Distributors of butane and propane gas in Morocco have announced a 48-hour strike on June 29 and 30 due to rising fuel prices and the silence of the government, which refuses any dialogue despite numerous invitations to this effect, according to the National Syndicate of Gas Distributors and Depositories in Morocco.
Following this announcement, the Ministry of the Interior went online to avoid this strike which risks creating big problems, in particular the unavailability of butane gas bottles in local shops.
Thus, the Professional Association of Liquid Gas Depositories in Morocco held a meeting with the services of the Ministries of the Interior and Finance, this Thursday, June 23, in order to find solutions which would dissuade distributors from starting their national strike. . That said, but without drawing useful conclusions or planning a date for a new meeting.
According to Mohamed Benjelloun, president of the said association, the government discusses only one point, that of not stopping supplying the Moroccan market with gas, whatever the circumstances.
In a statement to MoroccoLatestNewsMohamed Benjelloun clarified that the situation experienced by professionals is “ very difficult and that it is impossible to continue the distribution“, emphasizing that the losses accumulate on a daily basis.
The Ministry of the Interior has limited the problem between distributors and companies, noted the trade unionist, noting that some of them offered distributors subsidies of 30 dirhams per ton in exchange for providing the service.
But this figure is low according to Benjelloun, who advances the amount of at least 70 dirhams of subsidies, according to the testimonies of professionals. The trade unionist also noted that “ the blur is the watchword of the situation today, even after the meeting with the Ministry of the Interior.
Today, all stakeholders, namely the government, companies and distributors, are complaining, he adds, stressing that ” the main outcome of Thursday’s meeting is the government’s desire not to stop the supply“.
For his part, Mustafa Baitas, spokesperson for the government, estimated that ” the decision to strike concerns distributors and companies in the first place, and the solutions are in their hands “.
In Morocco, the last strike of butane gas distributors dates back to the end of 2014, which required the intervention of the Ministry of the Interior through calls initiated with the representative structures of the distributors to suspend the strike followed by a press release issued by the Wilaya of Casablanca, in which she revealed the intervention of officials affiliated with the same ministry.
The professionals raise numerous problems which have pushed them to resort to the strike, mainly the rise in fuel prices in Morocco, the high cost of spare parts, wheels, the panoply of charges weighing on the distributor in addition to the fact that ‘they have not benefited from the government aid recently addressed to road transport professionals.
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