The new rise in fuel prices has once again made professionals in the transport sector react. Prices again flirted with records, reaching more than 15 DH per liter of petrol and 14.45 DH for diesel.
The national road freight transport unions, affiliated to the Democratic Confederation of Labor (CDT), the General Union of Moroccan Workers (UGTM), the Moroccan Union of Labor (UMT), and the National Union of Labor in Morocco (UNTM), have decided to take protest and escalation measures against the government because of the continuous rise in these prices.
The bar of 15DH per liter of gasoline has been crossed in several cities of the Kingdom. Faced with this outbreak which will not end anytime soon according to expert forecasts, the freight transport unions have asked the government to find an urgent solution to the crisis of professionals concerning diesel, which now constitutes more than 80% of the total cost of transport, indicates Mounir Benazzouz, national secretary general of road transport professionals.
In a statement to MoroccoLatestNews, the trade unionist explained that the support allocated by the government to road transport professionals was marred by several imbalances, in addition to its approval without consultation of the professionals, causing some to benefit from the support of others not.
The escalation envisaged by transport professionals is also fueled by the fact that the support granted to them was decided at a time when the price of petrol did not exceed 12 dh/litre, whereas today reached 15.13 dh, notes the trade unionist.
” Professionals are living through a crisis that the government is neglecting. We have therefore decided to take preliminary measures by which we will denounce the situation. If the government does not respond to our cry of distress, we will resort to escalation, in particular through a national strike, the date of which will be announced soon. “, Benazzouz tells us.
Unions in the sector have thus raised the limited impact of government support for professionals to mitigate the fallout from the rise in fuel prices. According to them, the support mechanism has several shortcomings and needs radical solutions, the first being the capping of fuel prices for the benefit of professionals.
In a joint statement, trade unions in the freight transport sector clarified that “ the government has not been able, so far, to take measures aimed at capping the price of fuel at a reasonable level for the benefit of all professionals in the sector“.
The unions have thus denounced the significant and continuous rise in fuel prices, stressing the need to review the composition of the exaggerated price. They also called on the competent authorities to open an investigation into the fuel market in Morocco, characterized by a semi-monopolistic structure.
It should be recalled that the government had previously announced the allocation of a new tranche of subsidies to transport professionals to preserve the stability of stable prices and keep pace with the increases recorded in fuel prices, had indicated the door- speech of the government, Mustapha Baitas.
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