Strike shuts down one of Tunisia’s major mining towns over infrastructure concerns

Tunisia’s regional URT labor union has convened a strike Thursday, in Om Laarayes, a major mining town in the southwest of the country. Businesses, schools and major institutions all shut down to protest dangerous and worsening infrastructure, just days after a deadly road accident, sparked outrage among residents. According to reporting by AFP, in the mining hub of Gafsa, people have been demanding the revival of phosphate production, hoping to improve the local economy and job market. In 2010 Tunisia produced around eight million tons of phosphate, but in recent years that has fallen by half.