Teacher Strikes Ongoing Despite Government Announcing Raise

Rabat – A week after the government announced approving a MAD 1,500 ($149) raise for public school teachers, strikes remain ongoing. 

A number of teachers’ assemblies have announced extending the strike to December 19-22, despite the ongoing negotiations between the government and some labor unions. 

In converging statements, regional teacher assemblies described the ongoing negotiations between teachers’ unions and the government as “fake” and called for the “unconditional” restriction of the new reform. 

The list of demands also included the integration of contractual teachers into the public sector. 

The start of the ongoing school year has been marred with continuous teachers’ strikes, causing parents to worry about the potential of a wasted year.

The public school teachers’ strike was triggered by the education ministry’s decision to pass a new reform, which they say overloaded them with work without offering proper compensation. 

In response to weeks of protests, the government announced freezing the reform and called on teachers to return to classrooms as a ministerial committee resumed negotiations with labor unions.

Since the start of the negotiations with the government, teachers’ assemblies have been distancing themselves from labor unions arguing that they no longer represent teachers and that the government had excluded the legitimate representatives of the teachers from the bargaining process.

While the government recently announced a raise for school teachers, the measure has done little to quell teachers’ anger, as most of them described it as insufficient, while others expressed their rejection of the reform altogether. 

Teachers have been initially demanding raises of MAD 2,500 and MAD 3,000. However, Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch said that such a raise is not possible as it would require MAD 5 billion from the state budget.