Informe provisional - Informe núm. 321, Junio 2000

1. 342. The complaints in this case are contained in a communication from the Democratic Organization of African Workers' Trade Union (DOAWTU) dated 10 September 1999.
2. 343. The Government sent its observations in a communication dated 2 March 2000.
3. 344. Morocco has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98); it has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 345. In its communication dated 10 September 1999, the DOAWTU alleges, firstly, that the national airline, Royal Air Maroc (RAM), systematically discriminated against and sidelined the workers who are members of the Air Transport Workers' Trade Union (STTA) affiliated to the General Union of Workers of Morocco (UGTM) and, secondly, that several violations of freedom of association - dismissals, arrests and imprisonment - were committed against the workers of the Casablanca urban transport company (SALAMA).
2. 346. As regards the situation in the Royal Air Maroc company, the DOAWTU states that, after it was established on 30 October 1997, the STTA addressed a request on 13 November 1997 for a meeting with the chief executive officer of the company in order to introduce the new trade union executive committee. Not having obtained a reply, the STTA addressed similar requests on 25 February 1998 to the director of human resources and the director of customer services on the ground, again without result. Meanwhile, management has been supporting workers' associations that have taken on the role of trade union organizations; there are four associations (representing cockpit crew, cabin crew, aeronautical technicians and managerial staff) affiliated to the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT) and the Democratic Confederation of Labour (CDT), which are the preferred interlocutor of the management in bargaining, from which the UGTM is completely sidelined.
3. 347. Since its inception, the STTA has requested management to deduct its members' union dues under the check-off system, with their prior consent, as is the case for the members of the other trade unions. Management has not replied and the dues of the workers concerned are still not being deducted, even though this is the main if not the only source of income for trade unions. According to the complainant, by refusing to deduct dues as it has for the other trade unions, management is discriminating against the STTA and preventing it from carrying out its activities, fostering a climate that is hardly conducive to harmonious industrial relations.
4. 348. Moreover, in anticipation of the holiday on 1 May 1998, the STTA requested management to allow its officers to be absent from 27 April to 5 May in order to prepare the festivities and to place a means of transportation at its disposal. According to the complainant, this is a long-standing practice and these facilities were provided that year to the members of the UMT and the CDT.
5. 349. As regards the SALAMA company, after the workers in this enterprise joined the UGTM on 24 May 1998, management dismissed 35 workers, including the members of the trade union executive committee, which sparked off a protest strike on 28 May 1998. The fact that management hired other workers to replace the striking workers provoked an open-ended strike starting on 24 February 1999. Management instituted criminal proceedings against trade union officers El Khatib El Maati, Boulouz Lahcen and Hanoun Mahjouba, who were sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of 500 dirhams by the court of first instance of Aïn Sba.

B. The Government's reply

1. 350. In its communication of 2 March, the Government states that it will provide the Committee with all the information concerning the collective dispute in Royal Air Maroc as soon as it has received it.
2. 351. As regards the events involving the SALAMA company, the Government states that following the dismissals in May 1998, the workers who were members of the UGTM held protest actions, the last of which dates back to 17 February 1999, during which they occupied the workplace and seized buses to prevent non-striking workers from exercising their right to work. The management therefore petitioned the judge in interim relief proceedings to order the evacuation of the premises and release of the buses; the court handed down a judicial decision to that effect and certain employees who refused repeatedly to comply with it were prosecuted for disobedience and obstruction of justice.
3. 352. With a view to settling the dispute, a number of meetings were held between the parties in the presence of the competent authorities: the labour inspectorate of Casablanca, the Regional Investigation and Conciliation Board, the central administration and the labour directorate of the Ministry. As a result, on 22 May 1999, a conciliation meeting was held at the headquarters of the Employment Department of Casablanca, in which all the parties participated and accepted an arrangement under the following terms, which was placed on record:
   • -- all the employees would be gradually reinstated within four months, including the strikers, who would be paid their wages for the strike period;
   • -- all the contracts of employment, as well as the rights and advantages deriving therefrom, would be maintained in force, in accordance with section 754 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts;
   • -- the strike would end on the date on which the record was signed.
4. 353. According to the Government, activities were resumed in a normal labour relations climate at the SALAMA enterprise once all the employees had been reinstated in accordance with this agreement.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 354. The Committee notes that the present complaint concerns two separate situations, although it involves the same umbrella organization. As regards the various allegations of discrimination and inequality of treatment of trade union organizations within the national airline company, the Committee notes the statements provided by the Government. Given that the establishment of the STTA dates back to October 1997 and that the legitimate activities of this trade union are likely to be jeopardized by the passage of time, the Committee invites the Government to urge Royal Air Maroc to supply all the relevant information as soon as possible and to forward it to it as soon as it has been received.
2. 355. As regards the events that occurred in the SALAMA company, while noting that an out-of-court settlement was ultimately reached between the parties with the assistance of the conciliation service of the competent ministry, the Committee cannot help noting from the little information at its disposal, that the establishment of the trade union affiliated to the UGTM and dismissals of workers and trade union officers occurred at the same time. The Committee recalls that no person should be dismissed or prejudiced in his or her employment by reason of trade union membership or legitimate trade union activities (see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 4th edition, 1996, para. 696). Noting moreover that the complaint dates back to September 1999 and that the reinstatement of the workers in SALAMA was supposed to have been carried out within four months after the agreement reached on 22 May 1999, the Committee requests the complainant to confirm whether the terms of the settlement were in fact carried out.