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Rabat – In light of the Brussels attacks last month, Morocco’s National Office of Airports (ONDA) announced a new security policy that will bar the family members or companions of future passengers from entering the country’s largest airport.
The policy – to take effect on Tuesday – came as part of a security solution formulated by the ONDA after members of the two organizations that represent the Casablanca airport’s 125 baggage handlers and luggage-cart gatherers protested a recent ONDA decision over the weekend. If implemented, the ONDA decision have put the two groups’ jobs under the purview of a private company in order to increase airport security.
According to the new policy, all of the airport workers represented by the two organizations will receive a special badge that will verify their authorization to work in the security-sensitive building. Once the workers arrive at the airport to start their shift, they will have to visit a special window to obtain the badge and then return the badge to the same place when their workday ends.
A spokesperson from the ONDA told the Moroccan website Medias24 that the new decision was taken in line with policies that are being implemented in various countries in order to ensure the safety of world’s key transportation centers. This comes after the so-called “Islamic State” killed more than 30 people in March by bombing an airport and a subway station in the Belgian capital.
The airport’s administration and security officials also authorized the employees of companies that have stores or offices in the airport to enter the building. However, anyone accompanying a future traveler to the airport will not be authorized to enter the premises.
Since the protesting workers were not directly employed by the airport, the airport’s administration was unable to fire them, the same source said. The effects of the current setup, which gives the twin organizations the authority to oversee the employment of the airports’ baggage handlers and luggage-cart gatherers – allowed the protestors to win the dispute over the privatization of the sectors involving their jobs.
By opening the discussion up to the workers, the ONDA was able to find a solution acceptable by all of the sides involved on Monday, the source added.
Najam Ghazlan, a member of the organization for baggage handlers and the organization for luggage-cart handlers in the airport, said the windows established by the airport for the badge process will allow workers to complete their work with ease and improve airport security.
The two organizations have formed a special committee that will oversee the workers and their new badge process, he added.
