Agricultural workers organised a protest sit-in yesterday in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Employment in Rabat to assert a series of demands.

Initiated by the National Federation of the Agricultural Sector (FNSA), this action, which is part of its struggle for the eradication of exploitation, marginalisation and legal discrimination against the agricultural working class in Morocco, was organised to denounce the reality of their extreme poverty and the trampling of their basic rights.

To better perform their tasks, these men and women must enjoy conditions allowing them to develop their productivity, which conditions can only be favourable and encouraging if they respect their human dignity, guarantee their rights and improve the social conditions of their families.

In this context, the FNSA, which has constantly defended the interests of agricultural workers through all legitimate struggle actions, calls on the government to respect its commitments concerning the improvement of the social conditions of all citizens, strengthen rights and freedoms and ensure respect for the law and the essential conditions of decent work. It also believes that it is imperative to proceed with revisions on the legal level with a view to establishing equitable relations between employers and workers within the framework of both parties' respect for the laws in force.

In order to push these relations in the direction of parity and towards an effective partnership between the various parties of production, while guaranteeing social peace, the National Federation of the Agricultural Sector presented a memorandum of demands with the intention of initiating a constructive and fruitful dialogue, with the participation of all those concerned. A dialogue that must necessarily lead to clear commitments and allow for the establishment of practical mechanisms capable of being realised within the framework of the government programme. The Federation's demands concern legal discrimination, facilities and respect for trade union rights and freedoms, the judicial system and labour disputes, respect for the Labour Code, working conditions and health and safety measures as well as the resolution of existing conflicts.

Among other demands of the Federation are those of the workers of the former SODEA and SOGETA, the recovery of farms granted as gifts, the ratification of the International Labour Organisation's conventions concerning agriculture, the conclusion of collective agreements through the activation of the results of the last social dialogue on this subject, the revision of the reconciliation, inspection and examination procedures adopted by the Ministry of Employment as well as the encouragement of negotiations and the conclusion of collective agreements in the agricultural sector.