The trade union left is mobilizing against the high cost of living

2023-06-04 18:30:34

Several hundred militants of the Moroccan trade union left denounced Sunday in Casablanca, in the west of the Morocco, “the high cost of living” and “the government’s inaction”, despite the ban on demonstrations. Coming from all over the country, the trade unionists of the Democratic Confederation of Labor (CDT, left) gathered in the historic center of the economic capital.

“We are here to cry out our displeasure against soaring prices and the attacks on the purchasing power “, explained Abdellah Lagbouri, mounted from Agadir (south) to Casablanca and member of the CDT. “It’s a shame, the livelihood of the workers is in danger,” protested the demonstrators, almost all dressed in yellow jumpers, armbands and caps, the color of the union. “How can the most modest live? with soaring food prices, they said.

Initially, the CDT wanted to organize a national march in Casablanca but the parade was banned by local authorities, said Tarik Alaoui El Housseini, a member of the CDT National Council. “We stuck to a sit-in,” he explained. THE gathering took place without major incident, only interspersed with a few scuffles with the police, according to AFP journalists on the spot.

The social agreement at an impasse

Morocco is facing soaring prices, particularly of food products, which is affecting the poorest households. L’inflation recorded a slight slowdown in April, to 7.8% year-on-year, after 10.1% in February and 8.2% in March, according to official statistics. But the increase in food prices remains very high (+16.3% over one year). This inflation is partly explained by the chronic rainfall deficit which affects the agricultural sector, the pillar of the Moroccan economy, and in particular causes soaring fruit and vegetable prices.

The CDT denounces “the inaction of the government which did not apply the social agreement concluded last year”, declared Nadia Soubat, member of the executive bureau of the union. The executive signed a “social agreement” last April 2022 with the main trade unions and employers providing as a flagship measure an increase in the minimum wage in the private and public sectors.