Algeria / Employers’ Federation and UGTA Union press for the return to universal week-end.

All the social partners including the Algerian General Workers’ Trade Union –UGTA- have agreed on the necessity of pooling efforts with a view to securing from the country’s state authorities the re-establishment soon of the universal week-end in Algeria.

• The current week-end set on Thursday and Friday in Algeria was introduced by late President Houari Boumedienne in a Presidential decree dating back to 1976.
• However, certain private companies have taken a personal initiative by amending on their own the week-end days allowing their staff to rest on Fridays and Saturdays without waiting for the authorities’ green light to do so.
• As a matter of fact, the current state of things is having a most deleterious and negative impact on the Algerian economy in terms of spin-offs and revenues, because it is not in compliance with most other world nations which have always adopted the universal week-end with Saturday and Sunday as their 2 days off.
• The return to the universal week-end is also demanded by the head of the Algerian Employers’ Federation Reda Hamiani who has referred the issue to the government in expectation of a final decision on the matter.