«The government should have adopted another approach: reach out to all stakeholders including trade unions to convince people to get vaccinated. We have more effective means of persuasion». According to Miloudi Mokharek, Secretary General of the UMT trade union, company managers (chief financial officers and other executives) will find themselves in a delicate situation with their employees and «we must convince and not coerce [people]”.
As soon as the head of government on vaccination issued his statement, the administration began implementing its first measures. Ministerial departments quickly published internal memos urging awareness and vaccination of those who had not yet received all their jabs. A seven-day period was granted to civil servants to comply, beyond which, those who had not received all their jabs would have to «stay home».In other words, access to their workstations would be prohibited. This would be considered a deliberate cessation of work by the workers, with all the resultant consequences. Consequences would go from an initial warning to a hearing before a disciplinary council, and, eventually, to deductions from salaries and possibly abandonment of post. «Deductions from salaries are not automatic. We have regulations and rules to respect», said a senior official. In any case, some trade unions have proposed the carrot rather than the stick. «Why not give a bonus to encourage civil servants to get vaccinated?» suggested the UMT.
While «firm instructions» issued by the head of government have been quickly applied in the public service, things have been different in the private sector. With the exception of raising awareness, they do not know how to encourage their employees to get vaccinated. Several questions have been raised: Should the head of government be taken at his word and those who reject the vaccine be terminated from their jobs? What is the legal basis for this considering that the Labor Code is silent on the issue? If employees refuse the vaccine, should they be forced to take a leave of absence and, if necessary, stop receiving all salary payments? Some trade unions fear that the «recommendations-instructions» of the head of government will open the way for abuses such as dismissals. Mokharek even speaks of the risk of «social siba» (a Moroccan word for « big social trouble»).
While awaiting the issuance of measures to accompany this order to vaccinate, the «General Confederation of Moroccan Companies»(CGEM) has just called upon all its members to comply with health measures and insisted on the need to sensitize its members to the importance of the third shot. «This third dose must be administered four months after the second one. For people who have contracted the virus, the third shot can be administered one month after recovery from the virus. These are the recommendations of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection», said Chakib Alj, president of the employers’ confederation. These are measures necessary for a successful stimulus of the economy, especially with the opening of borders.
Khadija MASMOUDI
