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On the second day of the nationwide general strike in Morocco, initiated by five major trade unions and nine professional organizations on February 5 and 6, 2025, the Minister of Economic Insertion, Small Business, Employment, and Skills, Younes Sekkouri, reported a participation rate of 32% in the public sector and 1.4% in the private sector, averaging 16.7% nationally.
During a press briefing in Rabat following the Government Council meeting, Sekkouri explained that these figures were derived from «the number of strikers in relation to the total number of workers in the various sectors». In the public sector, education saw a 35.5% participation rate, health 33.3%, justice 30.5%, local authorities 26.4%, and public institutions 25.9%.
These statistics starkly contrast with those provided by the organizing trade unions, which claimed a nationwide participation rate exceeding 80%. Sekkouri, however, emphasized that the strike occurred «within the framework of legality and respect for constitutional provisions».
Sekkouri underscored the crucial nature of his department's relationship with social partners, describing it as «pivotal and fundamental for our country, and not just a matter of circumstance».
The strike coincided with the final vote on the draft organic law on the right to strike, which passed in the House of Representatives with 84 votes in favor and 20 against, out of 104 deputies present. Sekkouri defended the bill, noting it incorporated «most of the amendments put forward by the social partners».
Among the unions, the Union marocaine du travail (UMT) abstained from voting in the House of Councillors, while the Confédération Démocratique du Travail (CDT) opposed the bill. The striking organizations criticized the government for not adhering to the meeting schedule outlined in the national charter for institutionalizing social dialogue, signed on April 30, 2022.
Sekkouri maintained that the law represents a consensus and argued that for it to be effective, it must balance the interests of strikers, unions, companies, and society, ensuring a minimum level of service. He defended the law as protective of workers' rights, criminalizing employers who obstruct the right to strike, and highlighted that no social partner abstained from the drafting consultations.
