'Social Attaches' in Morocco express shock over incomplete compensation

Morocco’s first batch of “social attaches” have finally received their due compensation after a 5-month long struggle.

The attachés found, however, that their compensation did not match those of their academic and educational colleagues of the same level, which resulted in widespread discontent among the social workers in Morocco.

Social attaches, or social workers, are administrative workers in Morocco that are employed to provide additional support to the country’s educational department. Prior to the launch of the program in 2021, the position did not exist in Morocco.

The Moroccan law framing Education Academies explicitly stipulates that wages must be comparable, whether by scale or degree.

According to reports from the local newspaper Al-Ayoun Al-Aan, after working for a period of five months, beginning from September 1, 2021, and ending January 27, 2022, the social attaches discovered that teachers, administrative staff, and educational workers have already received their compensation, while the social attaches received incomplete compensation.

Hespress EN received account statements from an anonymous source showing that the social attaches generated MAD 23,661 during their five-month tenure, i.e. a value of MAD 4732,2 per month. In contrast, the educational workers received MAD 27,119, with a monthly salary of MAD 5423.8, a difference of MAD 691 per month.

The social attaches were therefore entitled to a total payment of MAD 27,119, instead of MAD 23,661, resulting in mass dissatisfaction among the social workers across the country,

Hespress EN has interviewed Ayman Abdouni, a social attache from the 2021 batch, to explain the incident.

Abdouni clarified to say that a few of his fellow social attaches went to the Regional Academy of Education in Rabat, where HR representatives confirmed that the compensation they received was accurate.

The attaches insisted on meeting with the Director of the academy to further clarify the situation, and solve the problem.

The Director then called the concerned department of the Ministry of Education, who then explained that there was an error in the payment from the treasury department.

The director explained that the payment errors were due to the treasury choosing a prior basic payment scheme with was “outdated” and no longer existed in the educational system, therefore the attaches received the outdated payment for that particular position, Abdouni revealed to Hespress EN.

The attache position was established primarily to “fill the gap” and provide support to the administrative department within the educational sector. The different tasks that they had to do have not yet been paid or financially compensated, such as assisting in the vaccination process for students and working on other duties.

In a social media post, social workers across the Kingdom have denounced the matter and called on the relevant authorities to rectify the situation as soon as possible, stressing the right to equal pay.

In a statement to Hespress EN, Abdouni added that there is yet to be any news or official documents from the concerned ministry to explain what happened with the remaining compensation that is owed to the attaches.

The Director of the academy reassured the attaches and said that the problem is currently under review in order to find a solution by the end of February 2022.