TUNIS (Reuters) - Calls to strike by the powerful Tunisian General Labor Union suspended work in most parts of the country on Thursday to protest government economic reform plans, in a fresh challenge to President Kais Saied as opposition to his rule mounts and a financial crisis looms. .

Public transportation was suspended and flights from Carthage Airport were cancelled. Tunisair said it had postponed all its flights.

The strike, called by the labor union, followed proposals from the government to freeze wages and cut subsidies, steps aimed at facilitating a much-needed loan agreement from the International Monetary Fund worth $4 billion to ease the country's public finances crisis.

The first strike called by the union since 2019 intensifies pressure on Saied, who has consolidated his grip on power since July 2021, when he froze parliament and sacked the government, steps that his opponents describe as a coup against the nascent democratic transition in Tunisia.

"Saeed only listens to himself... It is a dictator's project," said Ramzi Hosni, an employee in the public transport sector. "He neglects the economy and focuses only on politics, even though Tunisians are suffering from declining purchasing power and increasing poverty."