Status quo regarding wages / Substantive issues: The Government’s delicate social equation
No new acceleration on salaries or income tax. On the eve of Labor Day, social negotiations are moving towards targeted adjustments rather than a new round of concessions. The revision of the income tax scale, which came into force this year, as well as the second tranche of wage increases for the civil service and the SMIG (Minimum Wage), already scheduled for the coming months, are the main measures agreed.
On the pensions front, the time has not come to increase pensions. The government’s priority is to reactivate the National Pension Reform Commission, in an attempt to relaunch a systemic project that has been frozen for several years. This has become essential as the financial sustainability of public schemes (CMR-RPC, RCAR) erodes inexorably. According to the assessments of the Systemic Risk Coordination and Monitoring Committee (Comité de Coordination et de Surveillance des Risques Systémiques – CCSRS), the recent salary increases for 2024 have only slightly postponed the exhaustion of reserves, without ensuring their long-term viability.
The situation is just as tense at the National Social Security Fund (CNSS). The lowering of the pensionable contribution threshold from 3,240 to 1,320 days could accelerate the emergence of a structural deficit for the Fund, reinforcing the urgent need for reform. The plan envisaged is based on the creation of two poles (public and private) articulated around a basic scheme and supplementary schemes, with a gradual harmonization of calculation rules. But the necessary parametric adjustments to retirement age, contribution levels, and benefits are already provoking strong resistance. The UMT union, in particular, denounces a strictly accounting approach, far removed from social realities. At the same time, significant progress seems to be emerging on other fronts. After several months of tension, an agreement is about to be reached on the status of local authority employees. The stakes are high: the success of advanced regionalization depends largely on the qualitative and quantitative strengthening of local human resources.
While some progress is possible, notably for engineers and local government employees, the complexity of the reforms underway and the rise in social demands are a reminder that the success of the dialogue will depend on the ability of the government and social partners to reconcile social equity, structural reforms and financial viability. The speech announced by Younes Sekkouri, Minister for Employment, will therefore be particularly closely scrutinized: he will need to outline a clear roadmap, capable of transforming commitments into concrete results, and preventing the social dialogue from once again descending into disappointment.
Khadija MASMOUDI
