Morocco’s Pension Reform Sparks Debate Amid Economic Concerns

According to the minutes of the agreement signed between the government and the unions on April 29, the two parties agreed to continue the reflection in order to reach a consensus on the pension reform, in particular regarding the terms of its implementation. A common vision of this reform should be presented at the next government-union meeting scheduled for September, and translated into a draft law to be submitted to parliament for approval during its October session.

The government of Aziz Akhannouch plans to launch this pension reform before the end of this year. On several occasions, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fettah Alaoui, and the President of the Insurance and Social Welfare Control Authority, Abderrahim Chafai, have presented the current situation of the pension funds as well as the possible reform scenarios in order to ensure the viability of these funds. These government proposals should also be presented to the unions in order to collect their opinions. But to date, these sessions have not been held, denounces Younes Firachine, member of the executive office of the Democratic Confederation of Labor.

"In principle, we are against any reform that would be detrimental to employees, whether in terms of their age or their portfolio, and consequently, we refuse the increase in contributions and the mandatory increase in the retirement age, as well as any attack on current pensions," said Firachine in an interview with the site Al3omk, calling for an increase in the pensions of current retirees and insisting on the need to improve the management of the funds.

In the same vein, the "Moroccan Front against the laws on strikes and retirement", which was born last week, opposes this reform considered as a setback and aimed at calling into question the acquired rights of employees. For this new union, the pension reform hides a maneuver by the State to use the contributions of civil servants to feed the pension funds of private sector employees. Regarding the strike, the Front has also expressed its firm opposition to the draft law aimed at restricting this right. The government "bargains the wage increase against the reform of the pension systems," also criticized Driss Lachgar, first secretary of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (opposition party).