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Two weeks ahead of Ramadan, the owners of cafes and restaurants in Morocco are putting their claims back on the table. This week, a meeting under the banner of the National Association of Coffee and Restaurant Owners of Morocco failed to decide whether or not to organize a 48-hour national strike next week.
«There are discussions at the national level. The national office wants to go for a nationwide strike. But for the past two days, we have been confronted with a technical problem concerning the meetings, because approximately 60% could not participate in the meeting remotely», Noureddine El Harrak said. The president of the National Association of Coffee and Restaurant Owners of Morocco told Yabiladi that a second meeting must be held on Wednesday to decide on the strike.
«50% of the members are leaning towards the strike option.The others prefer to give a voice to the regional sections to decide on the forms of protest they want, and that is what we plan to resolve this evening».
Full or partial exemption from taxes
El Harrak also addressed the closure of all channels of dialogue with the authorities. «Since the start of the crisis, we have written to the Economic Watch Committee to communicate with us», he recalled.
He cites the hours during the holy month as an example, saying he does not know whether cafes and restaurants will be allowed to open. «It's unfortunate, knowing that Ramadan is a period that needs a lot of preparation. A large number of cafes and restaurants have not launched the preparations because they feel that the situation is not clear and are afraid of losses», he said.
Noureddine El Harrak thus affirms that he sees no problem in asking cafes and restaurants to close during this holy month, on the condition of «sitting around the dialogue table in order to think of alternatives and avoid the collapse of the sector». «A complete exemption from taxes or tax relief», could be one of the alternatives, he said.
«It is unacceptable that while the turnover decreases by more than 70%, we are asked to work with a capacity of reception of 50% and pay 100% of the expenses of 'temporary exploitation of the public domain and 100% of professional fees and taxes».
Professionals divided over the month of Ramadan
But although this last demand seems to unify all the members of the Federation of cafes and restaurants, which brings together several associations in the sector, the strike does not mobilize everyone. «It is orchestrated by caterers and cafes», a Casablanca restaurateur told Yabiladi Wednesday. «They defend opening during Ramadan, which I can understand since it is an important period for them, but the restaurateurs do not find any interest there since the authorities want us to close», he said.
«For us, this is not the solution at all. None of us intends to follow suit», the same source said. «Cafes have been campaigning for a while for the extension of the time slots but they have had no feedback because the message from the authorities is very clear».
«Obviously we want to reopen during this month.But personally, I prefer to have a confined or restricted Ramadan to be able to work afterwards in a normal way and that we stop these adjustments of schedules which, after a while, do not mean anything to anyone».
«There are plenty of restaurateurs who make a profit through alcohol and who never open during Ramadan. For them, closing during this period is therefore a habit», he recalls.
«Although we are all united in the Federation and in associations, the interests are different. Everyone works differently and there is not a single word or unity and I think the government is playing a little on that», he concluded.
