Fresh delays slow Moroccan labour talks

2009-10-29

Union leaders claim that despite ongoing dialogue, the Moroccan government is ignoring basic demands including wage increases and changes to the public-sector pay scale.

By Hassan Benmehdi in Casablanca and Siham Ali in Rabat for Magharebia – 29/10/09

[Hassan Benmehdi] Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi is engaged in negotiations with labour leaders.

A recent round of talks has failed to achieve agreement between Morocco's unions and the government on several of organised labour's key demands.

Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi began his annual "Social Dialogue" with leading Moroccan unions on Monday (October 26th) in Rabat.

The primary concern of the union leaders present at the meeting was increasing wages to bolster Moroccans' purchasing power. The leaders accused the government of being more concerned with balancing the books than with raising pay, pointing out that Moroccans' living expenses are soaring while their incomes remain stagnant.

Attending the meeting were Miloudi Mkharek, head of the Moroccan Workers' Union; Abdelhamid Chabat, of the General Moroccan Workers' Union; and Mohammed Yatim, of the National Moroccan Workers' Union. They primarily represent the interests of public-sector workers.

Union leaders are pushing for the elimination of Morocco's current four-tier pay scale, which would effectively increase the starting salaries of new hires in the public sector. Though an agreement already exists on this issue, unions are calling for it to be backdated by four years.

"There has been no significant progress on the various social grievances put forward by the unions," said the general secretary of the Democratic Workers' Federation, Abderahmane Azzouzi. "Rising prices for the basic essentials mean that the cost of living is soaring all the time, and the wage increases we have managed to secure through the social dialogue cannot keep up with the rise of the cost of living."

"No pay increases are seen on the horizon," said Minister of Employment and Vocational Training Jamal Aghmani. He told the local press that, while the unions have legitimate requests, the economic situation created by the global financial crisis means that no wage increases will be possible until after 2011.

The unions are awaiting a decision by the prime minister on other issues as well. Internal promotion remains a pressing interest of the unions, in addition to allowances for those working in remote or difficult-to-access regions.

The government has suggested increasing the quota of jobs which must be filled by internal promotion from the current 25% to a new level of 28%. However, unions are targeting an increase of 8%.

As for additional pay for workers labouring in remote regions, the Ministry for Public Sector Modernisation has offered a 700-dirham boost for such workers in the education and health services sectors. But labour leader Larbi Habachi said the amount should be increased to 700 dirhams after tax, "as the prime minister promised". He also wants to extend the benefits to all public-sector workers, not just education and health care employees.

The public-sector unions are also pressuring government ministers to resume a social dialogue with private-sector unions, which was called off in December 2008 when employers rejected a call for pay raises.

Ministry for Public Sector Modernisation Mohamed Abbou said that some of the unions' demands have been ignored. "But the main thing is that this climate of responsible, calm dialogue is continuing," he added.

Economy and Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said the government had made gains in its negotiations with the unions, pointing to increases in family allowances and extensions of the benefit to the agricultural sector, as well as the 10% raise in the national minimum wage and the introduction of a second round of income tax deductions.

A work session with unions and relevant ministries will be held on November 2nd to further negotiate a resolution to these labour concerns.