Garbage Strike Threatens Casablanca as Sanitation Workers Demand Better Pay

Hundreds of cleaning agents from the two garbage collection companies, Averda and Arma, affiliated with the Moroccan Union of Labor (UMT), the Democratic Confederation of Labor (CDT) and the Democratic Organization of Labor (ODT), who are on strike, held a sit-in on Monday in front of the headquarters of the Casablanca municipality, reports Hespress. They call on the authorities to intervene to settle the issue of their salaries and to respond to their claim file.

These workers have hinted that they are facing huge problems due to the delay in their monthly salaries, as they have commitments and family obligations to fulfill. Abdelhamid Icorde, responsible for the national union of local authorities and delegated management, holds the Casablanca Council responsible for the situation that the cleaning agents are going through. "After recording progress in the dialogue with Averda on the claim file, today the mayor of the municipality refuses to sign the agreement, and we do not know why this delay," said the union leader.

According to his explanations, the cleaning workers are exposed to health risks in the performance of their duty in these times of Covid-19. "Today, the mayor must respond to the workers and grant them their rights, and not make us hostages to settle other accounts," insists Mr. Icorde.

To defuse the strike, the regional office of the sanitation workers of the Casablanca-Settat region of the UMT calls on the sector’s officials to "continue the dialogue and negotiation on the claim file, and to respond to the just and legitimate demands of the workers".