WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- The prospect of a U.S.-Morocco free-trade agreement has produced many labor reforms in Morocco, the U.S. Trade Representative said Thursday.
"Like all U.S. free-trade agreements, the U.S.-Morocco FTA contains provisions requiring the effective enforcement of domestic labor and environmental laws, and cooperative efforts to upgrade labor and environmental standards," the USTR said in a statement.
A comprehensive new labor law went into effect on June 8. The law raises Morocco's minimum employment age from 12 to 15 to combat child labor, reduces the work week from 48 to 44 hours and sets overtime rates for additional hours. It also calls for periodic reviews of Morocco's minimum wage, and raises the minimum wage by 10 percent, effective July 1 this year. The new law also improves Moroccan workers' health and safety regulations, addresses gender equity in the workplace, and promotes employment of the disabled, the USTR said.
The law also guarantees Moroccan workers the right to form unions and go on strike, and prohibits employers acting against workers because they are union members.
