Morocco

Certain categories of public employees are still denied the right to freedom of association, such as judges in Morocco.

In December 2020, a hundred mineworkers spent ten days 700 metres underground in the Jebel Aouam mine near M’rirt in Khénifra province in Morocco, while another 200 workers protested above ground. The strike began after the management of the Compagnie Minière de Touissit failed to implement a collective agreement signed with the Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT) in 2019. This agreement aimed at guaranteeing improved living conditions, better working conditions in the mine, and the provision of occupational health and safety measures.

Amanor, a Moroccan subsidiary of the French multinational Veolia, has a longstanding history of anti-union policy and of flouting labour laws. In early 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading, Amanor refused to register its 500 employees with the national social security office, depriving them of government financial aid. The Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT) attempted to intervene in favour of the workers, but the employer stubbornly refused to open dialogue. Strikes began in December 2019. In retaliation, the general secretary of the company-level union was fired without cause in early 2020, sparking an indefinite strike in all units. Veolia has engaged in mass dismissals to quell the strikes and has refused to reinstate the dismissed workers.