Interim Report - REPORT_NO286, March 1993

1. 647. On 12 May 1992, the Democratic Confederation of Labour (CDT) and the General Union of the Workers of Morocco (UGTM) lodged a joint complaint alleging violation of trade union rights in Morocco. They communicated additional information on 25 May 1992. In a communication dated 2 June 1992, the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) stated its support for the complaint presented by the CDT and the UGTM.
2. 648. The Government furnished its observations in a communication dated 27 November 1992.
3. 649. Morocco has ratified the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), but not the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87).

A. Allegations by the complainant organizations

1. 650. In their complaint, the CDT and the UGTM allege violations of freedom of association directed against the striking staff of the Autonomous Urban Transport Company (RATC) of Casablanca with the intention of breaking the strike which was initiated on 17 February 1992.
2. 651. They explain that the RATC is an autonomous urban transport company in Casablanca, set up in 1964 under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior, and employing around 3,300 employees (drivers, conductors, mechanics, etc.) to provide transport services to the 5 million inhabitants of the city.
3. 652. They also point out that since 1979 RATC staff enjoy only a provisional statute which has never been revised or respected in its entirety. Conscious of their precarious situation, the staff waged a relentless battle. Despite sacrifices by the workers, their material and moral situation has constantly deteriorated. The CDT and the UGTM mention the following facts:
   • - almost all manual workers are still employed on a temporary basis, even though in some cases they have up to ten years' service, and are paid below the minimum wage;
   • - payment of derisory allowances (e.g.: housing allowance of 0.25 dinars per child and per day; food allowance: 2 dinars);
   • - delays in promotion of between two and three years;
   • - insufficient social programmes (a small housing project has been stalled since 1985), which the management uses for illegal purposes to break strikes.
4. 653. The complainant organizations state that this alarming situation led the RATC staff to hold a 24-hour warning strike on 11 December 1991, followed by a second strike of 48 hours on 15 January 1992. When a third strike began on 17 February 1992, the management, instead of searching for ways to satisfy the claims put forward by the staff, allegedly dismissed the same day more than 80 temporary striking manual workers, which led the staff to renew this strike every 48 hours.
5. 654. In these circumstances, the RATC and the supervisory authorities (the Wali of Casablanca) allegedly attempted to break the strike by various means. The complainant organizations refer to the following alleged measures:
   • - during the strike, the RATC management recruited more than 300 new employees without any experience, which posed a danger for the safety of the system and that of its users (the number of accidents allegedly increased);
   • - the management used militiamen in its pay to organize punitive expeditions against the strikers and their families in an attempt to intimidate them and force them back to work;
   • - the Wali of Casablanca used more than 400 uninsured vehicles instead of buses for rural and inter-city transport;
   • - the following trade union militants who went on strike were imprisoned and tried by the authorities on contrived charges: Messrs. Nejmi Abdellatif, Kassih Abdelaziz, Touga Ahmed and Maâ Noureddine;
   • - the police questioned striking drivers and forcibly confiscated their driving licences;
   • - the management dismissed more than 30 employees who joined the strike on the pretext that they had abandoned their workplaces;
   • - to encourage some strikers to resume work, the management made promises (loans of 1,000 dinars from the social works' fund, promises of titularization, promotion, etc.).
6. 655. In a communication dated 25 May 1992, the complainant organizations point out that the RATC dispute, after a strike which lasted almost three months, resulted in the signature of a protocol agreement on the resumption of work on 17 May 1992, and that the main claims of the staff had been satisfied. They believe, however, that it is important to emphasize the illegal means used by the authorities and the management to break the strike, and point out that two staff members who went on strike are still being prosecuted on charges of obstructing the right to work. The management took measures involving the arbitrary transfer of several members of the staff, and has still not settled the matter of the reinstatement of 55 employees dismissed because of their participation in the strike.

B. The Government's reply

1. 656. In its communication of 27 November 1992, the Government points out first of all that the strike initiated on 17 February 1992 was followed only by staff belonging to the CDT and the UGTM, representing only 25 per cent of the staff in the company. It also states that the strike ended on 16 May 1992 following negotiations between the RATC management and the trade union officials.
2. 657. The Government recalls that the RATC is a public municipal company, managed by an administrative council, which is its executive body and two-thirds of its members are elected municipal officials. Section 29 of the schedule of conditions drawn up by the district boroughs concerned stipulates that any operating deficit shall be reabsorbed by the municipality. The Government points out that one of the signatories of the complaint presented by the CDT and the UGTM, Mr. Abderrazak Afilal, was the chairman of one of the richest district boroughs in Greater Casablanca, and vice-chairman of the Urban Community Council, and that in this capacity he had sufficient means to contribute at the local level to the financial and administrative improvement of the situation of RATC staff.
3. 658. The Government also states that the RATC staff benefited from provisional regulations which had been duly approved by the competent authorities in the same way as those of other companies in the same sector, and that following a decision of the administrative council, a joint committee is currently preparing new draft regulations.
4. 659. The Government points out that temporary staff account for only one-sixth of the total number of workers in the company. The titularization of this category of staff is subject to the respective statutory provisions in this respect (age and years of service), and that no staff member of the company is paid below the minimum wage.
5. 660. As regards the payment of allowances, the Government states that several readjustments have been made, particularly in 1989, 1990 and 1991, and that the system will undoubtedly be improved in the draft regulations now being prepared.
6. 661. According to the Government, the immediate priority of the social works' programme is the establishment of a complex of 432 social housing units at moderate prices, which will enable company staff to acquire their own housing.
7. 662. Promotions of RATC staff are made regularly by a joint committee within the framework of the regulations in force.
8. 663. As regards the allegations concerning measures taken by the authorities to break the strike launched on 17 February 1992, the Government states that the dismissals concerned staff employed on an occasional basis who had abandoned their workplaces. The RATC management has resolved the problem and the staff concerned have resumed their work in normal conditions. Furthermore, the recruitments made by the company have been consonant with the statutory provisions and its own needs. It also points out that no militia force was set up and that this allegation is devoid of any foundation.
9. 664. As regards measures taken by the local authorities, the Government believes that it is perfectly legitimate for them to take all the necessary steps to ensure the continuity of the public services, and that the use of replacement vehicles was an ad hoc measure to offset the shortage of buses at that time.
10. 665. The Government also states that there are no records of any driving licences being confiscated and that the only licences which were withdrawn were those of taxi licences held by RATC staff who were caught red-handed exercising two jobs.
11. 666. Finally, as regards the four militant trade unionists on strike who were tried and imprisoned, the Government states that their cases fall within the competence of the common law courts to which they were referred.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 667. The Committee notes that this case concerns measures taken by the management of the Autonomous Urban Transport Company of Casablanca (RATC) and the local authorities during a strike launched by RATC workers on 17 February 1992, for the purpose of obtaining better conditions of employment. These measures included, in particular, the recruitment by the RATC management of more than 300 new employees, the arbitrary transfer and dismissal of strikers, and the imprisonment and trial of Messrs. Nejmi Abdellatif, Kassih Abdelaziz, Touga Ahmed, and Maâ Noureddine, militant trade unionists who participated in the strike.
2. 668. The Committee takes note of the signature, on 17 May 1992, of a protocol agreement on the resumption of work, which put an end to the strike initiated in February and which, as the complainants themselves have acknowledged, satisfied the main claims put forward by the RATC staff. However, after the conclusion of this agreement, according to the complainants, 55 employees who had been dismissed have still not been reinstated and two strikers are still being prosecuted on charges of obstructing the right to work.
3. 669. The Committee would like to recall in this connection that it has always emphasized that the right to strike is one of the essential means through which workers and their organizations may promote and defend their econonomic and social interests: (See Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 3rd edition, 1985, para. 363.) The Committee also believes that the use of a group of persons to perform duties which have been suspended as a result of a labour dispute can - if the strike is lawful - be justified only by the need to ensure the operation of services or industries whose suspension would lead to an acute crisis. The utilization by the Government of labour drawn from outside the undertaking, with a view to replacing striking workers, entails a risk of derogation from the right to strike which may affect the free exercise of trade union rights. (Digest, para. 429.) The Committee notes that in this case, according to statements by the Government, the strike affected only 25 per cent of the workers and that the situation brought about by this work stoppage, despite its duration, could not be described as an acute crisis. The Committee therefore calls on the Government to refrain from the use of such measures in the future which are not in conformity with freedom of association principles.
4. 670. As regards workers who were allegedly transferred in an arbitrary manner and dismissed, and 55 of whom have allegedly not yet been reinstated, the Committee recalls that recourse to such measures as the transfer or dismissal of workers because of their participation in a strike is a violation of freedom of association. (Digest, para. 444.) It asks the Government to indicate whether the striking workers were transferred, and if so for what reasons, and if all the workers dismissed have actually been reinstated in their jobs.
5. 671. Finally, as regards the imprisonment and trial of the striking trade union militants, Messrs. Nejmi Abdellatif, Kassih Abdelaziz, Touga Ahmed and Maâ Noureddine, the Committee emphasizes the danger for the free exercise of trade union rights of measures of detention and sentencing of workers' representatives for activities performed in the defence of the interests of their members. It recalls that the authorities should not have recourse to such measures in the event of the organization or participation in a peaceful strike. The Committee regrets that the Government merely indicates that the case of the persons mentioned is a matter for the common law courts. In order to have available all the necessary information on this aspect of the case, the Committee asks the Government to provide as soon as possible detailed information on the charges brought against these persons, and to furnish a copy of the text of the sentences issued with their respective reasons adduced.
6. 672. The Committee furthermore requests the Government to provide information on the judicial proceedings allegedly still under way against two striking staff members.