Increase in the minimum wage: Remake of 2022
Will it increase or will it not? The second 5% increase in the minimum wage is due to come into effect on September 1. At least, this is what is stated in the social agreement of April 30, 2022, except that to date, no official statement has been made in support of this deadline.
The uncertainty in the minds of employers regarding this measure is explained by the fact that the increase in the minimum wage is conditional on a number of decisions that should have been made after the implementation of the first increase of the minimum wage. These include the adoption of legislation on the right to strike (January 2023), the revision of certain provisions of the Labor Code (July 2023), and the overhaul of the provisions governing the law on professional elections (July 2023).
To date, no draft text has been submitted to the social partners by the Government. For the Moroccan employers’ association CGEM, which considers that it has kept its commitments, these are conditions without which the minimum wage cannot be raised, especially as certain provisions of the Labor Code, and in particular its Article 356, insist on the obligation to seek the opinion of the most representative employers’ professional organizations and employees’ trade unions when setting the minimum wage.
Will the Government return to the negotiating table with the social partners, or will it force the issue of a decree on the second increase, perhaps in mid-September?
The CGEM never misses an opportunity to reiterate that it has honored all its commitments, in particular “increasing salaries and lowering the minimum threshold for entitlement to an oldage pension from 3,240 declared days to 1,320 days”, declared Hicham Zouanat, chair of the CGEM social commission, at the end of the second round of social dialogue initiated by the Head of Government. In addition, the board of directors of the employers’ confederation also “agreed to raise family allowances” . For the Moroccan employers’ association, it is “necessary that the trade unions, as well as the government, ensure the continuation of discussions and social negotiations, particularly with regard to the regulation of the right to strike and the revision of the Labor Code” .
Employers continue to press for progress on legislation concerning the right to strike and the revision of certain provisions of the Labor Code. Despite the slippage in the reform timetable, the context should be favorable. And the government could well pull a rabbit out of its hat if it wanted to. Indeed, the UGTM, the trade union arm of Istiqlal, whose Secretary General is the first President of the Moroccan Senate (Chamber of Councilors), is very close to the government majority.
Hassan El Arif
