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Rabat – Casablanca’s court of first instance ordered on Wednesday the dissolution of the Moroccan Association of Airline Pilots (AMPL) on the basis of a complaint by Morocco’s flag carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM).
Royal Air Maroc filed a complaint against AMPL on September 14 for an alleged violation of the principles of its statute by leading union actions. AMPL had called on pilots to go on strike.
On November 11, the Civil Court of Casablanca held a session to review the case of Royal Air Maroc and AMPL.
The Moroccan pilots’ defense requested the involvement of the Ministry of Tourism and Air Transport regarding the dissolution of AMPL.
This comes in light of a cycle of frictions between the two parties after Royal Air Maroc decided to lay off 140 of its employees, including 65 pilots, 59 flight attendants and 16 ground staff, on August 25 to address the COVID-19 crisis.
AMPL decided to act in defense of their colleague pilots. They held a meeting with Royal Air Maroc’s regional committee responsible for authorizing layoffs on August 13 to discuss the layoff plan, which included government officials and representatives from the General Confederation of Enterprises in Morocco (CGEM).
The meeting resulted in nine votes in favor of RAM’s plan against five votes opposing it.
This led AMPL to turn to justice for the rehiring of the 140 employees, while pilots suggested to reduce their salaries by an amount equivalent to what RAM would gain from its layoff plan.
The Moroccan pilots’ proposal would reduce Royal Air Maroc’s expenses by $43 million over three years, according to AMPL.
In September AMPL announced that 308 of its members are willing to go on strike in response to the layoff of their Casablanca-based colleagues, believing that RAM’s plan is “unjustified.”
