Workers on Strike!

Earlier this month, the teachers here in my town went on strike, along with the rest of the public school teachers nationwide throughout Morocco. They were agitating in favor of a lower retirement age. A teacher explained to me this week that public school teachers previously were able to retire at age 60. Later the retirement age was raised to 62. The teachers were striking this week to try to exert pressure to change the retirement age back down to 60.

To give a little more context, since I've been living here in my town, the teachers here have gone on strike on multiple occasions before this week. Workers in Morocco have the right under the Moroccan constitution to organize, that is, to unionize, to form unions. Labor unions constitute about 5 percent of the full-time Moroccan workforce; about 500,000 workers are union members in Morocco, in this country of roughly 33 million.

Labor laws here in Morocco have provided grades of minimum wage, paid holidays, and a defined work week. As is the case so often throughout the world, employees in Morocco have a need for the protection of labor laws and the strength which comes through unionizing. Given the inexpensive cost of compensating workers for their labor in Morocco, and the proximity of Morocco to Europe, foreign companies might find it appealing to invest in Morocco. Thus, in this context, Moroccan workers benefit from the freedom to organize, and from the protection of the Moroccan labor laws.