Water unions escalate strikes, accuse public administration of closing door to dialogue

Agadir24

Water unions announced the escalation of their protests against the public administration by launching new strikes during the coming months of September and October, after the last national strike that they launched on Thursday and Friday, August 12 and 13, 2024.

In this context, the National Coordination of the Water Sector at the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water announced two new national strikes on September 26 and 27, and October 23, 24 and 25, 2024, with a protest stand organized on Thursday, October 24, at the headquarters of the General Administration of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water.

The coordination, which includes eight unions, stated that this escalation comes in response to “the continued closure of the doors of dialogue by the General Administration and its refusal to negotiate on the urgent demands file, and on a group of pending demands related to the fate of the office and the future of the employees.”

The union coordination criticized in a statement what it called “the dwarfing of the goals grant, which reached 30 percent, to be added to the painful blows that the employee receives in terms of his income, at a time when he was expecting fair and reasonable increases, to keep pace with the exorbitant rate of daily living.”

In a related context, the union coordination called for “a general and fair increase in wages and improvement of income by increasing grants of all kinds,” stressing the need to “recover the deductions that affected the annual grant for the year 2023,” and “a comprehensive and final settlement of the pending files (the status of the lower ladders, the file of technicians and certificate holders, ladder 22, the kilometer grant…).”

In addition, the coordination stressed the need to “institutionalize sectoral dialogue with social stakeholders,” and adopt “transparency in appointment to positions of responsibility and link responsibility to accountability,” as well as “creating a retirement grant,” and “improving employees’ retirement by including the rental allowance in the retirement fund.”

At the end of its statement, the National Coordination of the Water Sector at the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water called on all male and female users to “participate broadly and responsibly in the protest program,” while ensuring that the minimum services are provided for the operation of the facility to provide citizens with drinking water.”