Labor Union Says Spanish Company ‘Exploits’ Moroccan Workers

Rabat – Spanish company Gil Comes, operating in the new port of Larache, northern Morocco, “exploits outrageously the women working” there, according to the International Labor Network of Solidarity and Struggle.

The network, regrouping more than 40 labor unions and federations from different countries, including the Moroccan Labor Union (UMT), published a statement denouncing working conditions at the Spanish company, on Thursday, December 12.

Gil Comes employs more than 2,000 Moroccan women in its factory for freezing fish and seafood. The employees work in “conditions that seriously harm their health” and receive “poor wages,” according to the labor network.

The statement indicates that there is no medical department in the workplace. It also sheds light on the lack of a work safety committee,  violating the Moroccan labor code.

Morocco’s Democratic Organization for Labor (ODT) has been calling for a strike at the company’s workshop since the start of the year. Workers went on strike on October 17, and are still striking.

ODT accuses the company of “arbitrary dismissals and unfair transfers.” The company has fired around 100 employees, including 5 unionists with more than 12 years of seniority, according to the organization.

The union also denounces the “repression, intimidation, threats, psychological harassment, and the systematic persecution against ODT’s unionists.”

Spain’s General Confederation for Labor (CGT), the third-largest Spanish labor union, has also denounced the company’s abuse of Moroccan female workers. The confederation called on the Moroccan government to stop “the impunity” from which they say Gil Comes benefits and to negotiate collective conventions to preserve the workers’ rights.

The Spanish company, however, told the press that the accusations against it are false and that they are suffering from “harassment on social media.”

There have only been “5 or 6 firings for serious misconduct” in the last year, according to the human resources manager of the company.

The company’s spokesperson also affirmed that all sanitary rules within the workplace are respected and that the company is “open for dialogue, although ODT did not present any proof of their accusations.”