Morocco - 2011

Population: 32,000,000
Capital: Rabat
The rights of workers to organise and to negotiate with employers are not respected in practice. Union representatives are harassed or dismissed as soon as they are elected. Organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. in the export processing zones is very difficult. The right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike is constantly flouted.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Background

The country’s economic development cannot conceal the persistent poverty and serious problems such as child labour and illiteracy that affect almost half the population. Morocco’s partnership with the European Union has deepened. In November, clashes between the security forces and Sahrawi independence rebels left hundreds dead in Laâyoune.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 32,000,000
Capital: Rabat

reported violations- 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Trade union rights in law

Although constitutional guarantees for freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework are in place, it is restricted by provisions in the Labour Code. Certain categories of workers are not allowed to form trade unions, including public servants, members of the judiciary, domestic workers and agricultural workers, and all union officials must be of Moroccan nationality.

Collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
is confined to the most representative union most representative union The union which represents the largest number of workers in a bargaining unit. Can be awarded exclusive representation, by which it becomes the sole union authorised to represent the workers for the purpose of collective bargaining. , which must represent at least 35% of the total number of employees at the enterprise level. Despite the fact that the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike is guaranteed in the Constitution, employers are permitted to seek criminal prosecution of any strikers who hold a sit-in, damage property or carry out active picketing picketing Demonstration or patrolling outside a workplace to publicise the existence of an industrial dispute or a strike, and to persuade other workers not to enter the establishment or discourage consumers from patronising the employer. Secondary picketing involves picketing of a neutral establishment with a view to putting indirect pressure on the target employer. .

Additional information regarding the legislation
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 32,000,000
Capital: Rabat

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

In practice

Labour unrest as right to strike is undermined: The repeated strikes in many sectors are evidence of the government’s and employers’ disinterest in talking to the trade unions and taking workers’ demands into account. Low union membership levels and the legal demands to be met to hold collective negotiations have blocked progress in many enterprises. Worker unrest culminated in two widely followed strikes in the civil service in November organised by several major trade union centres. But most protest action and stoppages during the year simply met with disapproval and repression by employers and the authorities who abusively interpreted the labour code to treat any obstacle to the freedom to work as serious misconduct. The government continued to keep a tight grip on the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike , only recognising the right of the most representative unions to take action.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 32,000,000
Capital: Rabat

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Violations

Four month prison sentences for UMT members from mining conglomerate OCP :

Thirteen union members were arrested in Khourigba on 22 April during a dispute between the Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP), a Moroccan conglomerate of mining and chemical industries, and the local branch of the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT) during clashes with the police. They were sentenced to four months in prison on 7 June and were released on 22 August after serving their sentences.

In 2009, disgruntled workers hired on temporary contracts by a subsidiary of the group and in some cases with several years service demanded the same rights as OCP workers and decided to form a union. According to the local branch of the UMT, 850 workers were dismissed because of these demands. There have been many instances of protest action since then, calling for the reinstatement of the dismissed workers. As the world’s leading phosphate producer, OCP employs over 17,000 people. In May 2010, an agreement was signed between OCP and a coalition of the most representative unions.

Interference and discrimination at Royal Air Maroc: In September the General Workers Union of Morocco (UGTM) complained of interference by the management of Royal Air Maroc (RAM) aimed at turning the unions against each other. According to the UGTM, it was targeted by management. The general secretary was ordered to resign his position and three members of the union’s executive were transferred. Union members faced discrimination, including having their requests for annual leave regularly refused.
Four trade unionists dismissed from Tangiers port: On 26 November management at APM Terminals, Tangiers, dismissed four members of the transport workers’ union, including the General Secretary, Omar Zanfa. The union, affiliated to the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT), had just reached the legal membership threshold that would allow it to negotiate a collective agreement with the employer.
Interference and threats by Saudi Arabian Airlines : At the beginning of the year management at Saudi Arabian Airlines threatened to dismiss workers if they refused to sign a petition calling for the dissolution of the union created in June 2009. The Saudi Arabian Airlines Moroccan Workers’ Union had denounced the company’s infringement of national labour legislation. The company claimed, wrongly, that it had “diplomatic status” and was therefore not bound to respect a company’s normal legal obligations towards their employees.
Deterioration in social dialogue: Members of the SNTIMMEE-CDT union at the SONADID company, owned by Arcelor Mittal, in Nador and El Jadida, reported a serious deterioration in social dialogue social dialogue Discussion and co-operation between the social partners on matters of common interest, such as economic and social policy. Involves participation by the state where tripartism is practice. over the last two years. Management refused to negotiate with the union, even though it had won over 35% of the vote on worker representation at both sites in May 2009, the legal threshold for bargaining.
Repression of new unions: The Democratic Confederation of Labour (CDT) and the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT) reported cases of repression against their members. Members of the unions’ executives were dismissed as soon as they had been set up, at firms such as the Bogart textile company in Casablanca and the Spanish company Douna Export (production and export of peppers).
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 32,000,000
Capital: Rabat

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Interviews

Spotlight interview with Abdelaziz Mountassir (SNE-Morocco)
Spotlight interview with Abdelaziz Mountassir (SNE-Morocco)
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 32,000,000
Capital: Rabat

reported violations

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
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