Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 335, November 2004

Case No 2175 (Morocco) - Complaint date: 15-FEB-02 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 144. The Committee last examined this case at its March 2004 meeting [see 333rd Report, paras. 89-91]. The Committee recalls that the case involves the refusal of the Professional Association of Moroccan Banks (GPBM), an organization that comprises all the commercial banks operating in Morocco, to open dialogue and negotiate with the Banks’ National Trade Union (SNB), affiliated to the Democratic Labour Confederation (CDT). When it last examined the case, the Committee expressed the hope that the GPBM would respond favourably to the invitation it received from the Government to open dialogue with the SNB/CDT.
2. 145. In its communication dated 6 September 2004, the Government encloses an undated letter from the GPBM. The letter states that the GPBM has never been opposed either to have dialogue or negotiate with the most representative trade union. The letter also states that: “On the one hand, the CDT is not a signatory to the collective labour agreement governing staff working in the Moroccan banking sector, this having been signed with the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT), the only other legal party to the agreement. On the other hand, section 25 of the Labour Code sets out the definition of the most representative trade union as being ‘the trade union which has polled at least 35 per cent of the total number of staff delegates elected at the level of the enterprise or the establishment’. The CDT does not fulfil that condition.”
3. 146. The Committee takes note of this information. Firstly, the Committee notes that the statement contained in the letter from the GPBM to the effect that the SNB/CDT had not obtained at least 35 per cent of the total number of staff delegates elected at the level of the enterprise or the establishment had not been corroborated because in its complaint the CDT states that it had obtained 51 per cent of the total number of staff delegates. The Committee therefore requests the Government to explain on what basis those figures were put forward by the GPBM.
4. 147. Moreover, the Committee notes that, in accordance with the new Labour Code, the minimum percentage of delegates required in order to be considered as a representative organization is 35 per cent and, as a consequence, according to the GPBM, the SNB/CDT had not fulfilled the criteria for representativity. The Committee notes that the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations will examine the new legislation as a part of the regular supervision of the application of Convention No. 98. The Committee intends to re-examine this case at a later meeting in the light of new information that it will then have in its possession.