Moroccan unions call first strike since 2016 over new laws
Moroccan unions are set to call their first general strike since 2016, over new strike laws proposed by the Moroccan government. According to Atalayar on February 5th, these strike laws will make it much harder for unions and workers to organise protests.
Representatives of the Labour Union were not present at the general session held on Monday February 3rd in the House of Councillors, where the new law on strikes was set to be approved.
In the session, representatives of the Democratic Confederation of Labour argued the government are closing negotiations on the bill , thus eliminating the right to strike altogether.
Due to this, a number of Moroccan Labour Unions have announced a general strike in various public and private services for February 5th and 6th, to express public disapproval of the government’s ‘unpopular’ labour policies.
This is the first strike held in Morocco since 2016, which was over the increasing retirement age. The strikes to be a means of exerting pressure on the government after months of failed attempts to negotiate the law, they are set to include a range of professions such as: the civil service, public administrations, public and semi-public institutions, territorial groups, private production, services and agriculture sectors, traders, artisans, and professionals.
Leader of the UMT, Miloudi Moukharik said the general strike is only ‘the first step’, as the new law is currently set to include articles that are closer to criminal law than to strike law, and potentially eliminating this universally guaranteed right.
Mohammed Zouiten, general secretary of the National Labour Union, told press that ‘the government did not respond to the proposals made by the National Labour Union in Morocco, and this is very dangerous and shows that the rich and powerful are trying to destroy the working class, considering it the weakest link in this context’.
All this comes at the same time as it has been reported that the unemployment rate has increased in Morocco for a second year in a row, another situation affecting unions and the working class and making the government unpopular.
Atalayar, Maghrebi, Morocco World News
