The Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) called on Monday for a strike in the country to mark the eighth anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled its longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The UGTT, called on public sector employees to observe the strike on Thursday -- the second since November -- to demand a wage rise and economic reforms. In a speech at the unions headquarters, secretary general Noureddine Taboubi said the strike should go ahead as talks between the UGTT and the government on social and economic reforms remained deadlocked, reported AFP. Civil servants represent a sixth of Tunisias workforce and in November the UGTT said it was demanding 673,000 state employees receive salary hikes equal to those granted in 2018 to public companies, which range from 15 to 30 euros ($17-34) a month. But President Beji Caid Essebsi has urged a boycott of the strike. "It is necessary to stop or limit" strikes, he said, during a visit at the Bardo National Museum where an exhibit was on display to pay tribute to Tunisian revolution which sparked the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. Essebsi added, however, that "we must take into consideration the deteriorating purchasing power of citizens". The North African country is seen as having had a relatively smooth democratic transition since the January 14, 2011 uprising. At the same time, price hikes fueled in particular by the fall of the Tunisian dinar, combined with tax increases and stubborn unemployment, have spurred social discontent that escalated into riots across several cities in January last year. In 2016, the International Monetary Fund granted Tunisia a 2.4-billion-euro loan over the span of four years in exchange for a promise to carry out economic reforms. The country is grappling with an inflation rate of 7.5 percent and unemployment stands at more than 15 percent, with those worst hit being young university graduates. Many Tunisians hope there will be change in 2019 when presidential and legislative elections are due to take place.