Moroccan Taxi Drivers Threaten Nationwide Strike Over COVID-19 Restrictions

Taxi professionals in Morocco are putting pressure again and have decided to start a national strike next week to protest the crisis facing their sector. This outburst of anger will be held under the slogan "against hogra, marginalization and exclusion... for a sector that benefits from fair and legitimate rights", reports Hespress.

Faced with the government’s silence, the signatories expressed their dissatisfaction with the problems in the sector that have worsened with Covid-19 and its consequences. The union and associative bodies in the sector believe that the government has not listened to their demands and calls.

Mostapha El Kihel, national secretary of the Democratic Confederation of Labor (CDT), acknowledged in a statement to Hespress that the decision to hold a national strike comes in response to "the government [which] did not react to the demands raised by professionals on several occasions, and did not mobilize to save the sector from the problems it is struggling with".

For him, "the government has supported a number of sectors without paying attention to taxis, which have remained mobilized during the pandemic, ensuring passenger transport despite the health risks they face".

Professionals assure that several points are at the heart of the differences with the local and government authorities, in particular the limited capacity of 50% while taxis are obliged to pay taxes and insurance, without exemption or reduction.