Rabat – A “national front” has been created by the workers’ rights advocacy group Democratic Labor Conference (CDT) to “salvage” Samir, Morocco’s only national oil refinery.
The Democratic Labor Conference made the announcement on the sidelines of a June 24 meeting on the Samir question, including especially workers’ rights and families’ welfare in the Mohammedia area, near Casablanca, where the refinery is located.
Samir, which suffered major losses during the 2014-2015 oil crisis, has been closed since August 2015.
Following the closure, a court ruling liquidated the company in March 2016, but the oil refinery has since failed to attract buyers, with investors considering the company to be too expensive and “below expectations.”
The 24 June meeting urged stakeholders and authorities to ensure the survival of Morocco’s sole oil refining company. Calling Samir a national treasure, participants called for a combination of “national forces” to form a “national front” with the primary objective of saving Samir from disappearing.
The meeting did not, however, present any indication as to how the “salvaging mission” would be carried out. Another meeting, to be held on July 14, is expected to deliver on the action plan of the “national front.”
In a press release issued after the June 24 meeting, CDT called on “all national bodies, associations, progressive and democratic militants and stakeholders” to join the front’s efforts.
Amid the escalating crisis and financial uncertainty that followed the closure of the oil refinery, thousands of locals and workers in the Mohammedia area organized demonstrations to express concern about their future, asking for a resumption of activities.
According to CDT, the prospective “national front” is a way of supporting and amplifying the voice and concerns of the Mohammedia-based local front that has suffered greatly as a result of the company’s closure.
