Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Morocco (Ratification: 1957)

The Committee previously asked the Government to provide its comments concerning on the one hand, the 2017 observations of the Democratic Labour Confederation (CDT) and the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT), and on the other hand the 2017 observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). While noting the information presented by the Government in response to the observations of the CDT and the UMT, the Committee notes that the Government does not address the 2017 allegations from ITUC concerning anti-union acts, including dismissals of trade union leaders at a steel company and in the port sector, and refers rather to responses it had provided to previous observations from that trade union. The Committee therefore again requests the Government to provide its comments on the 2017 ITUC allegations.

Article 4 of the Convention. Representativeness required for engaging in negotiations. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to report on all progress made in the adoption of the Trade Union Bill, which provided for a lowering of the level of representativeness required to engage in negotiation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that: (i) in 2021, a new development model, providing for regular social dialogue and the revision of the Labour Code in consultation with the social partners, has been adopted; and (ii) the Trade Union Bill was part of that process and will be discussed within those consultations. Noting the above, the Committee expects the Government to engage in consultations with the social partners at an early date, with a view to adopting the Trade Union Bill and thus lowering the conditions of representativeness required to bargain collectively. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any new development in this regard.

Articles 4 and 6. Collective bargaining for certain categories of public servants and employees not engaged in the administration of the State. The Committee previously urged the Government to take all the necessary measures to amend its legislation so that it grants the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining to staff in the prison administration, to lighthouse, water and forestry workers, as well as to public employees and civil servants who exercise a function involving the right to carry a weapon. The Committee notes with regretthat the Government limits its comments to reiterating that the above-mentioned staff are subject to special conditions defined in national law, that they are assimilated to agents of the police force and that they benefit from the exclusion from the scope of application established for the police and armed forces in the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87). The Committee recalls once again that it considers that staff in the prison administration, and lighthouse, water and forestry workers cannot be deemed to have equivalent status to the police or armed forces despite the fact that some of these officials carry a service weapon, and that therefore these categories of workers cannot be excluded from the application of the Convention under its Article 5. The Committee again urges the Government to take all the necessary measures to amend the legislation so as to ensure that the above-mentioned categories of workers enjoy the rights to organize and engage in collective bargaining. It requests the Government to report on any progress realized in this regard.

Promotion of collective bargaining. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that: (i) the Collective Bargaining Council, a tripartite body the role of which is to promote collective bargaining and to propose measures to encourage the conclusion and generalisation of collective agreements, particularly in enterprises of more than 200 workers at national or sectoral level, adopted a national plan in 2017 for the promotion of collective bargaining at regional level in order to target, in consultation with the social partners, enterprises that fulfil the conditions required to start the process of collective bargaining; (ii) in 2022, 200 enterprises were targeted in this manner, with a view to encouraging the signing of collective agreements; and (iii) in 2018, in collaboration with the Office, the Government organized a training session in collective bargaining for regional internal trainers. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that these efforts resulted in the signature of 68 collective agreements between 2011 and 2021. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken to promote collective bargaining, as well as on the number of collective agreements concluded and in force in the country. It also requests the Government to specify the sectors concerned and the number of workers covered by the agreements.