Labor Protest in Morocco
This chapter is divided into four sections that outline the origins of Morocco’s labor unions and detail their involvement in the country’s uprisings of 2011. First, the chapter surveys the historical foundations of labor unions in Morocco, focusing on the colonial and postcolonial periods. This early history demonstrates that Morocco’s unions have a history of inciting violence to advance their agenda, especially in urban areas, which have historically served as centers of opposition to the monarchy. Second, the chapter sets the baseline to show that, like in Tunisia and Egypt, the period preceding the Arab Spring was marked by increased labor unrest in Morocco. Third, it examines union mobilization during the height of popular protests against Morocco’s regime, from February 2011 to June 2011. Finally, the chapter closes by discussing what demands the unions secured from their activism and reviews the key implications from the political historical narrative. The empirical record bears out the argument that labor unions used unrest connected to Morocco’s “Arab Spring” to realize some of their core material demands.