House of representatives adopts Labor Code unanimously

The House of Representatives (parliament lower chamber) on Thursday unanimously passed the labor code

regulating relations between employers and employees.

The law comprises 589 articles, divided into seven chapters.

After it was passed by the Chamber of Advisers (upper chamber), in the previous phase, Moroccan minister of labor, social affairs and solidarity, Mustapha Mansouri, had explained that the law comes to crown "a package of legal reforms meant to upgrade the Moroccan economy and generate jobs by stimulating national and foreign investments."

He stressed that the law, designed after intensive dialogue between the prime minister and social actors (trade unions and enterprise associations), is considered as a breakthrough to which several ministerial departments contributed.

Mansouri explained that major bones of contention -labor flexibility, the employer's rights to fire employees and trade union freedoms- were settled by adopting principles in force in developed countries. He argued that debates have helped reach a balanced text that enjoys the adherence of all sides while it was also agreed to start dialogue on a set of other issues, mainly retirement, increasing the minimum salary by 10%, compensation on job loss and increasing salaries that were not raised in the last years.