The National Union of Civil Servants of Higher Education and University Residences, affiliated to the Democratic Confederation of Labor (CDT), has decided to no longer attend dialogue sessions with the Minister of Higher Education, Abdellatif Miraoui, and his representatives, as long as the latter does not submit to them the version of the draft status of the sector. The union also announced a 48-hour nationwide strike on June 14 and 15, accompanied by a protest sit-in on June 14 in front of the ministry’s headquarters in Rabat. Point.
The national office of the National Union of Civil Servants of Higher Education and University Residences met at the beginning of the week in order to assess the various series of sectoral discussions that have taken place with the supervisory minister, or his representatives, since the resumption of dialogue on March 15, 2023.
During this meeting, the union concluded that no satisfactory solution had been found with the Ministry of Higher Education which, according to the union, ” is not serious and adopts a policy of double standards in the treatment of the files of the civil servants of the sector “.
Indeed, the union believes that the ministry” responds to the claims of one category and neglects those of other categories of administrative and technical civil servants (…) Moreover, he refuses to sign the minutes of the meetings and changes the dates without valid reason“, underlines the same source.
In this context, the national office of the union affiliated to the CDT announced, by means of a document sent to MoroccoLatestNews UK, its intention to boycott the dialogue sessions with the line ministry. This decision follows the approach of the finalization of the project of the statute of higher education, requested for a very long time by the trade union.
Thus, the union conditions its participation in negotiations with the supervisory authority on obtaining the version of the draft statute, emphasizing that any reform of the higher education system would be futile if the professional, social and moral situation of civil servants is not reformed in parallel. Moreover, he underlined the reception given by the ministry to unrepresentative trade unions, which did not obtain the number of seats required during the last elections to be authorized to negotiate with the ministry.
In protest, the union has also decided to observe a 48-hour national strike on June 14 and 15, with a sit-in planned in front of the Ministry of Higher Education. The union justifies this decision by the climate of social tension reigning within the supervisory ministry.
Consequently, the union urges the government to adopt a sectoral dialogue that leads to concrete results, to respect trade union freedoms, to fight against arbitrariness and clientelism, to develop an incentive and equitable statute for all categories of civil servants, to regularize the situation of civil servants holding doctorates, and to revise the procedure for organizing examinations of professional competence to guarantee transparency and equal opportunities.
It is important to recall that the Minister of Higher Education, Abdellatif Miraoui, had previously declared that his department was in the process of finalizing the new statute for teacher-researchers.
It should also be recalled that under the supervision of the head of government, Aziz Akhannouch, an agreement was signed on January 14 to materialize one of the main commitments of the government in the field of education. This agreement aims to strengthen the motivation of the teaching staff, considered as the essential preamble to the reform of public schools and to the service of Moroccan students and families, according to a press release from the department of the head of government.
The minutes of this agreement were signed by the Minister of National Education, Preschool and Sports, Chakib Benmoussa, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance, in charge of the budget, Fouzi Lekjaa, the Minister Delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of the digital transition and administrative reform, Ghita Mezzour, and the social partners representing the National Federation of Education (UMT), the National Union of Education (CDT), the Free Federation of Education (UGTM) and the National Union of Education (FDT).