Morocco intervenes to end RAM strike, revive labour talks
2009-09-08
A sixth strike by RAM pilots, this one at the height of labour negotiations, pushed the minister of equipment and transport to step in.
By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 09/08/09
 [Sarah Touahri] Minister for Equipment and Transport Karim Ghellab intervened to save talks between RAM management and labour after pilots again went on strike. |
Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and its pilots resumed talks on Monday (September 7th), after the unprecedented intervention of Minister of Equipment and Transport Karim Ghellab helped resolve the sixth in a string of pilots' strikes.
A meeting chaired by the minister last Friday in Rabat managed to calm the situation and led to the end of the strike, which began the day before the meeting and was scheduled to end the day after. The suspension of the strike followed an agreement in principle on implementing the "Moroccanisation" of captain positions within RAM.
RAM's chief executive officer, Driss Benhima, said that the call for Moroccanisation has now been settled and is no longer an issue.
Najib Ibrahimi, who speaks on behalf of the Moroccan airline pilots association, said that further meetings will be held to resolve outstanding issues, which are of a more technical nature.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Equipment and Transport, the two sides have promised to continue with regular meetings in a calm and responsible manner, so as to reach a quick general and decisive agreement on the demands tabled by the pilots.
The latest strike came as a surprise to everyone, since the chairman of the Moroccan airline pilots association, Jalal Yaâcoubi, had announced on August 24th, following the start of negotiations, that the dispute was about to be settled.
In a press statement following the meeting with the pilots, Ghellab expressed astonishment at the resumption of the strike while dialogue with RAM was still under way and making progress.
For his part, Benhima said he was extremely surprised by news of a "wildcat" strike just half an hour before it began. "There are no grounds for striking during negotiations while dialogue is ongoing," he said.
The pilots' justification for their strike lay in the company's decision to deduct pay for eight prior strike days from their pay packets. But RAM's communications managers called the company's move justified under Moroccan labour laws and said it should not have any impact on negotiations.
Ibrahimi last week said that the decision was against regulations. He stated that management had the right to deduct pay for strike days and not for paid leave, adding that pilots only work 36 hours per week, and that some strikers had no flights scheduled during the period of the work stoppage. He said the pay deductions indicated a change in position for RAM, and that the company wants to break away from all its agreements, including the Moroccanisation of captain positions.
Deductions of the type that triggered the strike will be on the agenda for future negotiations.
The transport minister said the strike had damaging consequences for the company and tourism in Morocco.
"This is a peak period for air travel, with Moroccan expatriates returning, students leaving to study abroad, and the Omra," he said. "The stoppage has an impact on tourism and RAM's future survival."
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moroccan patriot Posted 2009-09-08
Well, I guess I can safely say I told you so. RAM management needs to be replaced. Only by replacing the nepotistic management at RAM can Morocco show that it is a place where economics and facts rule the day. I have no sympathy for the pilotst by the way. Their demands were redicilous and I hope that once RAM goes under, these pilots find themselves out of work. The big loser in all of this has been the moroccan tourism industry. This is also a sector which i have no sympathy for, as the sooner Morocco moves away from being a country that relies on tourism, the better. Morocco needs to be an exporter of goods and services. This strike and the entire fiasco that has ensued is a net positive for Morocco if RAM finally goes the way of the dinasaurs and Moroccans come to understand that the future lays in becoming a nation of service and industrial exporters; not bellhops and waiters who provide bad non competitive services for European racists. We need to cherish and learn our history as Moroccans and become motivated towards self reliance and most importantly, accountability. Accountability for bad service providers like RAM and Maroc Telecom. Accountability for Hypocrytical pilots and Hotels that provide over priced shoddy service. We need to hold people who work for the ministry of education and send their children out of the country for their education accountable in the same way that Ministry of Health workers who send their family members for medical procedures in France and the US. Ramadan Kareem to everyone.
ouirgan Posted 2009-09-11
i applaud he moroccan pilots for standing up to the very arrogant benhima..this man seems to go from post to another without accomplishing anything except antogonising everyone,he left casablanca like a garbage dump ,lost the world cup bid and failed the air senegal venture with his arrogance towards the senegalese partners..these pilots are only asking to apply immigration and labor laws that exist in every country...moroccans need any job they can get their hands on,why would we bring foreign pilots to fly while our own pilots spend years as trainees?..mr benhima ..you are in no position to hand out our jobs,remember you are in a poor country we are not the emirates!!! we need those jobs!!! or rather you need to look for a job somewhere else,,,france maybe,if they give you a work permit!!!
ayyoub Posted 2009-09-16
These pilots want to have their cake and eat it too! It's time that they get it in their heads that in any civilised country you aren't paid to strike. What patriots these are!? Meanwhile, the country is obliged to pay the piper.
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