No smiling for Algerian workers : explaining the modest harvest of the labour movement during the Hirak

Between March 2019 and October 2021, Algerian workers staged no fewer than 214 strikes, playing a vital role in the fall of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and continuing to mobilise in the aftermath. Yet, they have gained little. This article constructs an innovative dataset on strikes in Algeria, which draws on both French-language and Arabic newspapers, to explain why workers have achieved only modest gains. It does so by pointing to three crucial factors: the separation between the 'economic' and 'political' wings of the protest movement; the division between workers in the private and public sectors; and the split between the former sole trade union in the country and the autonomous unions.