Sudan, and Wood Madani, capital of the state of Jazira and El Geneina in West Darfur.

Calls for strike
Whatever the motives of the military council's decision to unravel the trade union ban, it is a brake on the revolutionary legitimacy of a group of Sudanese professionals who, together with opposition allies, have been protesting since last December that succeeded in ousting President Omar al-Bashir.

The group, he says, is surrounded by protesters in front of the army's general command, who are pressing for the military to hand over power to civilians.

The gathering of professionals has won support for his call for strike and disobedience in dozens of institutions in the capital Khartoum and the states as part of his plans to gain more papers against the military, he said on his official Facebook page.

Two days ago, the assembly broadcast images and videos of protest vigils in public and private institutions supporting the strike and disobedience to the transfer of power from the military to civilians.

In a statement on Thursday, the assembly criticized the military council's decision to unblock the unions and unions of the former regime and considered the move "a reaction serving the agenda of the counterrevolution, working to dispel the gains of the revolution and return the country to the square of empowerment and tyranny."

The statement called for sharpening the momentum in all institutions and workplaces to complete the formation of steering committees and preparatory committees, and mobilizing the rules to restore independent trade union activity as a guarantor of the completion of the revolution.