Revaluation of pensions: pensioners are active, negotiations started this Monday

CMR. Credit: The Bureau

Left hungry after the signing of the agreement between the government and the unions, retired civil servants are preparing to step up to the plate. The latter’s associations have been active for several days to express their demands. A meeting is planned for Monday afternoon

Retired civil servants become active. The government union agreement signed on April 29, at the end of the last round of social dialogue, has delivered many results for civil servants, in particular through a 1,000 dirham (DH) wage increase and a reduction in income tax (IR) . ). However, this agreement has caused a new wave of anger among pensioners, who are not only deprived of this increase, but also feel that their long-standing demands have been rejected. ignored “.

After the first press releases published last week, pensioners’ associations are organizing protests today to make their voices heard. In addition to their demands “ exist for a long time “Today they first demanded that the general wage increase, which will be applied in two tranches, be passed on to their pensions.” For employees, the wage increase combined with a reduction in IR is an important achievement. But 80% of retirees have a pension that is below the tax threshold, so we gain virtually nothing from a simple tax cut. “, explains DeskBrahim Belghazi, President of the Association of Pensioners of the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI) and Vice-President of the National Federation of National Associations of Pensioners in Morocco (FANAREM).

Not having the right to organize in a trade union formation and being deprived of representation” strong and reliable » who are able to assert their demands within the trade union centres, the latter are now planning to take matters into their own hands. At the level of FANAREM, the action is in full swing, while the various associations grouped under its wing are exploring the possibilities and “ by means of pressure » at their disposal, says our conversation partner. However, collective action will have to wait until the renewal of the federation’s presidency, with internal elections scheduled for May 15.

At the same time, the organization chaired by Belghazi and other associations of pensioners under the Moroccan Pension Fund (CMR) will begin discussions this late afternoon on the actions to be implemented. This first meeting in Rabat will be dedicated to finding the formulas for the application of the increase agreed by the executive at the end of April and then developing a proposal ” realistic “, but above all to examine the means capable of achieving their other demands, including in particular the increase of the minimum amount of pensions and the regulation of ” certain files have been pending for almost ten years », underlines our source.

This retired tax expert mentions in this sense the measures introduced as part of the reform of the civil pension system launched in 2017, and in particular the revision of the coefficient applicable to the reference salary for the calculation of the pension that at the time it was assumed from 2% to 2.5%. “ The application of these measures would have allowed for a tacit and general increase in pensions of up to Dh3,000 for all categories of pensioners. The CMR, which always finds a way to interpret the laws as it wishes and avoid revaluation of the compensation, has not applied this increase under the pretext that the gross salary used to withhold taxes is used to collect pensions. pension is no longer used to calculate pension benefits and is now based on basic salary “.

The goal of these initial discussions is to find common ground and possible solutions. “ We hope that a debate will arise with the pensioners and that we can conduct negotiations in a constructive and calm manner “, says Belghazi. However, the ” crisis of confidence » is the biggest problem today according to this interlocutor, who believes that pensioners have been ignored for a long time without anyone listening to them. “We had a little hope that this last episode of the social dialogue would make it possible to respond to some of our demands, but after the great disappointment of the agreement which does not even mention pensioners, it is clear that we cannot doing. no choice but to raise our voices “, he laments, before ironically: “ As pensioners, the only strike we can do is a hunger strike. This may allow us to save money. “.