However, with 95% the working population engaged in subsistence activities,[1] the numbers of trade union members are low.
The Democratic Confederation of Workers of Niger (CDTN) was formed in 2001 as a breakaway union from the USTN.
The Nigerien Confederation of Labour (CNT) is the third largest trade union centre.
On 25 June 2009, the CDTN trade union confederation led a 24-hour general strike across the nation to protest the President's referendum plans, after a previous strike had been indefinitely postponed on 18 June.
The organizers provided skeleton staffs of union workers for hospitals, water and electric utilities, and airports.