VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCL #0114/01 1621632
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111632Z JUN 09
FM AMCONSUL CASABLANCA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8422
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS CASABLANCA 000114 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG AND DRL/ILCSR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCAN LABOR ELECTIONS: ANYONE BUT THE UNIONS 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Recent national elections held to 
determine union representation in the private sector 
resulted in a strong majority for non-union 
affiliated representatives and revealed a strong 
lack of confidence in Morocco's largest trade 
unions.  Labor elections, which are held only once 
every six years, determine which trade unions will 
represent labor in direct negotiations with 
individual companies and sectors as well as the 
proportionality of union representatives in tri- 
partite collective bargaining talks on national 
issues including working hours, benefits, and 
minimum wage.  The most recent elections indicate an 
eroding in workers confidence in the traditional 
unions which have dominated Moroccan labor since 
independence.  We do not expect that the results of 
these elections will be predictive of the outcome 
for the upcoming municipal elections on June 12th. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------ 
UNION ELECTIONS: WHY DOES IT MATTER? 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) National elections for labor representatives 
were held from May 14 to 19 in over 8,487 businesses 
out of the 13,578 that were eligible, a 62 percent 
participation rate.  The Moroccan Labor Code, 
reformed in 2004, requires that for each ten workers 
employed at a business, one union representative is 
elected.  The representative is then responsible for 
submitting individual complaints about working 
conditions to the employer, and if left unresolved, 
to the government's labor inspector.  The elections 
also help to determine which of the trade unions are 
the most representative and hence able to engage in 
collective bargaining at the enterprise level.  At 
the national level the five most representative 
unions participate in the tri-partite talks between 
the government, the unions and business 
representatives which help set national labor 
conditions, and policy.  Finally, the elections in 
part determine the indirect election of trade union 
and agricultural representatives to the Chamber of 
Councilors, Morocco's upper but institutionally 
weaker house of Parliament. 
 
¶3. (U) According to unpublished figures that the 
Ministry of Labor passed to poloff, 81 percent or 
498,468 of the 615,550 eligible workers 
participated.  Approximately 18,063 representatives 
or delegates were elected as compared to 10,207 from 
the election in 2009.  The election was also notable 
for being the first time that the agricultural 
sector elected representatives. 
 
---------------- 
ELECTION RESULTS: 
---------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The most noticeable trend in the election was 
the overwhelming vote in favor of representatives 
with no union affiliations (NUA).  NUA 
representatives won a sizable majority of the 
contests with 64 percent of the total vote, an 
increase from 53 percent in the 2003 election.  The 
Union Marocaine de Travail (UMT) was once again the 
largest winner in the private sector with 14 percent 
of the vote; however the UMT experienced a dramatic 
decrease from the 24 percent it controlled in 2003. 
The Confederation Democratique de Travail (CDT) 
received 8 percent of the vote, down from 12 percent 
in the previous election.  The Union General des 
Travailleurs, the governing Istiqlal party's union, 
took 6 percent, decreasing only slightly from 2003. 
The Union National du Travail au Maroc (UNTM), 
affiliated with the Islamist Party of Justice and 
Development, took nearly 4 percent an increase from 
its 1.6 percent in 2003.  The Federation 
Democratique de Travail (FDT), allied with the 
Socialist Union of Popular Forces Party (USFP) took 
2.8 percent up from a previous 2.2 percent.  An 
additional 14 unions split the remaining 2 percent 
of the vote. 
 
¶5. (U) According to press reports the CDT took 
overall first place among the labor elections for 
civil servants dominating the Ministry of Health. 
NUA candidates topped the list at the Ministry of 
Interior, the UMT at Agriculture, UGMT at Transport, 
while the FDT took first place at the Ministries of 
Education, Finance and Justice. 
 
¶6. (U) Union leaders claimed to poloff that the 
strong showing of NUA representatives did not signal 
a weakening of union support.  Rather, they argued 
workers were pressured into supporting NUA 
representatives by management who fielded the 
candidates from human resource personnel, 
supervisors and others who would represent 
management's interests. 
 
¶7. (U) Of the 18,063 delegates elected, 3,213 or 
approximately 18 percent, were women.  This number 
stands in favorable contrast to the current figure 
of less than one percent of women elected to 
municipal councils and even the Government of 
Morocco's (GOM) reservation of 12 percent for seats 
in the municipal elections scheduled for June 12th. 
The Ministry of Labor's figures also showed that 64 
percent of the participating companies employed 
between 10 and 50 employees and only 8 percent had 
more than 250 employees.  The voting workers 
represented the following sectors: 39 percent from 
the industrial sector, 14 percent from commerce, 6 
percent from agriculture, 7 percent construction, 1 
percent handicrafts, and 33 percent in the "other" 
category. 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT:  Moroccan trade unions are no 
longer the popular force they once were and they 
appear to increasingly be losing their legitimacy 
among workers.  In recent years the unions have 
increasingly tied themselves to political parties. 
The failure of the unions to work in conjunction 
with one another appears to reflect the increasing 
lack of cooperation among political parties, to 
include those in the government. National strikes, 
with the exception of the strike against proposed 
reforms to the traffic code in March of 2009, have 
largely been short-lived, ineffective, and poorly 
coordinated.  Critics point to the lack of democracy 
and transparency within the largest unions, noting 
that the UMT's secretary general has held the 
position for more than half a century.  We do not 
believe that the overall level of participation or 
relative strength of union affiliated parties in the 
labor elections will be reflected in the upcoming 
municipal elections on June 12th. 
MILLARD