Morocco .. Does the agreement with the unions end the social tension?

Sana Al-Qowaiti-Rabat

A few days before May 1, Labor Day, the Moroccan government, trade unions and the General Union of Moroccan Enterprises (the representative of the heads of companies) signed an agreement that ended years of social dialogue.

The agreement signed by workers and employees of three more representative unions provides for a general increase in public sector wages, a higher minimum wage in the private sector and an increase in family compensation.

The increase in the wages of employees and employees of the public sector is estimated at between four hundred and five hundred dirhams (about $ 41- $ 51) and will be carried out in three phases between 2019 and 2021, and will include approximately eight hundred thousand employees with a financial credit of about seven billion dirhams (about 700 million dollars).

Under the agreement, family allowances will increase by 100 dirhams (about $ 10) per child within three children. The increase will include about 400,000 employees with an annual financial credit of up to one billion dirhams (about $ 100 million).

This is in addition to improving the conditions of promotions for teachers of primary education, secondary and preparatory education, economic and administrative coordinators, as well as educational attachés, and follow-up dialogue on sectoral and sectoral issues (bodies of managers, technicians, doctors and others) and opening dialogues in public institutions of a commercial, industrial and service nature.

In the private sector, the agreement stipulated raising the minimum wage (about $ 250) by 10% for two years, 5% from July 2019 and 5% in July 2020 and the increase in family allowances for private sector employees.

Social ladder
The signing of the agreement - rejected by two more representative unions for not taking its observations and demands into account - comes at a time when the Moroccan street is beset by ongoing protests by a number of groups.

These categories include the hiring professors who have been on strike for more than a month to demand integration into public service, as well as protests and strikes by public sector doctors, nurses, midwives, technicians, doctoral students in the public service and others.

"It will contribute to laying the foundations of social peace and improving the social conditions of our country, as well as strengthening the national economy through a sound economic and social environment," Prime Minister Saad Eddin al-Othmani said in a speech after the signing ceremony.

On the other hand, the Secretary-General of the General Federation of Works, Mr. Mayara, believes that ending the tension and tension in the country depends on the government's ability to implement the terms of the agreement on the ground in the near future, especially with regard to trade union freedoms and sectoral dialogues and institutionalization of social dialogue.

The general increase in wages would give a positive boost to workers in the light of the high cost of living and the constraints they were living in. It was also the beginning to restore confidence among the three parties - the Government, trade unions and employers. This confidence sees union leadership that would "solve the social situation witnessed by the country as a result of government policy, which was based on the purchasing power of citizens and trade union freedoms."

Impact in protests
The last agreement between the government and trade unions was signed on April 26, 2011, while the country was under a violent political and social movement called the February 20 Movement, which raised demands to reform the system, fight rents, corruption and tyranny.

Despite the fact that this new agreement, which came after years of stumbling and tug-of-war, is not the same as Mayara, he believes that the government's failure to implement many of the promises and commitments included in the agreement on April 26, was the cause of the state of congestion experienced by the country, The government's commitment to its commitments is the only one that can stop the wave of protests.

For his part, the professor of political science at the University of Judge Ayad in Marrakech Abdul Rahim al-Alam that the agreement signed between the unions and the government influence in the protest movements, especially for the groups that benefit from it.

"The protests of the beneficiary groups will diminish or stop, but the groups not covered by the agreement will continue to descend to the street," he told Al Jazeera Net.

Unions soften
In light of the signing of this agreement, Al-Alam expected to ease the trade unions or raise their support for some protest movements, especially the file of contracted professors, recalling the scenario of 2011, when it was agreed on the increase in wages in exchange for the abandonment of most of the unions to participate in the movement of 20 February.

"The unions want to show their employees that they have made gains, but there is a secret clause in this agreement written in ink that only the signatories see, which is the trade unions will pay to stop their support for some protest movements," he said.

In the absence of mediation organizations between the state and the groups of protesting unions and parties, the researcher believes that "Morocco will return to the first box, that is to the protests without framing, may end up in a state of randomness is a form of radicalism, which should be alerted by the state and trade unions.