Morocco’s Nightlife Industry in Crisis as Lockdown Eases, Workers Left Without Aid

The owners, workers and artists are suffering from the exclusion of cabarets and nightclubs in Casablanca and other cities in the country from the list of activities authorized to resume as part of the lockdown easing measures, reports Assabah. Without a salary, without Covid-19 compensation, the workers are on the rocks. The majority do not have the RAMED card. Since the employer did not declare them to the National Social Security Fund (CNSS).

"I don’t get a salary and I don’t have any social coverage. My income came only from tips. From the generosity of the customers," confides an employee of a cabaret in Ain Diab. A woman employed as a janitor in a nightclub in the economic capital of the country is also living the same situation. She no longer has the means to feed her grandchildren after the death of their mother.

"I don’t understand why these restaurants, where there is music in the evening, have been excluded from the list of authorized activities as part of the lockdown easing, when other spaces (souks, beaches) welcome many people," questions the manager of a restaurant in Ain Diab.

Faced with this situation, the owners of cabarets and nightclubs, workers, artists and musicians are calling on the government for help.