INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE
LABOUR SURVEY OF
NORTH AFRICA
GENEVA
1960
STUDIES A N D R E P O R T S
New Series, No. 60
PRINTED BY " LA TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE ", GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
CONTENTS
Page
SKETCH-MAP OF NORTH AFRICA
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I. Economic and Social Conditions
General
Basic Economic Patterns
Economic Conditions in Outline
Agriculture
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Mining
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Industry
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco . . ;
Power
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Transport and Communications
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Foreign Trade
Social Conditions in Outline
Education
Health
Housing
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Algeria
Morocco
Outlook for the Future
xiv
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Page
-J
CHAPTER II. Land and Labour
General
The Pressure of Population on Land Resources
Land Tenure
"" Workers on the Land
Sharecroppers and Other Cultivators
— Agricultural Labourers
The Nomads
— Approaches to Rural Development
Conclusions
y
43
43
45
48
61
61
70
76
81
87
CHAPTER III. Manpower and Employment
Population and Manpower
Total Populations
Population Density
Population Trends
The Economically Active Population and Its Occupational Distribution .
Movements of Manpower
•s The Employment Market
General Features
Recruiting, Placement of Workers and Employment Exchanges . . .
Recruiting
Placement of Workers and Employment Exchanges
90
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91
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97
100
100
108
108
Ill
CHAPTER IV. Technical and Vocational Training
General
Obstacles to the Expansion of Technical and Vocational Training . . .
Technical and Vocational Training Today
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Vocational Training
Apprenticeship and Other Types of Vocational Training in the
Undertaking
Co-ordination of Training Activities
Libya
The Tripoli Technical and Commercial Training Centre
Tunisia
The General and Technical Education System
Vocational Training Schools in Undertakings
The Organisation of Apprenticeship
Rapid Vocational Training
Algeria
Vocational Training
Vocational Training of Adults
Training and Refresher Courses for Junior Management Personnel
Morocco
Vocational Training
Education in Agricultural Subjects
Technical Training for Industry and Commerce
Accelerated Apprenticeship and Vocational Training in Industry
Vocational Training in Agricultural Subjects
Reorganisation of Vocational Training
Principal Trends
General Education and Preparation for Vocational Training . . . .
Adaptation of Programmes to Requirements
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138
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143
CONTENTS
V
Page
CHAPTER V. Freedom of Association and Industrial Relations
Employers' and Workers' Organisations
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Workers' Organisations
Employers' Organisations
Libya
Workers' Organisations
Employers' Organisations
Tunisia
Workers' Organisations
Employers' Organisations
Algeria
Workers' Organisations
Employers' Organisations
Morocco
Workers' Organisations
Employers' Organisations
General Review
Freedom of Association and Protection of Trade Union Rights . . . .
Rights and Guarantees Enjoyed by Workers and Employers
Persons to Whom Trade Union Rights Extend
Rules Applying to the Establishment of Organisations
Free Choice of Organisation to Be Established
Right of Individuals to Join Organisations Freely
Protection against Acts of Anti-Union Discrimination in Respect of
Employment
Rights and Guarantees Enjoyed by Organisations
Right to Draw Up Constitutions and Rules
Election of Representatives
Right to Organise Administration and Activities and to Formulate
Programmes
Right to Establish and Join Federations
Right to Affiliate with International Organisations
Suspension and Dissolution of Organisations
Protection of Organisations against Acts of Interference by Each
Other
Collective Bargaining and Collective Agreements
Definition and Contents of Agreements
Validity and Duration
Scope
Effect
Extension
Application
Settlement of Labour Disputes
, , Special Provisions for Individual Disputes
—^—Scope of the Laws and Regulations
— Effects of Strikes and Lockouts
- Conciliation
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Arbitration
Consultation and Collaboration at the Level of the Undertaking . . . .
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
146
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Page
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Other Forms of Consultation
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
177
178
180
180
181
181
181
181
182
CHAPTER VI. Wages and Wage Policy
General
Machinery for Wage Determination
Minimum Wage Legislation and Rates
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Protection of Wages
The Levels and Trends of Wages
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Conclusions
CHAPTER VII. General Conditions of Work
Individual Contracts of Employment
Form and Validity of Contracts
Notice
Failure to Give Due Notice
Fines
Engagement and Dismissal
Hours of Work
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Weekly Rest and Public Holidays
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Holidays with Pay
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Leave in Respect of Births at Home
183
. . .
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188
189.
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233
233
234
234
235
CONTENTS
VII
Page
Algeria
Leave for Educational Purposes
Morocco
Leave in Respect of Births at Home
Work Books and Certificates of Service
Transport of Workers
Housing, Food and Medical Examinations
Employment of Women and Children
General
Employment of Women
Employment of Children and Young Persons
Age of Admission to Employment
Physical Fitness for Employment
Dangerous Processes
Transport of Loads
Employment of Women Before and After Confinement
Other Provisions
Occupational Safety and Health
General
Legislation in Force
Enforcement of Legislation
Institutions Responsible for the Prevention of Industrial Accidents and
Occupational Diseases
Conclusions
CHAPTER VIII. Social Security
General
Algeria
Wage Earners in Non-Agricultural Occupations
General Scheme
Social Insurance
Scope
Administration
Finance
Benefits
Employment Injuries and Occupational Diseases
Scope
Benefits
Family Allowance
Scope
Organisation
Finance
Benefits
Unemployment
Special Schemes
Wage Earners in Agricultural Occupations
Social Insurance
Scope
Organisation
Finance
Benefits
Employment Injuries and Occupational Diseases
235
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240
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v 271
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Page
The Self-Employed
Old Age
Scope
Organisation
Finance
Benefits
Death
Family Allowances
Health and Welfare
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Standard Scheme
Scope
Administration
Finance
Benefits
Invalidity
Old Age and Cessation of Service
Death
Industrial Accidents and Occupational Diseases
Libya
General Scheme
Scope
Administration
Finance
Benefits
Medical Care
Cash Benefit
Employment Injuries
Temporary Disability
Permanent Disability
Death
Morocco
Workmen's Compensation
Scope
Benefits
Temporary Incapacity
Permanent Incapacity
Death
Review of Compensation Paid
Guarantee Fund and Special Fund
Situation of Aliens
Family Allowances
Scope
Administration
Finance
Benefits
Family Allowances
Maternity Allowances
Payment for Holidays Granted on the Birth of Children . . . .
Tunisia
Workmen's Compensation
Scope
Benefits
Temporary Incapacity
Permanent Incapacity
Death
276
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278
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300
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302
303
304
CONTENTS
. IX
Page
Review of Benefits
Industrial Accident Fund
Aliens
Family Allowances
Scope
Administration
Finance
Benefits
Family Allowances
Payment for Holidays Granted on the Birth of Children . . .
Holiday Allowances for Young Workers
Conclusions
CHAPTER IX. Co-operatives
305
306
306
306
306
306
307
307
307
308
308
309
312
General
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Legislation
Development and Position of Co-operatives
Libya
Legislation
Development and Position of Co-operatives
Tunisia
Legislation
Development and Position of Co-operatives
Algeria
Legislation
Development and Position of Co-operatives
Morocco
Legislation
Development and Position of Co-operatives
Conclusions
CHAPTER X. Handicrafts
312
314
314
318
320
320
321
322
322
324
326
326
331
334
334
338
340
343
General
Occupational Skill
Artisan Organisations
Social Conditions
Economic Conditions
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
343
345
345
346
347
347
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Conclusions
348
351
358
360
364
CHAPTER XI. Labour Administration
and Inspection
Introduction
Structure of Labour Administration
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Administrative Services
Other Bodies
368
368
368
368
368
370
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Page
Libya
Administrative Services
Other Bodies
Tunisia
Administrative Services
Other Bodies
Algeria
Administrative Services
Other Bodies
Morocco
Administrative Services
Other Bodies
Supervision of the Application of Labour Legislation
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Libya
Tunisia
Algeria
Morocco
Conclusions
CHAPTER XII. Application of International Labour Standards
I.L.O. Action on the AppUcation of International Labour Standards . . .
Submission to Competent Authorities
Reports on Unratified Conventions and Recommendations
Reports on Ratified Conventions
Application of Conventions to Non-Metropolitan Territories . . . .
Communication of Reports to Representative Organisations
Supervision of the Application of International Labour Standards . . . .
Present State of Ratifications and Declarations of Application
The Application of International Labour Standards and the Relevant
Constitutional Obligations in Individual Countries
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Submission to Competent Authorities
Ratified Conventions
Reports on Unratified Conventions and on Recommendations .
Libya
Submission to the Competent Authorities
Ratified Conventions
Reports on Unratified Conventions and on Recommendations .
Tunisia
Submission to the Competent Authorities
Ratified Conventions
Reports on Unratified Conventions and on Recommendations .
France (Algeria)
Submission to the Competent Authorities
Ratified Conventions
Reports on Unratified Conventions and on Recommendations .
Morocco
Submission to the Competent Authorities
Ratified Conventions
Reports on Unratified Conventions and on Recommendations .
Summary of the Position
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395
398
399
399
399
399
399
399
399
401
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404
405
411
411
411
411
413
414
CONTENTS
XI
APPENDICES
Page
APPENDIX I. Principal Labour Legislation
419
APPENDIX II. Additional Tables
435
1. Egypt: Output of Certain Industries, 1928-56
2. Algeria: Industrial Production—Principal Products Manufactured from
1952 to 1957
3. Morocco : Structure of Manufacturing Industries and Their Output
between 1938 and 1955
4. North Africa: Indicators of Economic Activity, 1951-59 (Production:
Agriculture and Fisheries)
5. North Africa: Indicators of Economic Activity, 1952-59 (Production:
Industry)
6. North Africa: Indicators of Economic Activity, 1952-59 (Foreign Trade)
7. North Africa: Indicators of Economic Activity, 1952-59 (Price Levels) .
8. North Africa : Relationship between Total Area, Agricultural Area
and Population
9. Algeria: Distribution by Occupation of the Active Agricultural Population, 31 October 1954
10. North Africa: Population and Population Density
11. North Africa: Total and Economically Active Population
12. North Africa: Structure of the Economically Active Population . . . .
13. Libya: Citizen Population, 15 Years of Age and Over, Classified by Major
Occupational Groups, 1954
14. Morocco: Population and Labour Force, 1952
15. Morocco: Numbers of Trainees in Vocational Training Centres and in
Training and Refresher Centres for Tailors, 1959-60
16. Tunisia: Minimum Hourly Wages of Adult Wage Earners in 41 Occupations, 1958
17. Morocco: Minimum Rates of Wages Applicable in Industry, Commerce
and the Liberal Professions as from 16 February 1958
18. Egypt: Average Weekly Earnings (Piastres) and Actual Hours of Work,
1951-57
19. Algeria: Wages in 24 Sectors of Activity, 1955 and 1957
20. Average Hourly (1958 and 1959) and Weekly Earnings of Workers in
Industry and Commerce in Algiers, 1958 (Males Over 18 Yearsof Age)
21. Algeria: Monthly Salaries of Certain Classes of Employees, November
1958 and 1959
22. Morocco: Average Hourly Earnings in Specified Industries, 1951-58 .
23. Morocco: Average Monthly Earnings by Branches of Activity (March
1958)
24. North Africa: Maximum Load Which May Be Carried or Transported .
25. North Africa : Total Population and Economically Active Population . .
26. North Africa: Active Population in the Agricultural and Non-Agricultural
Sectors
27. North Africa: Economically Active Population and Wage-Earning
Population
28. Algeria: Number of Insured Persons and Receipts and Expenditure of
the Social Security Schemes in 1957 and 1958
435
436
438
441
442
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
463
464
464
465
465
466
XII
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Page
29. Egypt: Number of Insured Persons and Receipts and Expenditure of
the Social Security Scheme, 1958
30. Libya: Number of Insured Persons and Receipts and Expenditure of
the Social Security Scheme, 1959
31. Morocco: Number of Insured Persons and Receipts and Expenditure of
Social Security Schemes, 1956
32. Tunisia: Number of Insured Persons and Receipts and Expenditure of
Social Security Schemes, 1957
33. Ratifications of International Labour Conventions Affecting Countries of
North Africa
facing page
APPENDIX III. Bibliography
466
467
467
468
468
469
LIST O F TABLES I N THE TEXT
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Libya: Estimates for Livestock Production about 1950
North Africa: Education Statistics, 1955
North Africa: Hospital Establishments, 1955
North Africa: Health Personnel, 1955
Egypt : Distribution of Agricultural Holdings by Size in Feddans,
1952
VI. Egypt: Land Distribution following on the Land Reform Law, as
at June, 1959
VII. North Africa: Estimates of Wage-Paid Workers in Agriculture . .
VIII. Algeria: Minimum Daily Wage for Agricultural Workers . . .
IX. Libya: Distribution of the Population, 1954
X. North Africa: Distribution of Population Engaged in Agriculture,
Forestry, Hunting and Fishing
XI. Egypt: Employment Averages in Some Provinces
XII. Tunisia: Activity of the Employment Office at Tunis in 1957 and
1958
XIII. Egypt: Development of the Trade Union Movement, 1942-59 . .
XIV. North Africa: Membership of Workers' Unions and Distribution
According to International Affiliation
XV. North Africa: Labour Disputes, 1956-58
XVI. Egypt: Average Weekly Wages in the Major Branches of Economic
Activity, 1951-56
XVII. Egypt: Trend of Wages in Manufacturing Industries, 1943-55 . .
XVIII. Algeria: Wages in the Non-Agricultural Sector, 1955
XIX. Algeria: Index of Wages by Occupational Category, 1956 and 1957
XX. Algeria: Consumer Price Indices and Minimum Hourly Wage
Rates, Algiers, 1953-59
XXI. Morocco: Distribution by Occupational Category of the Population of Doum Douar, 1954
XXII. North Africa: Percentage of Young Workers in the Economically
Active Population
XXIII. Libya: Wage Categories for the Purpose of Calculating Contributions
11
29
32
33
59
60
70
74
79
94
101
115
147
155
171
192
194
201
202
203
206
245
287
GONTENTS
XIII
Page
XXrV. Libya: Apportionment of Weekly Contributions by Wage Category
XXV. Libya : Apportionment of Increased Weekly Contribution by Wage
Category
XXVI. Egypt : Development of Agricultural Co-operatives, 1925-59. . .
XXVII. Morocco: Number of Co-operative Societies by Category in 195152 and 1955-56
XXVIII. Morocco: Number of Artisans, by Trades, 1947
XXIX. Morocco: Number of Artisans, by Trades, 1958-59
XXX. Morocco: Market Value of Handicraft Products, 1957-59 . . . .
287
288
318
340
362
362
363
SKETCH MAP OF NORTH AFRI
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INTRODUCTION
The successful development of the activities of the International
Labour Organisation in Africa involves different forms of action which
it is important to pursue in such a manner that they complement one
another. The collation of information and research, adequate provision
for technical assistance, and the organisation of appropriate meetings of
a representative character must all have a place in a satisfactory over-all
programme.
Hitherto the activities of the I.L.O. in North Africa have been very
largely concentrated on technical assistance, which has been afforded
on a considerable scale to requesting governments. It was clear to the
Governing Body, which discussed the matter at its 140th Session
(November 1958), that if the I.L.O.'s programme of activities covering
North Africa was to proceed on a broader basis, the first step necessary
was the preparation of a comprehensive survey of labour problems in
the area, complementary to that covering the countries and territories
south of the Sahara. 1 The present volume is intended to fulfil that need
and it appears at a propitious moment just as the International Labour
Organisation is about to hold (December 1960) its first African Regional
Conference.
The survey has been compiled from the information assembled by
the International Labour Office in the course of its ordinary day-to-day
work of collation and research, supplemented by information supplied
by the governments concerned when complying with their reporting
obligations under the Constitution of the I.L.O., by information obtained
in the course of technical assistance missions in the area, and of personal
visits undertaken by officials of the International Labour Office in
recent years, with the full co-operation of the governments concerned.
It had been decided by the Governing Body that a draft of the
survey would be submitted for examination and discussion to a small
Committee of Experts on Social Policy in North African Countries
at a meeting called for that purpose in February 1960. Unfortunately,
due to unforeseen difficulties it was found necessary to adjourn that
meeting. Nevertheless, a copy of the draft was sent to the members
1
I.L.O. : African Labour Survey, Studies and Reports, New Series, No. 48 (Geneva,
1958).
2
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
of the Committee of Experts for criticisms and suggestions as to its
form and content, with a request that further information to enable
the survey to be brought up to date should be supplied. The Committee
of Experts was constituted as follows :
Mr. Abdesselem ACHOUR, Assistant General Secretary of the Tunisian
Union of Handicrafts and Commerce.
Mr. AU BATAR, General Secretary, Petroleum Workers' Union, Tripoli.
Mr. Mohamed BEN BOIAZZA, attached to the Cabinet of the Minister
of Labour and Social Questions, Kingdom of Morocco.
Mr. FRESSANGES, Assistant Director of Labour, Delegation of the
Government in Algeria.
Mr. Noë
LADHARI,
Chief of the Labour and Manpower Department,
Government of Tunisia.
Mr. Mohamed A. H. MARIAMI, Director of the Department of Social
Affairs, United Kingdom of Libya.
Mr. Assaad RAJEH, Chemical and Petroleum Workers' Federation,
Cairo.
Dr. Mohamed Ali RIFAAT, Managing Director of the Egyptian Federation of Industry.
Mr. R. ROULAND, Executive Director of the Confederation of Algerian
Employers.
Mr. Abdel Moghni SAÏD SALAMA, Director, Central Department of
Labour, Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, United Arab Republic.
Mr. Ahmed TLILI, General Secretary of the General Union of Workers
of Tunisia.
Various suggestions were made and considerable additional material
became available as a result of these consultations. All were taken
into consideration in revising the draft, although the responsibility for
the final text of the survey as now presented is that of the DirectorGeneral of the International Labour Office.
The region covered by the survey includes all the countries and
territories which border the southern coast of the Mediterranean:
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and the Southern Province of the
United Arab Republic. For ease of reference this last will normally
be referred to as Egypt, the term " United Arab Republic (Egypt) "
being reserved for section headings and for Chapter XII, which deals
with the application of international labour standards. The term
" Algeria " has been used throughout the survey except in Chapter XII,
where it has been thought desirable to use the expression " France
(Algeria) " having regard to the responsibilities of France as a member
INTRODUCTION
3
State in relation to Algeria under article 35 of the Constitution of the
I.L.O. relating to the application of Conventions and Recommendations.
The first two chapters of the survey are of a general character but
may be regarded as a necessary introduction to the subjects treated in
detail in the subsequent chapters. The aim has been to present in
Chapter I, in the broadest possible terms, the essential physical features
of the region, its basic economic patterns, and the barest outline of
economic and social conditions—sufficient for an understanding of
the background against which the matters discussed in Chapters III to
XII must be viewed. In Chapter II a general account has been given of
the natural conditions in which agriculture, the mainstay of fife in the
area, is carried on, together with its organisational features, the problems of land tenure, of population pressure, and of living and working
conditions of the various categories of workers on the land. For further
details the reader is referred to more specialised material such as the
studies undertaken by the United Nations and the Food and Agriculture
Organisation and dealing with those aspects of the questions treated in
which they are interested, and for which they are in some cases primarily responsible at the international level.
Chapters III to XII cover successively the following questions:
manpower and employment; technical and vocational training; freedom
of association and industrial relations; wages and wage trends; conditions of work; social security; co-operation; handicrafts; labour administration and inspection; and the application of international labour
standards. Finally three appendices are provided, containing a reference
list of the principal labour legislation, a list of additional tables and a
short bibliography.
Grateful acknowledgment is made of the assistance of national
sources of material such as annual reports and surveys, official bulletins
and other official and semi-official sources which have furnished the bulk
of the documentary information for the survey. At the same time, use
has been made not only of the statistical year books of the United Nations
and the specialised agencies but more particularly of such United Nations
publications as Structure and Growth of Selected African Economies1,
and The Development of Manufacturing Industry in Egypt, Israel and
Turkey.2 Two other publications, namely Economic Survey of Africa
since 1950 2 and Mediterranean Development Project (The Integrated
Development of Mediterranean Agriculture and Forestry in Relation to
Economic Growth) 3 have been used to a limited extent, but the main
1
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (New York, 1958).
Idem.
3
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (Rome, 1959).
2
4
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
manuscript of the survey had already been completed before they were
published and it was, therefore, not possible to use them to the extent
that otherwise would have been desirable. An advance copy of a report
of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Mission
to Libya1 came to hand while the survey was being prepared for printing
and, in view of the fact that it gives a far more up-to-date picture of the
eccncmic situation in Libya than dees any other source, an effort has
been made to incorporate as much material from it as possible in order
to present a picture reflecting recent data.
Taken together with the survey covering Africa south of the Sahara,
which appeared in 1958, the present volume gives a general picture of the
framework of, and prospects for, social policy throughout Africa. In the
course of its preparation, the International Labour Office has consulted
and received valuable co-operation from the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the
United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation. It has also received much advice and help from
its Branch Office in Cairo, from resident technical assistance representatives and their staffs, as well as from experts engaged in technical assistance missions in the area.
The Director-General wishes to express his gratitude not only to
the governments concerned and the organisations mentioned by name,
but also to the members of the Committee of Experts and to a host of individuals who, although nameless here, nevertheless brought clarification
on many points of detail and by their experience contributed to what it
is hoped has been achieved—a balanced picture of labour conditions in
the countries of North Africa.
1
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development: The Economic Development of Libya (Washington, D.C., April 1960).
CHAPTER I
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
GENERAL
The region covered by this survey has been conveniently described
as North Africa, but it is far wider than the area normally known under
that name since it includes all the countries and territories which border
the southern coast of the Mediterranean—Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia,
Libya and Egypt (now more accurately described as the Egyptian
Region of the United Arab Republic).
Geographic and climatic factors largely govern the distribution of
population and economic activities throughout the area. The fertile,
densely inhabited areas of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya lie
between the desert and the sea and consist largely of a strip of land some
50 to 100 miles deep running along the Atlantic coast of Morocco and
eastwards along the southern coast of the Mediterranean to the Gulf of
Tunis; Libya consists of a series of coastal strips and oases in the
immensity of the desert. In Egypt, apart from the Nile valley, the Canal
Zone and a few oases, virtually all is desert. In the past the Sahara,
although always sparsely populated, was the scene of a considerable
north-south caravan trade. This has largely disappeared with the
development of port facilities in West Africa, but motor transport
is growing both as a means of evacuating products and of supplying
the big oil and iron-ore extraction industries already in operation or
planned. As yet, however, the effect of the new developments on the
numbers of inhabitants in the desert areas is limited although the type of
activity carried on by these former nomads is being rapidly transformed
and wage-paid labour is becoming more important.
Chapter III of the survey gives a detailed account of the demographic
situation. Here it will be sufficient to note that the region concerned
contains some 52 million people of whom nearly one-half are in Egypt,
mainly Moslem but with considerable local variations. Population
density figures reflect the wide variations in soil fertility and the concentration of economic activities in the towns along the Atlantic and
Mediterranean coasts and in the Nile Delta and Canal Zone. One of
6
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
the important and serious features of the region as a whole is the rapid
growth of the population, which poses immense problems in the social
and economic fields and in making satisfactory use of the available
manpower.
BASIC ECONOMIC PATTERNS
The whole North African region depends predominantly on agriculture. Excluding Egypt agriculture is organised on two quite different
patterns. One is a traditional agricultural system mainly organised with
the resources, and for the subsistence, of more or less self-contained
indigenous rural communities; it is the basis for a way of life and an
economy in which disposal of produce and services by sale is incidental,
depending on availability of marketable surpluses. The other is a modern
agriculture carried on as a commercial undertaking entirely within the
money economy. Modern agriculture has until recently been practised
mainly by Europeans who, in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, were
largely French settlers who acquired lands, often the most fertile, in the
conditions described in Chapter II. In Libya the main settlers were
Italian. The following description of the Moroccan scene applies
mutatis mutandis to the other three countries just mentioned :
. The pattern of agriculture practised by the Moroccans, and the corresponding modes of riving, are critically influenced by climatic conditions,
particularly by rainfall. Cropping and settled living are predominant on the
relatively well-watered Atlantic seaboard and in mountain valleys. As rainfall decreases from north to south and from west to east, with corresponding
gradations from Mediterranean to desert conditions, the emphasis shifts from
cropping and settled living to livestock raising and semi-nomadic and nomadic
living. Whatever the dominant pattern, however, traditional agriculture is
extensive. Cultivation involves the use of animal power and primitive equipment, such as hoes or wooden ploughs, and of defective techniques which
ignore crop rotation generally, and are not conducive to the maintenance of
soil moisture and storage and proper utilisation of surface water. Fertilisers,
selected seeds and seedlings are scarcely used, if at all. As to animal farming,
with the exception of barley, hardly any crops are grown for use as fodder,
and livestock therefore have to rely on natural pasture.1
In Egypt, while the same contrasts exist between agriculture carried on
on traditional lines by a multitude of small cultivators and large-scale
modern mechanised farming units, highly capitalised and efficiently
directed, and while agriculture as practised with the exiguous land and
capital resources and primitive implements of the fellahin yields a bare
1
Structure and Growth of Selected African Economies, op. cit., p. 85.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
7
existence, yet the fellahin are not outside the money economy to the same
extent as the large proportion of the rural population of the other
countries of North Africa. For the latter, income from cash crops is
incidental ; for the fellah, cash crops—cotton, sugar cane and others—
are the mainstay of his rotation system and, as he is more often tenant
than proprietor of the land he cultivates, provide the means of paying
the rent and buying the necessities of life. Moreover, he is, by reason
of his dependence on Nile water for irrigation, obliged to follow a rigid
cultivation routine and often has only a limited choice of crops.
The relative importance of agricultural production for marketing
and for subsistence therefore varies widely in the countries and territories
under review, with Libya having the most completely subsistence economy.
On the other hand, Egypt's whole economy is dominated by the price she
obtains for her exports of cotton, which amount to 80 per cent, of her
export earnings. Throughout the region, however, the most important
task is progressively to transform traditional and subsistence agriculture
into a modern agricultural system (as far as this is possible under the
prevailing climatic conditions) in order to meet the growing requirements
of the internal market. Expansion of food production is urgently needed
to meet the developing needs of urban centres with their constantly
increasing populations, to improve the present low diet levels and to
increase the purchasing power of the agricultural community which in
turn will provide a stimulus to the development of secondary industry.
All the countries covered by the survey are in the early stages of
development as regards mining and industry though mining has for a
number of years been of considerable importance in Morocco (phosphates, coal, lead, iron ore, zinc and manganese), Tunisia (phosphates,
iron ore, lead, zinc and salt) and Algeria (coal, iron ore and phosphates).
Apart from oil, neither in Libya nor in Egypt have any important
mineral resources yet been discovered. Oil mining is the great hope of
the future. Morocco's current production is just under 100,000 tons a
year and the recent discoveries in the Sahara indicate immense possibilities for Algeria. No significant discoveries have so far been made in
Tunisia, but recent oil strikes in Libya suggest the presence of large
reserves there. Egypt's present crude petroleum production amounts to
some 3 million tons and exploration is proceeding.
On the industrial side there has so far been only a limited advance
beyond the stage of industries complementary to the natural resources of
the countries concerned, producing mainly foodstuffs, shoes, textiles,
cement and other building materials, iron, steel and chemical products,
all largely for the internal market. There is also now some processing of
imported materials—the range of articles produced varying with the
8
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
country concerned—again largely for the home market. Processing for
export, though significant in some territories for such products as canned
fish, leather and skins, vegetable and fruit products, paper pulp and
cement, has been handicapped by the difficulties of finding international
markets and at times by opposition from outside industrial interests to
the idea of promoting competition and from employer interests within
the country which feared that they might lose their skilled labour or that
it might cost more. Lack of capital either from external or internal
sources or the tendency, for example, in Egypt, for local investments to
be made in land, has held up industrial development. As elsewhere in
Africa there has been a lack of trained manpower which, in some of the
countries concerned and even in the midst of an over-abundance of labour
generally, has persisted because training facilities have not been provided
and because policies have been pursued which have had the practical
result of making skilled employment almost unattainable for indigenous
workers. This situation is a legacy from the past. Its effects are being
felt particularly in Morocco and Tunisia at the present time and it constitutes one of the difficulties in implementing the Constantine plan for
Algeria, which will be referred to at the end of the present chapter.
The implications in terms of manpower of the basic patterns just
described are analysed in Chapter III. Here it need only be stressed
that of the total occupied populations of the different countries under
review from 68 to 75 per cent, (in Libya over 80 per cent.) are engaged
in agriculture and that the other main avenues of employment—
manufacturing, commerce, services, transport and communications,
construction, mining and quarrying—normally follow in that order.
To be noted also are the large numbers of persons actively occupied in
agriculture who are either employers or workers on their own account
or unpaid family workers, the percentages of the economically active
population engaged in agriculture who are wage earners being 22 in
Algeria, 30 in Egypt, 17 in Morocco and 20 in Tunisia. In Libya the
percentage would undoubtedly be even less. In industry artisanal activities account for similar phenomena, while the large numbers of one-man
businesses, hawkers and vendors explain the high degree of self-employment in commerce. Likewise there are a host of service activities performed often on a casual basis which provide occupations of a kind for
large numbers, swelled no doubt by the continual drift of unemployed
and underemployed labour from the countryside.
The following paragraphs give a rather more detailed study of economic conditions in each of the countries concerned. It is hoped that
these basic economic facts will provide a suitable background to the
fuller analysis of labour and social problems given in later chapters.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
9
A summary of information on economic activity is contained in tables
4 to 7.1
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN OUTLINE
Agriculture
United Arab Republic
(Egypt).
Egypt has three crop-growing seasons : in the winter, when slightly
under half the total crop area is cultivated; in the summer season,
with about 36 per cent, of the land under cultivation; and in the autumn
with 17 per cent. Cultivation is most intense in the Nile Delta where,
over the whole year, the crop area averages 1.63 times the cultivated
area and is nearly double the cultivated area in land adjoining the Nile
branches and the main irrigation canals. Clover and wheat are the
main winter crops and occupy 80 per cent, of the cultivated land (over
4 million feddans2). Horse beans occupy 10 per cent, and barley, lentils,
fenugreek and onions are also winter crops. Of about 3 million feddans
cultivated during the summer, over 60 per cent, are in the Delta. Cotton
occupies more than half the crop area and rice and sorghum are also
cultivated together with large quantities of sugar cane, melons, sesame
and groundnuts. About 1,500,000 feddans are planted in autumn, mainly
with maize but including also sorghum and vegetables. Latest available
production figures for the main crops are as follows : raw cotton, 9,925,000
cantars 3 ; wheat, 1,412,000 metric tons; maize, 1,758,000 metric tons;
onions, 450,000 metric tons; sugar-cane, 4,217,000 metric tons; rice,
1,081,000 metric tons.
Although vigorous action has been taken in recent years to improve
irrigation and drainage, to develop the use of fertilisers, to control
plant diseases and pests, to introduce improved strains of seeds, to
increase grain storage facilities and to improve handling of livestock,
there is still a tendency to technical stagnation in Egyptian agriculture,
due partly to absentee landlordism (mitigated to a large extent by the
land reforms of 1952), small individual holdings, overworking of the
soil and the traditionalism of the fellahin. Other factors include the
fact that the principal crop—:cotton—is largely hand-picked. Moreover,
the abject poverty of the fellahin contributes to their continued use of
the tools of their ancestors, the hoe and the sickle, primitive ploughs,
scoops, furrowers, drags and threshing sledges, pulled by draft animals
such as the cow, the buffalo, the camel and the donkey. Farming
1
See Appendix II.
One feddan = about 1 acre.
3
One cantar = about 100 lb.
2
10
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
practices are, however, being radically changed in areas such as the
new Liberation province where government planners can start from
the beginning with new settlers. It may be that these new practices will
spread to areas where traditional methods are still the rule rather than
the exception.
There are considerable differences of opinion on how much emphasis
should be placed on different crops in the future, for example whether
more cotton should be grown at the expense of food crops, whether
an export trade in fruit and vegetables should be stimulated and so forth.
With the steady increase in population, however, main hopes that the
downward trend of living standards can be reversed depend on an
increase in arable land acreage by further irrigation and land reclamation.
These matters are further discussed in Chapter II.
Libya.
Agriculturally Libya is one of the marginal or sub-marginal land areas
of the world. Indigenous agriculture is still primitive and provides only
a meagre standard of living for the growing population. Modern types of
agriculture introduced and subsidised by the Government for Italian
settlers in the pre-war period have had increasingly promising results in
recent years as a result of concentration on vegetables and tree crops
rather than cereals, but this has affected only a minor part of the people.
The I.B.R.D. Mission which recently surveyed the economy of
Libya 1 considers that top priority in agricultural development in the
near future should be given to the promotion of settled cultivation on
the former Italian farms in the Barce Beida area of Cyrenaica, emphasis
being on cereal crops, integrated white pasture crops, to meet the feed
requirements of livestock, and supplemented in appropriate conditions
with fruit trees, vegetables, oil seeds, poultry and livestock. Provision
of public wells for small farmers and village co-operatives is urged as
the first part of a campaign to improve agricultural production in the
oases of the Fezzan, while in Tripolitania small land settlement schemes
are proposed.
Tripolitania has about 10 million hectares of productive land out of
a total land area of 35 million hectares, 7.5 million of which are permanent meadows and pastures. Of the rest, only about 400,000 hectares
are suited to static farming. Cyrenaica has about 1.5 million hectares
of productive land, of which 200,000 hectares constitute the present
agricultural area ; there are 300,000 hectares of forest and woodlands
and 1 million hectares of permanent meadows and pastures; the remaining 79,150,000 hectares constitute built-over areas, watse land and land
1
The Economic Development of Libya, op. cit.
11
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
for occasional grazing. In the Fezzan there are about 2,700 hectares of
irrigated gardens and perhaps 120,000 non-irrigated hectares planted
with date palms.
In the absence of reliable recent estimates of production, the following
details should be considered rather as indications of orders of magnitude.
The main elements are cereal and date-palm cultivation and livestock
breeding. In a normal year the expectation for cereal production is
about 100,000 metric tons, but production in fact varies from around
20,000 tons to as much as 175,000 tons or more. Of this about 80 to 90
per cent, is barley, the rest being wheat. Dates provide a large part of the
food of the Arab population and the seeds are fed to donkeys and camels.
There are about 3 million productive palms. Production varies but may
average about 50,000 tons. Anything from 15,000 to 75,000 tons of
olives are produced annually most of which are made into olive oil, and
almond production has already reached 5,000 tons. Citrus fruit production is about 10,000 tons. Groundnuts (production 10,000 to 12,000
tons) are now the largest export and were valued at £1,020,000 in 1958.
Tobacco production averages between 1,200 and 1,400 tons. Considerable
amounts of garden vegetable crops are also grown. Esparto grass, which
grows wild in the fringes of the Tripolitanian Jebal and some areas of
semi-desert, yielded £403,000 in exports in 1956, but had fallen to
£272,000 in 1958.
The most important single source of income, however, is animal
husbandry. Table I gives estimates for livestock production about 1950.
TABLE I. LIBYA: ESTIMATES FOR LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION ABOUT 1950
Production ir metric tons
Item
Thousands
Wool
Goats
Cattle
Dromedaries (camel)
Horses
. . . .
771
716
67
72
10
33
1,542
Meat
7,710
3,570
2,010
3,240
0.2
0.2
Milk
Hair
19,275 1
21,420 !
365
240 a
214
Source: United Nations Technical Assistance Administration: A General Economic Appraisal of
Libya (New York, 1952). p. 15. These figures are now largely exceeded, though they may vary widely
from year to year. Latest estimates for Cyrenaica and Tripolitania alone suggest the following livestock
figures: 1,416,000 sheep, 1,292,000 goats, 111,000 cattle, 172,000camels, 29,200 horses and 93,000 donkeys.
1
Estimate probably high.
' Very rough guess.
The pattern of the livestock industry is determined by vegetation and
availability of water. Large areas of steppe and semi-desert, not cultivable, provide forage that can sustain sheep, goats, camels, donkeys and
to a minor extent horses. Sheep and goats, in particular, provide meat
and milk, and wool and hair, thus helping to balance the diet and
12
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
supplying raw material for clothing, tents and household utensils.
The I.B.R.D. Mission estimates meat consumption in Tripolitania as
7.8 kilograms per head and in Cyrenaica as 8.9 kilograms per head
per year. For milk and milk products the corresponding figures are
70 kilogrammes a year in Cyrenaica and 50 in Tripolitania.
Tunisia.
Cereals are the basis of Tunisian agriculture, with hard wheat
holdingfirstplace. It is mainly cultivated by Tunisians (820,000 hectares)
but European farmers also grow it (144,000 hectares). Production in
recent years has varied, according to the season, between 2,913,000
quintals (1955) and 3,660,000 (1957). Production of soft wheat, grown
mainly by Europeans, has fallen from 1,810,000 (average 1950-54) to
1,319,000 quintals in 1957. Barley production—the traditional crop
in the semi-arid zones—has remained around 1,880,000 quintals. Cereal
production has increased more than twofold over the last 20 to 30 years,
mainly in the north, due to perfecting of techniques by European settlers.
Tree culture is probably the most prosperous sector of Tunisian agriculture and that with the greatest future. The olive tree holds pride
of place ; the number of trees has risen to 27 million (from 20 million in
1940) and is increasing at the rate of 500,000 per year. Production of
olive oil reached 105,000 tons in 1949. It was 90,000 tons in 1956-57
and is expected to average 85,000 in 1960-70 as older trees are replaced by
new. Citrus culture has become important—in 1955 there was a high
production of 47,000 tons of oranges and 11,000 tons of lemons. The
date palm is important in the south (3,400,000 trees). Production varies
between 30,000 and 40,000 tons, almost all consumed locally. Other
fruit trees, whose produce is also mainly consumed locally, include fig
(2,500,000), alme. ..' (2,500,000), pomegranate, peach and apricot. Wine
grapes are still largely a European crop, though the number of Tunisian
wine growers has increased in recent years. Production of wine, destined
almost entirely for export, amounted to 1,550,000 hectolitres in 1957.
In addition there are smaller but regionally important crops, such as
tobacco and vegetables, on irrigated land, which however require
capital and technical skill and it is difficult to transform cereal growers
on the one hand, and semi-nomads on the other, into efficient fruit
farmers and market gardeners.
Finally, there are considerable livestock and fishery resources. The
numbers of livestock vary considerably from year to year due to
recurrent droughts during which large proportions may be lost. Nevertheless livestock ranks second, after cereals, in importance in Tunisian
agriculture and is almost wholly in Tunisian hands. The following
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
13
figures are indicative of the magnitude of the numbers involved : sheep
3,215,000, goats 2,000,000 and cattle 456,000, nearly all to be found
north of the dorsal range; in addition there are 20,000 horses, 57,000
mules, 200,000 donkeys and 150,000 camels, mainly in the south. The
sheep furnish meat and almost 30,000 quintals of wool, used mainly
in local wool industries, as well as milk, used largely for cheese-making.
Goats are kept for their milk, hair and skin, all used by the poor people
of the High Tell region, where they predominate. The main problem,
particularly as regards sheep, is that of summer pastures in the north,
many of which are now under cultivation and a rational organisation
of available summer grazing is needed. The livestock nomads of the
centre and south have an additional source of income in esparto grass,
used for papermaking. Production varies but averages 100,000 tons a
year. Forest products, including about 10,000 tons of cork a year, are
also significant.
Algeria.
In Algeria, where about one-third of the cultivated area and most
of the irrigated land is held by Europeans, wine grapes are by far the
most valuable crop, although winter cereals—wheat, barley and oats
grown for local consumption—cover the largest areas. Summer crops
include maize, sorghum, millet, rye and rice. Citrus fruits, olives, figs
and dates are also grown, as well as dry and fresh vegetables and tobacco, flax and cotton, the last three being the main industrial crops,
which are being developed as irrigation is extended. Livestock, mainly
sheep and goats as in Tunisia, are also a valuable resource to their
largely Algerian owners.
Production figures of the main crops are as follows (1958): hard
wheat, 8,386,000 quintals; soft wheat, 3,185,000 quintals; barley,
7,301,000 quintals; wines and must, 13,827,000 hectolitres; dry vegetables, 913,000 quintals; fresh vegetables, 7 million quintals ; potatoes,
2,500,000 quintals; citrus fruit (season 1957-58), 3,668,000 quintals;
dates, 1,070,000 quintals; figs, 1 million quintals; tobacco, 113,000
quintals; flax, 900 quintals, and cotton, 6,100 quintals. In addition,
Algeria is the world's second largest producer of rose-geraniums. Fishing
produced 18,879 tons. Europeans produce about 40 per cent, of the
hard wheat, 80 per cent, of the soft, and 20 per cent, of the barley,
75 per cent, of the potatoes, 40 per cent, of the dry vegetables, 90 per
cent, of the wine, 90 per cent, of the citrus fruits, 66 per cent, of the
olive products and 97 per cent, of the dates. Livestock resources comprise 6,116,000 sheep, 717,000 cattle, 154,000 horses, 159,000 mules,
343,000 donkeys, 3,059,000 goats, 194,000 camels and 80,000 pigs.
14
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Apart from the latter—wholly European-owned—the large proportion of
all these varieties is in the hands of Algerians, although European
holdings of sheep, horses, mules and cattle are appreciable. Forest
products include cork, which reached 43,000 tons in 1952 but is now only
3,686 tons (largely due to the present disturbed conditions), wood for
firewood, pit props and other industrial uses and charcoal. Esparto grass
production, which reached 214,000 tons in 1954, was 41,374 tons in 1957.
The main problems in regard to agriculture in Algeria are, as elsewhere in North Africa, the archaic methods of exploitation of the land,
the lack of capital for improvements, poor soil and lack of water. These
problems are further complicated by the existence of a growing landless
population, and the fragmentation of holdings to a point at which
profitable exploitation is impossible, some 4,500,000 hectares being
divided into 600,000 Moslem-held holdings of which 70 per cent, are from
4.5 to 5.5 hectares in size. Since the necessary minimum under Algerian
conditions of soil and climate is said to be 20 hectares of non-irrigated
land, the poverty of the average Algerian landholder is easy to understand. " Finally, more than 600,000 peasant families, implying a population of over 3 million, are completely landless and constitute an agricultural proletariat who have work only for a few days every year." 1
Mechanisation on the large European-owned estates has reduced still
further the opportunities for wage-paid labour in agriculture. Indeed,
the contrast between these estates, often on the best land, irrigated where
necessary, and the small holdings of unfertile land, mainly non-irrigated,
from which the Algerians must force a miserable existence poses not
merely an economic and social problem of primordial importance but
also a political one. Various steps, some of which are described in
Chapter II, have been taken to cope with this situation. These include
redistribution of land, development of irrigation works and other means
of providing water, improvement of credit facilities efforts to introduce
new crop and cultivation techniques and the like. Nevertheless, the
central problem—that of ensuring the subsistence of the growing population—which is linked to the inadequacy of cereal production on the one
hand and the inadequate development of industry on the other, remains
and constitutes the crucial task for the future.
Morocco.
In Morocco there are similar conditions of irregular rainfall, heavy
erosion, soils which are difficult to work, overgrazing, insufficient
afforestation, and above all archaic cultivation practices. Water resources
1
N . BARBOUR: A Survey of North West Africa (London, Royal Institute of International Affairs, Oxford University Press, 1959), p. 242.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
15
are, however, much greater than in other North African countries.
The extent of European settlement is far less than in Algeria. There
are some 5,900 settlers concentrated mainly in the Meknes and Fez
regions. Of these, about 900 have more than 300 hectares of land and
together hold 60 per cent, of the total in European hands; about 1,700
have 50 to 300 hectares, about 1,500 have 10 to 50 hectares and about
1,800 have less than 10 hectares. Moroccan agriculture is essentially
based on cereal growing. Olive and fruit culture is important, particularly for European farmers, as well as wine grapes, tomatoes and
potatoes, tobacco and flax. On the other hand, livestock production,
chiefly sheep and goats is, as elsewhere in North Africa, important
to the fellah but the pasture is often thin and the quality of herds poor.
Production figures are of the following order : barley fluctuates between
650,000 and 1,750,000 metric tons according to season, with an estimated
production of 1,282,000 tons in 1958; wheat between 1,200,000 and
670,000 tons, with 980,000 tons in 1958; wine production is around
190,000 metric tons; olives perhaps 80,000 tons and ovile oil (1957)
7,000 tons; date production was 70,000 tons in 1956 as against 120,000
in 1955. Citrus fruit (oranges and tangerines) amounted to 246,000 tons
in 1956. Tomatoes and potatoes probably yield about 150,000 tons.
Forest products include some 33,000 tons of cork a year, as well as
esparto grass (92,500 tons in 1956-57).
Livestock includes some 13 million sheep and 9 million goats—both
species growing rapidly in numbers because of their adaptation to poor
grazing, yet ravaged from time to time by droughts. They remain, as they
have been for centuries, the main capital investment of the Moroccan
peasant, and indeed of the mainly pastoral communities throughout
North Africa, other than Egypt. But in Morocco, as elsewhere in the
region, feeding habits need rationalisation and the custom of marketing
animals when money is required should be changed to marketing at times
when animals are in the best condition. Cattle, small and not good
milkers, number some 2,300,000. There are 300,000 mules and horses,
the latter mainly in the hands of Europeans, together with 200,000 camels
in the south and some pigs bred by settlers. The value of Moroccan
livestock was estimated in 1957 at some 170,000 million francs and the
revenue derived from them some 60,000 million a year.
Mining
United Arab Republic
(Egypt).
Egypt has few minerals. Petroleum production is now around
3 million metric tons and satisfies about two-thirds of internal demand.
16
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Other minerals of some importance being worked are : manganese ore,
200,000 tons; phosphates, 600,000 tons; and common salt, 503,000 tons.
Prospecting is under way for coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, copper, chrome
and other minerals. Iron-ore production is now 250,000 tons and there
are small productions of lead (1,000 tons), zinc (2,000), chrome (900),
talcum (7,000), black sand (8,000), kaolin (8,000), natron (3,000),
ilmenite and titanium (500).
Libya.
As already indicated, Libya may be on the verge of important
developments as regards oil production. The most promising recent
strikes are one at Zelten in northern Cyrenaica some 90 miles south
of E) Agheila and 180 miles south of Benghazi, another at Emgayet
about 250 miles south of Tripoli and a third in the east of the province
of Tripolitania 100 miles south of the Gulf of Sirte. There are also
favourable developments in the Fezzan. Apart from oil, however,
there exist few proved or promising mineral resources, except for small
quantities of salt, sulphur, gypsum, manganese and natron ; fairly large
deposits of potash might also offer possibilities of development.
Tunisia.
Tunisia has so far no proved oil resources and production and
export of other minerals have been declining of late, due to unfavourable
conditions in the usual markets. Iron-ore production is running at a rate
of over 1 million tons a year; phosphate production is around 2 million
(the quality being inferior to that of the Moroccan product). These are
Tunisia's two main mineral products and between them they accounted
for some 20 per cent, of foreign exchange earnings in 1957. The phosphate and iron-mining industries together employed some 10,800 workers
in 1958. Lead-ore production is also declining—from 42,900 tons in
1955 to 33,500 in 1958, while 1959 production is running at an even
lower rate. Some mines have been closed and 1,200 miners paid off. The
only other mineral of importance is zinc (6,600 tons in 1957).
Algeria
Petroleum production in the Algerian Sahara is a very recent event.
Oil or gas has been discovered in four main sectors: around L'Ahnet,
750 miles south of Algiers ; around Edjelé, 375 miles south of Bougie, and
at El-Gassi, 55 miles further south; and around Hassi-R'Mel. Of these,
the first and last are at present mainly of importance for their known
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
17
reserves of gas. A pipeline from Edjelé is in course of construction and
is expected to be ready by October 1960. An initial oil-flow of 7 million
tons a year is foreseen which could be quickly doubled. Proved reserves
so far are estimated at 125 million tons. In the Hassi-Messaoud sector a
pipeline to Bougie on the Mediterranean coast was completed in August
1959. Tt is expected to be carrying oil at the rate of 12 million tons a year
in 1962. Proved reserves so far are estimated at 350 million tons and
total reserves are certainly much more. Production on the basis of
proved reserves is calculated to rise as follows: 1959, 1.1 million tons;
1960, 9 million; 1961, 20 million; 1962, 26 million and 1963, 32 million
tons. 1
New horizons have also been opened for Algeria as regards other
minerals by discoveries of lead, zinc, copper and iron ore as well as
titanium, tin, tungsten, manganese and potassium largely in the Sahara.
Mining costs, including transportation, are, however, restricting their
exploitation at present. As regards present production, iron ore is mined
in various areas and yielded about 2,300,000 metric tons in 1958, down
from 3,600,000 tons in 1955. Coal production was some 153,000 tons
in 1958 and that of other minerals was: zinc, 55,000 tons; lead, 15,000
tons; antimony, 3,000 tons; and iron pyrites, 24,000 tons. Calcium
phosphate production amounted to 565,000 tons and that of fuller's
earth to 138,000 tons in the same year. The former is the basis of a
considerable chemical industry. Excluding the petroleum industry,
mines and quarries employed some 16,800 workers in 1957.
Morocco.
Morocco's main mineral resource is represented by the great phosphate deposits of Khouribga and Louis Gentil. Morocco is the second
largest producer of phosphates in the world. Production is in the hands
of a state monopoly—the Office Chérifien des Phosphates—which offers
the best wages and conditions of work in the country. Output of calcium
phosphate has risen steadily over the years and is now running at the
rate of over 6,500,000 metric tons a year; production of iron is about
1,500,000 tons, manganese ore 350,000 tons, lead ore 140,000 tons,
cobalt 9,259 tons and coal 512,000 tons. Coal deposits are said to total
150 million tons and to be the most important in the entire Mediterranean
area. In the list of producing countries Morocco ranks third in cobalt,
fifth in manganese, seventh in lead and fourteenth in zinc (80,000 tons).
In addition she produces smaller quantities of molybdenum, antimony,
wolfram, beryl, gypsum, mica, graphite, salt, copper, barytes and
1
" La politique pétrolière française en Afrique ", in V Outre-Mer Africain (Paris,
l'Economie), Vol. I, No. 7-8, July-Aug. 1959, pp. 3-5.
18
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
asbestos. Petroleum production is small and falling—120,000 tons in
1954, it has now dropped to 85,000 tons against domestic needs of
700,000 tons. Hopes from prospections in the south, especially in
Tarfaya province, are, however, high. Although minerals represent only
7 per cent, of the national income, they provide one-third of total
exports and employ directly some 40,000 workers in what are agriculturally the poorest areas of Morocco. It is estimated that they
provide the necessities of life for a total of 400,000 persons.1 Moreover,
they are largely responsible for the development of ports such as Casablanca and Safi.
Industry
United Arab Republic (Egypt).
Any real development of industry in Egypt has taken place since
1930 when Egypt gained tariff autonomy and revised its customs duties
to encourage and protect existing industries and to stimulate the establishment of new ones. Conditions during the years of the Second World War
gave a tremendous impetus to manufacturing and various fiscal and other
measures have been taken since to encourage industry and to attract
capital to it. In addition, the Government has participated increasingly
in the establishment of new industries by creating mixed enterprises.
A Permanent Council for the Development of National Production was
set up by the Government in 1952 to study the possibility of improving
the efficiency of existing industries and establishing new plants. Industrial
programming has been based on the utihsation of available raw materials
and manpower in certain key industries, as a means of bringing about
successive reductions in manufactured imports such as food products,
iron and steel for construction, chemical fertilisers and refined petroleum
products, all of which constitute a large share of total imports. Agricultural policies have been aimed at greater self-sufficiency in food
production and in domestic raw materials and the High Dam project
on the River Nile—referred to in Chapter II—will produce large amounts
of hydro-electric power for agricultural and industrial use.2 Table 1 3
shows the development of output in certain industries since 1928 and the
generally upward trend of production since that time.
It will be noted that over the last 30 years there has been a considerable expansion of consumer goods industries, in particular food
' J . and S. LACOUTURE: Le Maroc à l'épreuve (Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1958),
p. 263.
2
See The Development of Manufacturing Industry in Egypt, Israel and Turkey,
op. cit., pp. 4-5.
3
See Appendix II.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
19
products and textiles. Indeed food products, tobacco, beverages,
textiles and wearing apparel formed 79 per cent, of the gross value of
manufacturing output in 1954. Noteworthy developments have, however,
also taken place in the cement and iron and steel industries, as well as
in petroleum refining and the manufacture of fertilisers, cottonseed
oil and cake, and paper and cardboard. Small-scale manufacturing,
although probably on the decline, is still an important feature of the
industrial sector in Egypt. These establishments are generally operated
by the proprietors and their families, who do not receive wages. Some
are pre-industrial handicraft shops, but repair and service shops and small
factories are more frequent. It is the policy of the Government to
encourage handicrafts and small manufacturing shops in rural areas to
provide at least part-time employment for rural dwellers, and in 1955
a department for village industries was set up. Funds have been
allocated for loans, grants and technical aid to light industries for which
raw materials are available in rural areas. It is still true to say, however,
that despite substantial increases in the output of manufactures, the
contribution of the manufacturing sector to Egyptian national income
is still rather modest, while production costs limit the size of the market
both at home and abroad. Steps are being taken to remedy deficiencies
in this connection which include high raw material costs, transport and
power charges, high interest rates and low levels of skill and managerial
ability, and, in some industries, the existence of excess capacity and in
others the continued use of obsolete equipment.1
Libya.
In Cyrenaica such modern industrial equipment as existed was
destroyed during the Second World War and the departure of the
Italians more or less ended industrial activity there. In Tripolitania,
however, considerable Italian-built industrial plant remains and a few
modern industries are in operation. These include manufacture of olive
oil, fish canning, leather tanning and wine making. Other small-scale
power-driven factories produce flour, beer, alcohol, soft drinks, pasta
and macaroni, shces and other leather articles, paper, soap, candles,
ice, bricks and tiles—all products typical of a country in the pre-industrial
stage. Manufacture of salt, cigarettes and tobacco are state monopolies.
Industries of the handicraft and cottage-industry type include weaving,
carpet and rug making (which give employment to thousands), manufacture of straw mats, leather fancy goods, baskets, aluminium ware,
metal work and pottery. The weaving industry based on imported
1
p . v.
The Development of Manufacturing Industry in Egypt, Israel and Turkey, op. cit.,
20
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
materials yields a return of some £L. 100,000. Handicraft products are
in general not of high quality and apart from some sales to the tourist
trade are for local consumption. There is some scope for development
of tanning and ancillary leather-goods industries, provided labour can
be trained. The fisheries industry could also be considerably developed
and boats, equipment, preservation, plant and other facilities are being
introduced with United States financial assistance. Sponge gathering is
mostly carried out by Greek ships and Libya's earnings from the export
of sponges are almost entirely confined to licence fees, export duties and
local expenditure by foreign fishermen.1 Altogether, industries and
handicrafts provide full-time employment for about 20,000 people. Of
these, industries organised on factory Unes employ some 6,000, of whom
probably less than 1 per cent, are women.
Tunisia.
The development of industry in Tunisia has been handicapped
by lack of sources of energy such as coal and oil and the slow development of hydro-electric power. The shortage of technicians and skilled
labour, the restricted local markets—factors common to all the countries
of the region—have also been largely responsible for the slow development. In addition, French industrialists have been unwilling to finance
ventures in Tunisia—and elsewhere in North Africa—which might
compete with similar industries in France. Some of the mineral
resources are processed—super-phosphates are manufactured both to
supply the local market and for export. There are three lead foundries
and also cement works (400,000 tons in 1957). Food industries are
many and varied. Food-processing plants include large and small flour
and semolina mills ; oil mills, some of which are modern while others,
numbering about 2,000, rely on simple mechanical power or, more frequently, power furnished by the use of animals. There are some 20 soap
factories (6,000 tons a year), a few distilleries, a brewery (95,000 hectolitres in 1954), fish canneries (55,000 tons) and fruit and vegetable
canneries. In addition, there are repair shops of all kinds, shoe factories
and a factory making pots and pans from imported aluminium.
Small-scale industry is still very active although threatened by
competition from factory-made goods. It is estimated that there are some
22,000 workshops employing 40,000 persons with as many more people
engaged in handicrafts in their homes. Handicraft products include
textiles (silk, tarbooshes and carpets), leather goods, footwear, mats
1
See Libya—A Brief Political and Economic Survey (London, Royal Institute of
International Affairs, Oxford University Press, 1957), pp. 17-19.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
21
pottery and jewellery. Co-operative techniques have been developed to
assist in maintaining these trades.
Industry, never very important, has been working under great difficulties since independence. Some factories have had to close down, but
the Government is making efforts to stimulate further industrialisation.
A sugar refinery, several textile mills and mechanical engineering workshops as well as a large esparto-pulp project are in the planning stage or
in course of being launched. This latter, which is estimated to cost
3,000 million francs, is expected to bring between 1,000 and 2,000 million
francs of additional income to the country as compared with the export
of the esparto in its raw state.
Algeria.
Manufacturing industry is still on a minor scale, with the exception
of food processing, building materials and the chemical industries linked
to the phosphate and other mineral deposits. Metal industries have
developed considerably in recent years. There is a small textile industry.
Table 2 x shows the development of production of manufactures between
1952 and 1957.
In addition, 51,000 carpets (totalling 117,000 sq. m.) were produced
in 1957, while establishments processing cereals had the following production figures (season 1957-58): flour and semolina mills 857,405 metric
tons; biscuit factories 6,162 tons; and pasta factories 43,151 tons. It is
interesting to note that the general index of industrial production
(including building), on the basis of 1954=100, rose as follows: 1955,
107; 1956, 110.9; 1957, 130.6; and in 1958 (second quarter), to 133; the
most spectacular percentage increases have been in the chemical industry
(272.6), the glass industry (208.8) and in the food-processing industries
(193.2).
Total industrial output, however, represents only some 28 per cent, of
total Algerian production, and if mines, power, building and public
works are excluded only 15 per cent. Handicrafts, once important, now
occupy only a very small place in the economy. The future development
of industry is linked with what has come to be known as the Constantine
plan. This is a five-year development plan telescoped from an existing
ten-year one, which was announced by General de Gaulle in a speech
at Constantine on 3 October 1958. Included in it is the establishment of metallurgical and chemical combines using Saharan petrol and
gas, the provision of housing for a million people, and the development
of sanitation, ports and roads, involving the creation of employment for
1
See Appendix II.
22
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
400,000 more workers. Other aspects of the plan will be noted later.
One part, however, which seems to be moving ahead is the projected
iron and steel industry at Bone, which will use natural gas from the
Hassi-R'Mel oilfields some 250 miles inland. It is hoped that this
plant will begin production in 1962 with 400,000 tons a year, as contrasted with a present annual consumption rate of 250,000 tons. It is
proposed to use lower-grade ore than that at present exported, so that
foreign earnings from this source will not be affected. Nevertheless, it is
confidently expected that output from Bone will be competitive in world
markets. Apart from the iron and steel project,financialinducements are
being offered to firms building factories in Algeria, and 30,000 million
francs 1 were allocated by the Council of the Constantine plan for this
purpose in 1959. Response has been modest but, by 15 April 1960,
239firmshad been granted the facilities provided, of which 113 were new
enterprises and 126 were firms already established in Algeria which are
expanding their production. It has been estimated that these developments
will provide new employment for some 19,000 persons. One difficulty is
apparently the shortage of skilled labour, which is likely to get worse in
the next few years until the schools start turning out pupils capable of
being trained in the skills required. This is the paradox of a situation
where there are about a million unemployed or underemployed, drawn
wholly, however, from the unskilled occupations.
Morocco.
While Moroccan industry and handicrafts provide work for some
265,000 to 285,CC0 workers, including those seasonally and casually
employed, it can hardly be said that the country has progressed very far
from the "colonial" stage, in the sense that very little of the natural
resources, either agricultural or mineral, are yet fully processed within
the country. This is notably true of iron ore, to take only one example,
virtually all of which is exported, although steel works do exist which
cparate with imported steel to make special steels with the addition of
locally mined manganese, nickel-chrome and molybdenum. Nevertheless, such industry as exists is diverse in character and often well
equipped. It is, however, still largely financed by external capital and it
is one of the present weaknesses of Moroccan industry that independence,
while halting the investment of capital from abroad, has so far not
resulted in any very great disposition on the part of Moroccans themselves
to invest in industry or to have their sons trained for it. These are, however,
early days and efforts are being made, with official support, to train
1
Throughout this survey, the term franc refers, unless otherwise indicated, to the
old French franc.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
23
Moroccans for management through training courses in the larger
enterprises in France.
As regards the output of particular industries, the following details
are indicative of the situation. There is a foundry which processes lead
(27,000 tons in 1956), as well as smaller quantities of zinc and silver
for export. Various metal industries operate in Casablanca, manufacturing wire, wagons, and agricultural machinery. There is also a powerloom weaving mill. Elsewhere there are boat-building yards and a
number of mechanical engineering workshops. Cement factories produce
about 600,000 tons a year, more or less the amount used in Morocco itself,
while other factories produce building materials such as plaster bricks,
fibro-cement and reinforced concrete. Textile factories, mostly smallscale, produce about 25 per cent, of local needs. There are 115 establishments including eight wool mills, 25 mills processing cotton or artificial
fibre, two flax and sisal mills, five dye-works and 40 workshops making
ready-made clothing—one of the biggest industries in the country.
Shoe factories produce 1 million pairs of shoes a year from locally
processed leather and 900,000 pairs of rubber-soled sandals, whose cloth
uppers are also locally produced. There is considerable small-scale
production for local use. Flour mills, gradually replacing family mills,
preduce 4 million quintals of flour. In addition, there are pasta factories,
breweries, meat-canning factories, milk-processing plants, whose products
are destined for local consumption, as well as oil mills (45,000 tons of oil
for human consumption in 1955-56), a sugar refinery processing imported
raw sugar (210,000 tons in 1956) and factories producing fruit juice,
tinned vegetables and fruits. Fertilisers in the form of super-phosphates
(96,000 tons in 1954) and hyper-phosphates are also produced for local
agricultural needs. There is also a considerable chemical industry
making lime carbonate, zinc and ferrous sulphate, explosives, oxygen,
acetylene, carbonic acid, gas and plastics. A large sardine-canning
industry, operating mainly with female labour, has been built up at Safi,
Agadir and Fédala; production in 1956 was over 2 million cans valued
at 9,000 million francs, mainly for export. Finally, there is an expanding
export industry making paper pulp from eucalyptus wood; 40,000 hectares have now been planted and will produce 280,000 tons of wood
by I960.1 An iron and steel industry based on coal at Djerada and iron
ore at Nador, with railway installations and a new port at Nador, is in
an advanced stage of planning.
1
For fuller details about Moroccan industry and its problems see Le Maroc à
répreuve, op. cit. pp. 255-282. See also Structure and Growth of Selected African
Economies, op. cit.
24
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Traditional handicraft activities, at which about 155,000 to 160,000
persons are employed, are particularly important in urban areas, and
handicraft workers with their families form a large part of the Moroccan
population in the big cities. They are organised in trade guilds, the most
important being those for textile and leather crafts which form about
two-thirds of all artisans and whose output represents a substantial
proportion of Moroccan textile and leather manufacturing. The remainder are distributed among a large number of guilds including
ceramics and building, metal and wood crafts.
Table 3 1 shows the structure of manufacturing industry in Morocco,
and output between 1938 and 1955.
Power
United Arab Republic (Egypt).
Indications have already been given as regards the relative importance
of sources of energy such as coal and oil in the various countries concerned. In Egypt electric power, mainly now produced from petroleum,
has, on the basis of 1938=100, grown from an index of 149 in 1947
to 459 in 1956. The completion of the High Dam project will result in
a large addition to existing power resources and raise possible consumption of electricity per head in Egypt from 60 to 400 kWh. per annum.
It will also help to reduce the annual consumption of fuel oil by about
2,600,000 tons, now costing £E.17 million per annum, as well as providing
power at half its present cost. The High Dam project is, therefore, a
major factor in Egypt's agricultural and industrial future, not merely as
regards land to be reclaimed and additional irrigation facilities to be
provided, but also as regards the possibility of its supplying enough
energy for the immense pumping installations involved, and for the
industrial developments planned. Latest electricity production figures
are 1,906 million kWh. in 1958 as compared with 992 million in 1952.
Libya.
Such power plants as exist are mainly in Tripoli. They produced
44.5 million kWh. in 1955. Further expansion is essential since power
is needed for irrigated farming. Outside Tripoli there are two small
plants at Misurata and Homs. A new project to provide power for the
whole of Tripolitania through a government-controlled company is at
present under way. In Cyrenaica there are five small governmentoperated generating stations ; in the Fezzan there is no public electricity
supply.
1
See Appendix II.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
25
Tunisia.
Lack of coal and oil have been great handicaps to the provision of
power and therefore to economic development. Hydro-electric possibilities are mediocre. In 1957 the hydro-electric stations in the north
produced 26.6 million kWh. Important developments are, however, in
hand and by 1962 the three barrages of Fernana, Nebeur and Taullierville will provide a total of 49 million kWh. as well as considerable
irrigation facilities. In addition, thermal power stations operating on
imported fuel have been installed in the main ports. Total electrical
energy production in Tunisia in 1957 was 238 million kWh.; gas production was 1.23 million cubic metres.
Algeria.
In 1958, 1,114.2 million kWh. of electricity and 109.8 million cubic
metres of gas were produced. Of the electricity two-thirds was produced
by thermal installations and one-third by hydro-electric. Efforts are
being made to build hydro-electric power stations to replace thermal
units consuming imported coal. Cost of electricity is 35 to 80 per cent.
dearer than in France, an obvious handicap to industry. Petrol and
diesel oil are, however, 30 to 50 per cent, cheaper than in France and
there are increasing supplies from Sahara sources. The immense resources of natural gas should enable those who use this fuel directly to
have cheaper power.
Morocco.
Expansion of industrial activity has been paralleled by considerable
power development. From 1945 to 1955 electricity output increased by
450 per cent, while consumption of electricity by industrial establishments also rose in comparable proportion. Construction of barrages, in
particular that of the Afourer-Bin-el Ouidane complex which was put into
partial operation in 1953, resulted in considerable expansion of hydropower, which represented 85 per cent, of all electricity produced in 1955.
Gross output rose from 146.6 million kWh. in 1938 to 911.4 million
in 1955, of which, in the latter year, 777.4 million kWh. were produced by
hydro-power and 134 by thermo-power. It is interesting to note that
consumption (in millions of kWh.) among the various users was as
follows in 1955: railways 74.2; mines 142; industry 306.7; lighting
202.3 and pumping 20.2.1
'See Structure and Growth of Selected African Economies, op. cit., p. 132 and
table 77.
26
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Transport and Communications
United Arab Republic (Egypt).
Egypt has some 2,670 miles of railway and a very considerable network of roads, but good roads are few, though considerable improvements
have been effected in recent years. The need for them is greater in Lower
than in Upper Egypt, where the cultivated area is narrow and is traversed
by a railway. Navigable rivers and canals, now totalling about 1,870 miles,
have been hitherto neglected by the State as competing with governmentowned railways, but state aid has recently been forthcoming, following
recommendations by the Permanent Council for the Development of
National Production. It is estimated that another 1,250 miles could be
made navigable. A considerable programme of road extension and improvement has been launched. The development of Egyptian ports
has also received the attention of the Council and three major projects are
envisaged—extension of the petrol docks at Suez, construction of a drydock at Alexandria harbour and of a yard for the construction and repair
of ships within that port. It is intended also to encourage the growth of
the Egyptian merchant fleet, priority being given to oil tankers, followed
by freight and passenger vessels.
Libya.
The coastal road which runs from the Tunisian to the Egyptian
border (about 1,140 miles) is part of a through motor road running
from Casablanca, through Algiers and Tunis to Cairo. It is being improved by funds provided by the Libyan-American Reconstruction Commission. Spur roads run south to centres in the Jebel. Further south,
roads are unsurfaced and in the desert routes give way to mere tracks.
A trunk road is planned from the Tripolitanian coast to the Fezzan with
the help of the Libyan Public Development and Stabilisation Agency.
A few light railways totalling some 220 miles, mainly used for tourist
traffic, are the only rail transport. There are only two deep-water
harbours—at Tripoli and Tobruk, but Benghazi harbour is being improved and deepened.
Tunisia.
In 1955 Tunisia had 1,300 miles of railways of which 1,000 were
operated by the State, the rest being the Sfax-Gafsa system, serving the
phosphate mines and operated by the Phosphates Company. The road
system consists of some 3,800 miles of main roads, 1,900 miles of local
roads and 3,500 of maintained tracks. The main road construction
programme has, however, hitherto been concentrated in the north, as
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
27
indeed have the railways, and the future programme provides for considerable road extensions particularly in the south. An excellent port
system is concentrated particularly in Tunis, Sfax, Sousse and Bizerta.
Algeria.
In 1957 Algeria had some 6,000 miles of national roads (including
400 miles in the Sahara), 9,500 miles of departmental roads, 8,000 miles
of local roads only partly maintained from public funds and 12,100 miles
of non-maintained rural roads. In addition, the Sahara had a total of
7,600 miles of first-class tracks and 8.340 miles of second-class tracks.
Railway lines in use amounted to 2,730 miles, but their present state is
difficult to assess owing to damage both to track and rolling stock. The
main ports are Algiers, Oran and Bone. A special committee of the
Supervisory Council of the Constantine Plan is at present engaged in
studying the future development of the country from the point of view
of infrastructure and the siting of industries. Important elements in this
are, of course, the adequacy, suitability and situation of the necessary
communications.
Morocco.
Some 4,000 miles of main roads link the ports of Morocco's Atlantic
coast with the principal towns of the interior, also linking the latter with
the eastern Algerian border. There are also some 3,000 miles of secondary
roads and more than 25,000 miles of minor roads. A main railway line
from Casablanca goes eastward into Algeria while the main north-south
lines run from Tangier through Fez to Petitjean just north of Meknes
and from Casablanca to Marrakesh. Numerous short spur lines connect
important mining or agricultural centres with the ports ; the total mileage
of such lines is about 1,150.
As regards ports, Casablanca handles some 80 per cent, of all traffic
and is beginning to be overburdened; then come Safi for phosphates and
sardines, Kenitra, Mohammadia, Agadir, Es Saouira and Mazagan.
Although many improvements have been carried out in recent years, still
further port development is necessary. Nevertheless, on the whole the
communications system of Morocco is excellent and its equipment is
modern and capable of supporting a considerable increase in economic
activities.
Foreign Trade
It is not proposed to discuss in any detail the foreign trade of the
various countries of the region. One feature common to all of them is
the excess of visible imports over visible exports, more marked in some
cases than in others, yet consistently adverse year after year, as is normal
28
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
in industrialising countries. Another is that all these countries export
mainly raw materials and import manufactured articles, Table 6 l
shows the monthly averages for the various countries concerned from
1952 to the latest available date. It shows that Egypt's position has,
on the whole, improved. The figures for 1957 in respect of Morocco
and Tunisia both showed some closing of the gap, in the former case,
however, by a drop in imports rather than by an increase in exports.
Preliminary figures for the first six months of 1959 show a slight excess of
exports over imports for Morocco. Algeria's balance of trade has been
completely upset by present events, with imports mounting steeply, presumably largely due to supplies for the Army and exports rising only
slowly in value. Libya's adverse balance of trade has worsened considerably in recent years to reach the phenomenal figure of £L.17,600,000
in 1957, exports and re-exports being £L.5,200,000, as against imports of
£L.22,800,000. The 1958 figures were £L.4,800,000 and £L.23,900,000,
an adverse trade balance of £L.19,100,000.
Another factor of importance in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia is
their dependence on France and the franc zone both as regards exports
and imports. In the case of Algeria, for example, in 1957, 79.1 per cent, of
imports and 85.5 per cent, of exports by value came from or went to
the franc zone, with France preponderating. Tn 1958, 68 per cent, of
Tunisian exports and 76 per cent, of imports by value were to or from the
franc zone, mainly France. As regards Morocco, nearly half the total
trade has been with France in recent years. The United States is the
second largest supplier and there is a growing deficit in trade with the
dollar area. This preponderance of France is not likely to disappear very
quickly. Apart from its geographical proximity to North Africa and the
established links between the two areas, many of the exports of Algeria,
Morocco and Tunis will be difficult to place elsewhere. To the extent
that this is so, the natural tendency will be to seek imports from France
in order to maintain some equilibrium in trade. This tendency will be
powerfully reinforced by the fact that France has an enormous financial
stake in the whole area and will no doubt continue to lend financial
support and to afford special trade terms to the different countries in such
fashion as may be appropriate in the changing relationships between
them.
As regards Libya, her imports come largely from three countries:
Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany (30 per cent., 25 per cent, and
10 per cent, respectively, in 1958). Exports go chiefly to Italy, Egypt and
the United Kingdom (37 per cent., 17 per cent, and 15 per cent, respec1
See Appendix II.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
29
tively, in 1958). Her huge trade deficit is offset partly by tourist revenue,
but mainly by the spending of members of British and American armed
forces, Western economic budgetary aid and, more recently, by local
expenditure of oil companies.
Egypt's foreign trade is dominated by the cotton crop which, together with exports of cottonseed and some cotton manufactures,
represents about 80 per cent, of her total exports. A fall in the price of
cotton is therefore likely to have serious effects on the economic position,
which is heavily dependent on imports of wheat, fuel, fertilisers, machinery and capital goods. The country is, however, making efforts to
diversify agricultural production, to attain self-sufficiency in fertilisers
and fuel and generally to develop the amount and range of the manufactures. The visible trade deficit is met in part by invisible items such
as tourism and by Suez Canal receipts. The gradual repayment, now
approaching completion, of the sterling balances accumulated during the
Second World War has also helped so far to maintain the economic
equilibrium.
SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN OUTLINE
It is proposed in this section to treat of three main questions which
are not the subject of special examination in later chapters, viz. education, health and housing. Even on these three subjects only the broadest
of outlines will be given, sufficient it is hoped, however, to provide the
general background of conditions in three main fields, which are of
such importance as regards standards of living.
Education
The latest U.N.E.S.C.O. figures dealing with the school populations
in the various countries covered by the survey are given in table II.
TABLE II. NORTH AFRICA: EDUCATION STATISTICS, 1955
Country
Egypt 2 .
Algeria .
Libya .
Morocco
Tunisia .
Population
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
22,934,000
9,620,000
1,105,000
9,723,000
3,745,000
Percentage of
primary school
Percentage of
enrolment in
females of total
relation to total school population 1
school enrolment
72
83
92
92
82
38
33
15
31
30
20
10
9
38
34
17
Expenditure per
person
(in
dollars)
5.74
5.80
6.39
5.48
7.57
Percentage of
population in
schools
9
6
8
4.5
7
Source: U.N.E.S.C.O.: World Survey of Education, Handbook of Educational Organisation and
Statistics (Paris, 1955); ibid.: World Survey of Education : II. Primary Education (Paris, 1960).
1
In this column the first percentage given represents the primary grades, the second the secondary
grades and the third the university level. The sign . indicates that no figures are available. * By 1958 in
Egypt percentages were as follows: Primary 38, Secondary 22 and University 15.
Furthermore, the
percentage of total population in schools was 12.5 of which 80 were in primary schools.
30
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
The figures of percentages of school population in the primary grades
are significant since studies have shown that in advanced and wellbalanced school systems the percentage of primary enrolments is in the
low 80s. An important reservation in regard to these figures is that
they are mainly for the years 1954 and 1955 or earlier, and that very
considerable advances have been made in the meantime. This is commented on below. Another important point is the extent to which
females form part of the school population. It is to be noted that the
percentage is as low as 15 in primary education in Libya, rising to 30
in Tunisia, 31 in Morocco, 33 in Algeria and 38 in Egypt. This is a
feature of education throughout the area, as elsewhere in the Moslem
world, and which is being gradually remedied. Another feature is the
low percentage of the total child population between the ages of 5
and 14 which is enrolled in schools. This was 19 per cent, in Algeria
(1950-54), 38 per cent, in Egypt (1957-58), 23 per cent, in Morocco (1956)
and 20 per cent, in Tunisia (1954).
Without going into great detail, some examples may be given of the
extent of the efforts made in the educational field over the last few years.
In Algeria in 1948 only one Moslem child in nine was at school, while
in 1958 the proportion was one in four in spite of the increase in the
population of school age ; this represents an increase in the numbers of
Moslems receiving primary education from some 280,000 to close on
500,000 of whom about one-third were girls. In 1958 the numbers increased by over 100,000, the majority in schools opened by the Army in
the most impoverished areas. It is hoped to double the figure by 1965-66
and to make provision for another 1,200,000 in special rural social
centres giving basic education courses.
In Libya, in 1958-59, there were about 100,000 pupils in primary
schools, an increase of 58,000 in six years. Indeed, between 60 per cent.
and 70 per cent, of all Libyan children in the primary school age-groups
(6 to 12) are now in school. In Tunisia the primary school population
rose from 226,736 in 1956 to 320,362 in 1958. In Morocco, where in
1959 the population between the ages of 6 and 14 represented 20 per
cent, of the total, or around 2 million persons, some 30 per cent, were at
state schools and another 5 per cent, were in private schools (not including
Koranic schools). Only a quarter of the Moslem pupils were girls. The
enrolment rate varied enormously as between various regions (this, of
course, is true of the whole area covered by the survey), being higher in
towns than in the country, and in the southern zone than the northern
zone and being very low in the extreme south. School attendance varied
according to categories of population, all the French and nearly all the
Jewish children being at school as against some 35 per cent, of the
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
31
Moroccans. The extent of the progress made may be judged from the
fact that the total school population of the southern zone rose from
308,000 pupils in 1953 to 459,000 in 1956 and to 670,000 (including
51,000 in the northern zone) in 1957 and to 728,482 in 1959. This
represented 38 per cent, of the population of school age (6 to 14 years)
and 6.3 per cent, of the total population. Indications are, however, that
this rate of increase is now falling off owing to shortage of trained teachers
and general financial stringency, though there are still hopes that the
percentage of children of school age receiving education may be raised
as high as 76 per cent, by 1964, by means of a considerable increase
in allocations for education and employment of more staff.
These difficulties are more or less general throughout North Africa.
Indeed, the main problems in regard to education may be summarised
as follows: the need for trained teachers; the lack of teaching materials;
the shortage of suitable school buildings ; the inadequacy of administration and supervision ; and, above all, the immense and sometimes
insupportable financial burden which the provision of education on
modern lines and up to modern standards places upon public finances.
As regards the content of education, the wheel seems to have swung
full circle. Policy has been, generally speaking, directed away from
the provision of mere proficiency in the Koran plus the three R's, which
was once regarded as sufficient in itself, to the provision of a fully
modern type of education. While this is admirable in intention, it may,
perhaps, fail to make sufficient allowance for the predominant place
which agriculture and handicrafts occupy, and are likely to continue to
occupy in the life of the people of the whole area. In such circumstances
it would certainly be appropriate to give a more practical bias to education in general, and to ensure, particularly in the rural areas, that
education in agriculture and in rural handicrafts occupies a prominent
part in school curricula. The Egyptian Five-Year Plan for education
meets this criterion to a considerable extent.
Health
While the numbers of medical personnel and of population per
hospital bed convey only a very partial idea of the extent of medical
facilities available, the statistics which follow may nevertheless serve
for comparative purposes, subject to certain specific reservations. The
first is that hospitals (and indeed medical facilities and personnel in
general) are concentrated largely in the towns and are not, in practice,
accessible to considerable proportions of the population in the rural
areas. The second is that availabiUty of hospital beds is only one factor
32
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
among others in the provision of adequate health services. The provision
of an adequate system of medical centres and dispensaries is equally
important, while the presence of adequate medical staff and of auxiliary health workers such as medical assistants, sanitary personnel,
dispensers, nurses and midwives is essential. In this connection the
proportion of doctors in state service is important. For example in
Morocco in 1957, out of a total of 1,200 only 400 doctors were so serving
—one for every 22,500 inhabitants—and even these were stationed in
a very haphazard manner throughout the country. The statistics show
that very considerable leeway must be made up in these respects before
North Africa attains standards which can be considered as normal.
Everywhere, however, programmes for health improvement have been
drawn up and in some cases are in course of implementation. In Egypt
for example, the first Five-Year Plan of " combined health centres " for
rural areas has been carried out. In Libya considerable progress has
been made in establishing basic health services for the populated centres
throughout the country. In Algeria not only are additional hospital
beds being provided, but the system of health centres and dispensaries
in the rural areas is being largely developed, both as regards personnel
and coverage. In Morocco attention is being concentrated on improvement of the smaller hospitals, particularly in rural areas, on provision of
convalescent centres to relieve pressure on hospital beds and on regrouping of services in the interest of greater efficiency. Numbers of health
personnel are also being substantially increased. In Tunisia, likewise,
efforts are being made to improve standards of medical service, particularly in the rural areas and to work towards the development of a
truly national health service. Tables III and IV contain data on
hospital establishments and medical personnel in the various countries
discussed.
TABLE III. NORTH A F R I C A : HOSPITAL ESTABLISHMENTS, 1955 1
Country
Egypt
Libya
Morocco
Hospital
establishments
Hospital
beds
Population per
hospital bed
158
891
23
165
105
33,338
48,406
2,825
16,440
6,982
300
450
400
600
500
Source: World Health Organisation: Annual Epidemiological and Vital Statistics, 1955 (Geneva, 1958).
1
Notable improvements have taken place since 1955. The figures for population per hospital bed are
very approximate. For example in 1959 Tunisia had 65 hospitals, 5 multi-purpose dispensaries, 351 rural
dispensaries, 58 local dispensaries, 5 mobile dispensaries and 94 maternity and child welfare centres.
There were 10,619 hospital beds, 550 doctors, 202 pharmacists, 69 dentists and 2,995 nursing personnel.
33
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
TABLE IV. N O R T H AFRICA : HEALTH PERSONNEL, 1955
Country
Algeria
Egypt
Morocco
Northern zone . .
Southern zone . .
Tunisia
Doctors
Dentists
Midwives
Nursing
personnel
2,009
7,061
107
511
653
6
711
434
28
4,335
564
690
1,866
30
113
948
552
2
188
102
49
245
158
172
1,077
1,917
8
366
243
Pharmacists
Source: ibid.
On the basis of table IV the number of inhabitants per doctor was
as follows: Algeria one for every 5,000 persons, Egypt one for every
3,000, Libya one for every 10,000, Morocco—northern zone one for
every 10,000, southern zone one for every 9,000, and Tunisia one for
every 7,000.
Epidemic diseases such as plague, smallpox, typhus and cholera are
still threats throughout the area.
Endemic diseases have been vigorously tackled. Malaria, formerly
prevalent throughout the area, is on the downtrend. Trachoma, however,
is still very much a problem, particularly in the rural areas where high
proportions of the total population are affected by it. There is a considerable amount of typhoid and of the various forms of dysentery.
Improvements in water supplies which are being carried out in most
countries of the area will help to diminish ill-health from the latter
source. In Egypt probably three-quarters of the rural population still
suffer from bilharzia and two-fifths from hookworm. The incidence of
tuberculosis, once a formidable problem, has been considerably reduced
in recent years, in some parts of the region, though it is said to be on the
increase in the Tripolitanian and Cyrenaican regions of Libya. Improving standards of health are indicated by decreases in the death and infant
mortality rates, but the health problem, complicated as it is by ignorance,
widespread under-nutrition or malnutrition and lack of medical facilities
and personnel, particularly in the rural areas, remains of formidable
dimensions.
Housing
While the shortage of decent housing is not equally marked in the
different countries of North Africa, the central problem is the same everywhere. The rapid development of the towns, resulting from the population increases on the one hand and developing industrialisation accom-
34
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
panied by an exodus from the countryside on the other, has led to
overcrowding in the older parts of towns and the growth of shanty
districts in the suburbs. The rate of new construction of houses has everywhere been insufficient to cope with this situation. In the rural areas the
prevailing poverty, and in certain cases the nomadic character of the
population, has meant that over large areas the gourbi and the tent are
still the main forms of habitation.
The tent is often a more or less permanent form of habitation and is
sometimes supplemented by primitive branch-covered huts. The gourbi,
a generic name widely used in the area for the miserable habitation
occupied by the mass of the rural population, varies in form according
to the region. It may be of stone or unfired bricks, with a roof of stubble
or branches or made simply of packed earth or mud-covered straw
or reeds like the vast majority of the houses of the fellahin of Egypt,
roofless in the dry areas and covered with reeds or leaves elsewhere.
It may be simply put together with such odds and ends as come to hand.
But whatever the construction material, it lacks the most elementary
comforts. Such improvements as are being made in rural and village
housing are largely the result of government initiative and are undertaken in connection with agricultural development schemes, such as the
Liberation Scheme in Egypt and the agrarian reform measures of the
Caisse d'accession à la propriété et à l'exploitation rurales in Algeria
and the Sahara.1 In such cases the new housing is of relatively high
standard and, while inevitably extremely limited in volume, sets useful
examples to the rural population in general. But little real initiative can
be expected unless officiai co-operation and the provision of housing
subsidies or credits are forthcoming. In the case of nomads, active
policies of permanent settlement will have to be pursued before one can
hope for real improvements in housing.
Indications of the lines along which action is being taken to improve
housing in four of the areas concerned may now be given.
United Arab Republic (Egypt).
Various initiatives have been taken in Egypt. The most important
is through a semi-official organisation, the Building and Low-Rent
Housing Company, which since 1954 has completed some thousands of
houses for people of limited income (the Government providing the
land at a low price, and public utilities such as water and electricity
being laid on free of charge), and some thousands of workers' dwellings to the order of various large firms and municipahties. The Ministry
1
These questions are dealt with in detail in Chapter II.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
35
of Works has given land near Cairo on favourable terms to co-operative
societies to build houses for their members, while credit co-operatives
are also building houses using government loans granted on special
terms. Finally, some 5,000 flats and houses have recently been built for
low-income families in Port Said by the Ministry of Municipal and
Rural Affairs.
Libya.
Some slum clearance has been effected and the inhabitants housed
in settlements elsewhere : 464 housing units were thus provided in Tripoli
and 262 in five towns in Cyrenaica, as well as 120 in Wadi Caam. The
I.B.R.D. Mission has suggested that plans should be prepared for the
housing of 2,000 families in Tripolitania and 1,000 families in Cyrenaica
over the next five years.
Algeria.
Under various forms of aid, a very considerable housing programme
both for superior housing and for low-cost housing has been carried
out. Some 100,000 housing units were built between 1954 and 1959
and construction of a further 300,000 is envisaged between 1959 and 1964.
In the rural areas policy is directed towards replacing gourbis by simple
but decent housing in small agglomerations, aid being given to heads
of families in the form of gifts of building materials which they utilise
themselves under the guidance of skilled workers.
Morocco.
In Morocco, where some 380,000 people live in the shanty towns and
350,000 in overcrowded quarters, two main bodies undertake public
housing construction—the Housing Service (Service de l'habitat) and
the Franco-Moroccan Real Estate Company (C.I.F.M.), a semi-public
concern largely operating with public funds. The former built some
29,000 housing units between 1952 and 1958 and the latter some 9,300
between 1952 and 1956. A new housing policy was recently laid down
by the Ministry of Public Works along the following Unes: various
types of solution were to be worked out according to the means of those
concerned, with technical and financial aid being given by the State to
encourage construction of housing; in the two-year plan for 1958-59
stress was laid on development of building land at the expense of the
State. The main types of solution adopted are as follows : (a) allocation
of developed land, building to be undertaken within specified periods
under the systems of lot évolutif ana lot économique; (b) carrying out by
the State of certain pilot projects (both single houses and blocks of
36
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
apartments); (c) temporary or emergency solutions consisting of
improvements to shanty towns (either immediate improvements or
provision of sanitary facilities in areas destined for improvement later).
OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE
It would certainly be outside the scope of an introductory chapter
such as the present to attempt any detailed examination of future
development possibilities in North Africa. Some of the problems
involved which come more particularly within the competence of the
I.L.O. are reviewed in the chapters which follow. It happens, however, that in the course of the study it undertook on the integrated development of Mediterranean agriculture and forestry in relation to
economic growth, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United
Nations has examined in some detail the main problems which face two
of the countries concerned here—Morocco and Tunisia—and has summarised in terms which can conveniently be quoted its views on the
future outlook. Further general observations relating to development
possibilities in the Mediterranean area as a whole (including the Near
East and North Africa) are contained in other parts of the same study
and the reader is referred to them for further details.
In regard to Morocco, after commenting on present difficulties in
financing new economic development plans and on the fact that the
present lack of qualified personnel is at least as great an obstacle to
more rapid development as the lack of capital, the study continues :
Taking a somewhat longer view, however, one need not be gloomy about
the economic outlook for Morocco. With adequate attention, food production
during the next ten or twenty years can increase rapidly enough to maintain,
or even enlarge, the amounts available per capita. Forestry and irrigation,
fields in which Morocco is already well advanced and has much to teach other
Mediterranean countries, are capable of further enriching the economy. The
mineral resources of the country, exported for the most part in unprocessed
form, are considerable; the profits of the state-owned phosphate mines
provide a significant source of revenue for programmes of economic development. Although coal and oil are as yet available only in insufficient quantities,
Morocco can look forward to a marked increase in industrial activity.
Because of population growth, the southern zone of Morocco must provide
by 1970 at least 1.1 million more jobs than it provided in 1952 (the last year
for which census data are available). Agriculture and forestry will probably
have to absorb about 45 per cent, of the total increase, or 500,000 workers,
and the non-agricultural sectors 600,000. This would mean a 25 per cent.
expansion of the agricultural labour force, while the non-agricultural sectors
would grow by more than 55 per cent.
Due to the absence of real economic progress during the first half of the
eighteen-year period, the goals proposed for 1970 will, for the most part,
have to be achieved during the coming decade. In constant prices, gross
domestic product is still below the 1954 level. Determined action on the
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
37
part of the Government and the people will be needed to give the economy
some forward momentum. If the 1954 peak is re-attained in 1960, gross
domestic product could, with modest improvements in productivity 1, increase
by approximately 60 per cent, between 1960 and 1970. This would be equivalent to a per capita rise in real income of about one-third for the period
1954-70. For 1960-70, the per annum rate of increase in the value of agricultural and forestry output implied by the calculations underlying this report
would be- 4 per cent. The corresponding rate of increase in the value of other
commodity production would be 6 per cent. Exclusive of part-time employment in industry or on public works, the average number of days worked
per year by the agricultural labour force in 1970 might be somewhat below
the average during 1952-55, although per capita income will be higher.
Even allowing for the substantial degree of industrialisation envisaged
in the forward estimates made in this report, the share of agriculture and
forestry in total commodity production will only decline from somewhat
above 50 per cent, in 1952 to 45 per cent, in 1970. Agricultural products,
together with minerals, will continue to play a crucial role in exports.
The key to the changes required in order to raise national income per
head and to provide productive employment for the growing population
lies in the reform of traditional agriculture. Such reform is a prerequisite
for the creation of a better integrated, more viable national economy.
The traditional sector is so underdeveloped that it cannot play the role
of partner to the modern sector. It cannot afford to buy the products of the
modern economy, it cannot assure the modern economy a regular flow of
raw materials for processing, nor can it nourish the modern economy in any
significant way except to furnish it with a surplus of unskilled labour.
The modern sector remains essentially a withering offshoot of the French
economy, suffering from what may be called a structural deficiency of demand.
During the days of the Protectorate, it obtained its financing and its management from France, and found its markets in France. (Moroccan exports
still enjoy a preferential market in France, which is of unquestionable
importance to the Moroccan economy.) As is normal, however, when investment and entrepreneurship come from abroad, a substantial part of the
income generated in the modern economy has been transferred out of the
country. Such income consequently has not been available for consumption
or investment in Morocco. This situation was camouflaged so long as there
was an inflow of new capital.
The problem now is to give the modern economy firm roots in Morocco
itself, to end the virtually independent co-existence of the modern and traditional sectors, and to fuse them into a better integrated national economy. 2
I n regard t o Tunisia, the F.A.O. study comments that in early 1959
there were few signs of the upward surge in productivity and output
which is essential if the Tunisian economy is to emerge from an e r a
of stagnation and dependence on foreign aid into a n era of progress
and self-sustained growth. The study continues :
1
" Modest " because the report assumes that Moroccan policy will tend to favour
labour-intensive rather than capital-intensive techniques in order to utilise manpower,
which is plentiful, and conserve capital, which is scarce.
2
Mediterranean Development Project (The Integrated Development of Méditerranean Agriculture and Forestry in relation toEconomic Growth), op. cit., pp. 158-159.
38
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
The foundations for a more diversified and prosperous economy are
nevertheless at hand, even though the majority of the population is still
engaged in raising cereals by primitive means, in cultivating olive trees and
date palms, and in tending flocks. Tunisia has a mining industry and some
domestic processing of mineral products. Explorations for oil are going
forward intensively. The nation already has modern cement plants and some
fish, vegetable and fruit canneries. It has excellent roads, 2,000 kilometres
of good railway, three or four well-equipped ports and an international
aerodrome. Its potentialities as a tourist centre are considerable. Its agricultural resources include productive citrus groves, prosperous vineyards and
important forests. Although shortages of technically trained personnel are
probably the greatest obstacle to more rapid growth, the nation has an
impressive number of competent and dedicated public officials.
The task is to build intelligently on the present foundations. By 1970,
the nation will have to provide remunerative employment for at least 400,000
more people than the 1.33 million who were working or seeking work in 1956.
The ideal way for the nation to achieve full employment would be for industry
and certain of the services to absorb the total increase in the labour force
plus those at present unemployed, while the agricultural sector eliminated
underemployment in rural areas. It would be virtually impossible, however,
for the non-agricultural sectors—which now provide employment for fewer
than 350,000 persons, including those practising handicrafts and those rendering services of minor economic significance—to offer remunerative employment to 400,000 additional persons between now and 1970.
Agriculture and sylviculture will have to absorb, we believe, about 200,000
additional workers. This would mean an increase of about 20 per cent, in
the agricultural labour force, as compared with an increase of more than
50 per cent, in other sectors. In terms of gross domestic product, the programme for agriculture and sylviculture outlined in this report should, if
successfully executed, result in an increase by 1970 of about 40 per cent.
in the value added by these sectors as compared with 1956 (or about 50 per cent.
as compared with the 1954-57 average), at 1957 prices. A rise of 40 per cent.
in value added, coupled with an increase of 20 per cent, in employment,
would imply only a 15 per cent, increase in output per worker (1.40:1.20= 1.15).
This means that underemployment will still be substantial in 1970.
Productivity in the other commodity-producing sectors should clearly rise
by more than 15 per cent, per person, but how much more depends in large
measure on the amount of equipment that is imported and the degree to
which capital-intensive techniques are employed. Given the plenitude of
manpower, the scarcity of capital, and the precarious balance-of-payments
situation, Tunisia may be expected to favour labour-intensive techniques
where it is logical to do so. In this event, it would seem unwise to count,
for the economy as a whole, on an increase of more than 25 per cent, in value
added per person employed.
The combination of a 25 per cent, rise in output per worker and a 30 per
cent, enlargement in the total labour force will result in an increase of 60 per
cent, in gross domestic product between 1956, an exceptionally good agricultural year, and 1970. Assuming that normal weather conditions prevail in
1960, the improvement between 1956 and 1960 will be modest, leaving a
50-55 per cent, increase in gross domestic product to be achieved during the
period 1960-70, even if a partial revival in the building and construction
sector is secured during 1960. For a nation in Tunisia's present situation, a
growth rate of 4-4.5 per cent, per year during the coming decade would be
encouraging.
Although productivity and per capita earnings in agriculture are likely
to increase less than they do in other sectors, rural families may still notably
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
39
improve their levels of living. Agriculture is the only sector in the Tunisian
economy in which a significant number of women are employed and, where
two members of a family work instead of one, the family obviously benefits
twice as much as other families from increases in per capita earnings. In
addition, there should be opportunities for employment on public works and
for part-time jobs in rural industries.1
In Algeria, future development, both economic and social, centres
around the plan announced by General de Gaulle at Constantine on
4 October 1958. While production and trade figures have been favourably influenced over the last few years by the presence of an Army of
some 400,000 men in Algeria, there has undoubtedly been real economic
progress'during that time. The Constantine plan, therefore, is starting
in favourable circumstances and, provided a solution to present political
difficulties is found, has every hope of succeeding. In brief, the plan
envisages the following developments in the five years 1959-64:
1. The raising of salaries and wages to levels comparable with those
of metropolitan France.
2. The distribution of some 250,000 hectares of new land to Moslem
farmers (plus further areas in the Sahara) and large-scale technical
improvements to peasant agriculture.
3. The establishment of metallurgical and chemical combines, using
Saharan petrol and gas ; housing for 1,000,000 people ; and the development of sanitation, ports and roads. All this will involve the creation
of employment for 400,000 more workers.
4. One place in ten for entrance to the administrative service of
France, i.e. the civil administration, the judiciary, the Army and the
teaching services—to be reserved for Moslems.
5. Two-thirds of Algerian children to be brought into school, while
the remaining third would be brought in during the ensuing three years.
This means 1,500,000 new school places.
It is estimated that the plan will need a global investment of the order
order of 2 million million francs—i.e., about 400,000 million a year. Even
allowing for considerable participation of private capital in Algerian
investment, it seems realistic to assume that public funds will have to
provide an average of some 300,000 million francs over the next five
years. Thereafter revenues from Sahara oil and gas may make a considerable contribution. At the moment, disturbed conditions prevent the
authorities from going ahead with the full programme of improvements
to the infrastructure and with many of the developments envisaged in
agriculture. In fact, however, expenditure of 210,600 million francs was
1
Mediterranean Development Project (The Integrated Development of Mediterranean Agriculture and Forestry in relation to Economic Growth), op. cit., pp. 148-149.
40
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
approved for 1959, including 39,200 million for power and industry,
14,500 million for agriculture and 68,000 million for social development.
Of the total, 106,100 million will be provided by the metropolitan budget..
22,200 million by the Algerians and 67,700 million by a bond issue. As
elsewhere in North Africa the problems of development are not merely
of afinancialnature. Lack of skilled manpower is just as much a bottleneck. Large training programmes—which will be referred to in detail
in Chapter IV—have been provided for. At the same time, the steady
increase in the population must not be lost sight of and even at the rate
of the 80,000 new jobs a year in industry, provided under the plan, the
leeway is far from being made up. Undoubtedly the developments
envisaged in agriculture will provide a certain number of new jobs,
and will give more to those at present consistently underemployed ;
undoubtedly the increased economic activity engendered by the plan
will provide considerable extra employment opportunities. Perhaps,
however, the employment projections for the Near East and North
Africa as a whole given in the F.A.O. study referred to above 1 may be
regarded also as reasonable when applied to Algeria as such. These
suggest that in 1970 and in 1975 effective employment as a percentage
of the then potentially active labour force will have reached 75 per cent.
as against 65 per cent, in 1956 on the assumption that an ambitious
economic development programme (which the plan is) is produced.
According to the I.B.R.D. Mission 2, the immediate needs in Libya
are to build up the administrative machine and train the people who
will be needed to execute a much larger programme of capital formation
than can be contemplated at the present time. This means investment
in people by improving education, medical services, nutrition and
housing, which will be more rewarding at this stage than investment
in construction of such things as public buildings and transport facilities.
The rate at which the economy grows will be powerfully influenced by
the supply of skilled professional and technical personnel and the
investment programme should be tailored to the talent available or
obtainable from outside. The most important task of government in
relation to the stimulation of economic growth is to foster the kind of
economic and social climate in which private enterprise can function
most effectively in the national interest. This means that while leaving
the main initiatives to private enterprise, government should play a
more active role in branches of activity which have tended to be neglected
by private enterprise, notably agriculture,fisheriesand tourism. In this
1
Mediterranean Development Project (The Integrated Development of Mediterranean Agriculture and Forestry in relation to Economic Growth), op. cit., p. 51.
8
See The Economic Development of Libya, op. cit., pp. 299-302.
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS
41
connection, emphasis is placed particularly on measures to secure a
more equitable distribution of income and on government assistance
to small producers in agriculture and industry who lack capital for
development. Oil production and exploration are seen as likely to be
the biggest single factor contributing to the rise in national income over
the next five to ten years, though long-term employment in the oil industry
is not likely to absorb more than 5 per cent, of the present labour
force (15,000 to 20,000 people). Production and employment in manufacturing, distribution and other service trades are likely to be stimulated
by the expansion of incomes associated with oil development, though
employment is likely to rise less than production. Demand for building
will remain high. Nevertheless, there will not be enough jobs elsewhere
for more than a fraction of the 200,000 people at present engaged in
agriculture and animal husbandry. Yet the drift from agriculture is
likely to continue, resulting in the growth of unemployment and underemployment in and around the towns and in the fostering of social
discontent and unrest. To counteract this, emphasis has been placed
on measures to improve the lot of the small farmer and pastoralist.
Indeed, the Mission is convinced that " agriculture, forestry and water
resources must be accorded high priority in planning for the longer
term development of the Libyan economy ".
The F.A.O. report mentioned above, in referring to the Syrian
Region of the United Arab Republic, says : " The mobilisation of the
community's productive effort and savings will have to be primarily
under the direct auspices of the Government. The new framework may
be described as one of mixed economy with government ownership and
management of major economic enterprises and government over-all
regulation of the productive activities of the Region towards a clearly
defined social purpose." 1 These remarks are equally true of the Egyptian
Region as is the emphasis laid by the F.A.O. on the heavy burden of
obligations which these developments will place on the Government and
its administrative personnel.
In fact, following on the examination of possibilities of expansion
and the laying down of policies by the various planning bodies, a single
authority—the Economic Development Organisation—has been charged
with the duty of developing the national economy by engaging in commercial, industrial, agricultural and financial activities and of laying
down the investment policy for the funds placed at its disposal. With
this goal in view, it had by the end of 1958 invested some £E.40 million
in industrial and chemical companies, some £E.4,500,000 in mineral
1
Mediterranean Development Project, op. cit., p. 136.
42
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
wealth companies, some £E.5 million in trade and transport companies
and over £E.8 million in banks and insurance companies. It has thus
secured effective control of, or strong influence over, the management of
decisive sectors of the national economy, including the main new developments such as in iron and steel production, petroleum, manganese,
phosphate, elmenite, lead and zinc mining, the production of sugar
and alcohol, tobacco, fertilisers, cement, industrial gases, tyres, paper,
ceramics and textiles. It controls prominent companies in the import
and export trade ; and in distribution of food, pharmaceuticals and
clothing; in addition it is prominent in the shipping business and controls
the national airline : moreover, it has a leading role in housing construction through its participation in the Building and Low-Rent Housing
Company. It is, therefore, to a considerable extent through the Economic Development Organisation that the Egyptian Five-Year Plan for
industrialisation is being carried out. This plan calls for the implementation within five years from 1958, and if possible three years, of some
125 projects in various fields of industry at a total cost of some £E.240
million. Some of these, such as the establishment of an iron and steel
industry, have already been completed, and others such as the developments in the fertilisers and cement industries will be in operation
in 1960. The plan will require the direct employment of 100,000 workers
of whom 40,000 will be unskilled. The value of the annual production
of the new industries included in the plan is given as £E.118 million and
the increment to the national income is estimated at £E.48 million.
Savings in foreign exchange will be £E.63 million. This plan does not
include the Aswan High Dam project, to be financed against credits
from the U.S.S.R. by Suez Canal revenues, work on which has already
started, and the implications of which in terms of increased irrigation
facilities, more electrical power and more reclaimed land, have already
been briefly referred to. Some account of future agricultural developments in particular areas is given in Chapter II, as well as the features of
the Land Reform Act of 1952, which gave a new operational framework
to agriculture.
CHAPTER II
LAND AND LABOUR
GENERAL
In Chapter I a broad picture was drawn of the economic and social
situation of the North African countries ; the extent to which the whole
area is, despite developing industrialisation, still essentially dependent
on agriculture was also demonstrated. It would now be appropriate
to examine in some detail certain organisational and other factors
relating to life on the land which have serious repercussions on the standard of living of those whose existence is bound up with it. Before doing
so, however, it will be convenient to sketch in broad outline the natural
conditions in which agriculture has to be carried on throughout the
region.
Let us take first the area comprising Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia,
running from the Atlantic coast of Morocco in the west to the Gulfs
of Hammamet and Gabès in the east and separated in the south from
the rest of Africa by the immense desert of the Sahara. This area may
be separated from the point of view of climate, rains and water into
three zones : 1
(a) The Mediterranean zone includes the greater part of the Moroccan plains, the Algerian coastal plains, the high Constantine plateaux
and the plains situated to the north of the Tunisian " dorsal ". This
zone, temperate in climate, with less irregular rainfall and less subject
to the winds blowing from the Sahara, is particularly suitable for growing
grain crops, vines, fruits and early vegetables; it is in many respects
similar to the south of Europe : its limit, which is more or less that of the
grain crops, coincides with the line of 16 ins. annual rainfall, except in
Morocco where the Atlantic influence extends the zone as far as the
12.5 ins. rainfall line.
(b) The steppe zone, constituted by the south-western and eastern
part of Morocco, the greater part of the high Algerian plateaux and
the south of the Tunisian " dorsal " as far as the mountains of Gafsa.
1
See " L'agriculture en Afrique du Nord ", in L'Economie (Paris), Supplement to
No. 339, 28 Feb. 1952.
44
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Having a semi-arid climate of the continental type with very irregular
rainfall, this zone is more suited to shrub plantations and to animal
husbandry of the extensive type than to cropping, except when there
are possibilities of irrigation.
(c) The desert zone, with its Sahara-type climate, hostile, except
in the oases, to either cropping or animal husbandry.
In Libya, the picture is somewhat similar—a fertile coastal plain,
a semi-arid desert behind the hills and, to the south, the Sahara-type
climate, with agriculture of any kind possible only in the oases. Thus
in Tripolitania the coastal plain between Zuara and Misurata and in
the regions of the Jebel from Giado to Cussabat is farmed by villagedwelling peasants engaged in market gardening or the growing of citrus,
dates, olives, almonds and some barley. The Italian settlements are
located at various points near the coast and in the Jebel around Tarhuna.
South of the Tripolitanian hills, the rains occasionally permit a crop of
barley, together with grazing for sheep, goats and camels but sedentary
agriculture is the exception rather than the rule. In the southern desert,
only the oases are cultivable. Most of the Jefara and large areas of the
Jebel are used for grazing. The main agricultural area of Cyrenaica is
the Barce plateau, producing cereals, olives and fruit, but the high
Jebel of the Cyrene-Derna area also produces cereals. Otherwise,
animal husbandry is the main resource. The Fezzan is entirely desert
except for a few oases where date palms are grown and irrigated gardens
cultivated. In the seasonal water-courses (wadis) passing through the
desert south of the hills, barley and bulrush millet are grown, the areas
flooded by the rains being several miles wide.
To all intents and purposes, Egypt's agricultural economy is based
on the River Nile, the inhabited area consisting almost entirely of land
irrigated by its waters. This is densely populated and highly cultivated
in estates and smallholdings. The progressive change-over from " basin "
irrigation (i.e. in effect flood fallowing) to " perennial " irrigation, with
its complicated system of dams and canals, has led to considerable
increase of the cultivated area. Wheat and other cereal crops and a
wide range of vegetable crops are grown but by far the most important
is high-quality cotton, whose value represents normally about threequarters of Egypt's trade. Beyond the limits of Nile irrigation lie
the three deserts making up over 96 per cent, of the total land area:
the Libyan or Western Desert, extending from the west side of the Nile
Delta and the Nile Valley to the Libyan border; the Eastern, or Arabian
Desert, from the Nile Valley and the Suez Canal to the Red Sea; and
the Sinai Desert, which has a common frontier with Israel on the east
and is separated from the Eastern Desert by the Red Sea and the Suez
LAND AND LABOUR
45
Canal. The Western Desert has the typical Saharan climate with villages
and cultivation only in the oases (Faiyum, Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla,
Kharga and Siwa) where water is near the surface. In the Eastern Desert
cultivation of any considerable area is carried on only between Luxor
and Asyut. The Sinai Desert has numerous wells and oases which are
centres of habitation while a fair amount of agriculture is carried on in
the coastal area, especially near El Arish, where water draining from
the main plateau supplies sufficient moisture.
The natural conditions which have been described are not such as to
render life easy on the land in the region nor, except in Egypt, to favour
intensive settlement, and these conditions have been aggravated over the
centuries by the agricultural techniques adopted, which, in general,
have failed to keep pace with modern developments and in some areas,
far from increasing fertility, have, on the contrary, diminished it through
deforestation, over-grazing by sheep and goats and failure to adopt
soil conservation measures, thus leading to soil erosion—a constant
danger because of the nature of the rainfall. Two other factors have
contributed to the present unsatisfactory standard of life of the rural
communities throughout the area. The first is the high rate of increase
in the population and the failure of industry to develop sufficiently
to draw off the surplus population from the land. The second is the
land tenure system. These two factors will now be examined in more
detail.
THE PRESSURE OF POPULATION ON LAND RESOURCES
While the general demographic situation is analysed in detail in the
chapter on Manpower and Employment, some indication of the position
as it affects life on the land may be given here. Table 8 1 shows, for the
various units concerned, the relationship between the total area, the
cultivated area, and the population, total and rural.
The figures in table 8 show that particularly in Algeria (if one includes
the Sahara), Egypt and Libya, the proportion of arable land and land
under tree crops is only a very small fraction of the total area—1.4 to
3.3 per cent, and that even in Morocco and Tunisia it only amounts
to 20 per cent, and 33 per cent, respectively. It is true that in Algeria,
Libya and Morocco there are fairly extensive rough grazings but only
in Morocco and Tunisia is there any considerable amount of unused
but potentially productive land and this needs irrigation to render it
cultivable. Another factor in the situation is the amount of land, mainly
arable, which has been alienated to Europeans. Leaving aside Egypt,
1
See Appendix II.
46
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
where this is not of importance, the amounts alienated were, in the
early 1950s, as follows: Algeria 2,400,000 hectares; Morocco 1 milhon
and Tunisia 770,000. In Libya European capitalists still hold and farm
large tracts of the best land and numbers of Italian peasants occupy
smaller farms. Conditions favour capital-intensive farming and fairly
large holdings with a high degree of mechanisation, and though there is
need for measures to encourage development of the small farming sector,
the extension of large-scale commercial agriculture by private enterprise,
Libyan or foreign, can only benefit the economy. Land as such is not
scarce, only the capital and technical know-how required for its development.1
Thefiguresquoted mean that in Algeria the majority of the 6,400,000
people constituting the peasant population (excluding the Sahara)
were living on about 4,400,000 hectares of arable land and land under
tree crops, to which may be added some 6,600,000 hectares of grazing
land, most of it of poor quality. As regards Morocco, the European
proportion of the arable land was very much smaller. Even so, on the
assumption that the greater part of the European-held land was in fact
arable, it may represent some 10 per cent, of the total arable land and
this is also roughly the proportion of the total productive area of Tunisia
held by Europeans.
The distribution of the population throughout the region is extremely
uneven. As will be shown in more detail in the chapter on Manpower
and Employment, there have, in general, been very rapid increases in
the urban population in recent years. These increases have, however,
been occasioned not so much by the positive attraction exercised on
the rural populations by the greater opportunities of regular employment in the towns because of industrial expansion, although this has
been a factor, but rather because of their rejection by the agricultural
sector, through the sheer impossibility of finding work or enough to
live on. Large numbers of the inhabitants of the shanty towns, which are
such a sordid feature of the suburbs of many North African towns,
are in this category of rejects from the countryside who have not been
absorbed into the regular wage-earning sector of the towns but who
live from hand to mouth in a series of odd jobs.
The colonisation of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, official and unofficial, first on the cereal-growing plains and later on what are now
the vine-growing and the tree and fruit crop areas, meant that the local
populations lost, to a corresponding extent, possibihties of expansion
into those areas. They were accordingly forced to undertake more in1
The Economic Development of Libya, op. cit., p. 133.
LAND AND LABOUR
47
tensive cultivation of the hilly and mountainous areas (in which they
largely had their permanent homes for reasons of better protection)
and to cultivate steeply sloping ground, and this without adequate
knowledge of soil conservation techniques. On the other hand, the
settlers developed agricultural practices which greatly improved yields
and provided considerable rural employment, as well as initiating the
local populations into practices which enabled them in turn to stepup yields on their own lands. To what extent this offset the effects of
disturbance of traditional agriculture patterns involving the extensive
use of large areas as common pasture lands it is difficult to say. What is
certain is that growth of grain production and indeed of other essential
products, such as cattle, sheep and goats, dry vegetables, figs and dates,
has failed catastrophically, in Algeria, for example, to keep pace with
the rapid increase in population. No doubt this was inevitable, given
the above facts and the limited progress in agricultural techniques at
the peasant level in general.
In Libya, while some of the same problems are posed, it is mainly
in the oases that the pressure of population on the limited areas of
irrigated land available is most urgent. In Egypt, however, overpopulation is the dominating problem. Developments in commerce and industry have so far been insufficient to absorb more than a small fraction
of the annual increase. Large-scale plans for further Nile control
resulting in increases in the cultivable area, now amounting to only
2,618,000 hectares or 0.16 hectares per head of the rural population,
will be discussed later, as will the Government's land redistribution
programme which has as its essential aim the reduction of the concentration of land ownership in the hands of absentee landlords and the redistribution of the land thus freed among small peasants.
It is, of course, extremely difficult to define overpopulation. Two
countries with the same over-all population density and the same
density of rural population may present totally different situations
from the point of view of population pressure because of differences
in technical resources and types of undertakings. From that point of
view it is extremely difficult to interpret usefully the statistics given
in table 8. Nevertheless, there would no doubt be general agreement
that, of the countries under consideration, Algeria, given the resources
actually available and the present means of exploiting them, is very
much overpopulated. It can of course be argued, as has been done
recently x, that, as a country, Algeria produces enough foodstuffs to
provide in theory a daily average of 2,070 calories per head of popula1
G. de BERNIS: " L'Algérie peut-elle nourrir sa population ? " in Esprit (Paris),
No. 259, Mar. 1958, pp. 479-490.
48
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
tion which is 6 to 11 per cent, lower than a barely sufficient consumption
of 2,270 to 2,390 calories per day and that the leeway can be made up
by better distribution, more efficient organisation of the commercial
system, turnover of the wine-growing areas to cereal or other more
useful cultures (although this would certainly mean a considerable drop
in value of production per hectare and in man-days of employment) and
small-scale improvements to techniques sufficient to give better yields.
But the fact is that the Algerian population is divided into two sectors
differing completely from the socio-cultural point of view and the
question, therefore, is whether it is possible not merely politically
but also, having regard to the economic and socio-cultural factors
involved, to effect the improvements which will secure a decent standard of living for the sections of the population at present undernourished.
Egypt, statistically speaking, is far more overpopulated than
Algeria, considering simply the relationship between cultivated land and
rural population but whereas virtually the whole of the cultivated area
of Egypt is under irrigation, of which an increasing proportion is perennial
irrigation with heavy yields and providing more than one crop per year,
Algeria is largely a land of dry farming and yields are low. To take
only one common crop as an example—wheat—Algeria's average
yield is 6.6 quintals per hectare 1 as compared with Egypt's 22.7. Nevertheless, the figures given in the following chapter amply confirm the
Egyptian rural population problem and show the difficult situation of
the other countries in the area.
LAND TENURE
The land tenure systems of North African countries extend far
back into ancient times and contain many traits of a primitive society.
The main influence on them has, however, been Islamic rule, in the
course of which existing systems were remoulded to conform with
Islamic principles, customs and rules. The Ottoman Empire, which
exercised, at one time or another, dominion over virtually the whole
area, applied existing principles and consolidated them, with certain
modifications, in the Ottoman Land Code of 1858. The Code defined
the main legal categories into which land is in practice divided. The/i
are (a) mulk (melk or memluké) lands, which are those over which
the owner has full control and which he can alienate freely; (b) miri
lands which are state domains, the owner of a title being in theory
1
Morocco's yield is 6.4 and Tunisia's 5 quintals per hectare {Yearbook of Food
and Agricultural Statistics 1956, Vol. X, Part I: Production (Rome, F.A.O., 1957)).
LAND AND LABOUR
49
considered a tenant of the State ; (c) wagf (or habous) lands dedicated
in perpetuity to religious or charitable purposes. The Code also established the system of private property in agricultural land but did not
regulate the various types of tenancy arrangement between landlord
and cultivator. These developed according to local custom. While the
Code opposed in theory recognition of any type of collective ownership
in land, this was conceded in practice and remains au important feature
of land tenure in some areas at the present time. In practice, the Code
was not generally enforced and, in fact (and apart from the break-up
of the Ottoman Empire), the realities of local conditions, agricultural
organisation and social structure asserted themselves more and more
and led to differing situations in the individual countries. In the countries
of French colonisation—Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia—as also in Libya,
land policy, and with it forms of land tenure, evolved to meet the need for
security of title for official—and unofficial—settlers. In Egypt the legislation of 1952 constituted a " New Deal " in the realm of land tenure and
will be examined later. The present situation will now be examined
country by country.
In the early days of French colonisation in Algeria, land for settlers
was provided by taking it from the former " beylical " or state lands
and later by confiscating lands held by the tribes concerned in the
revolts of the Sahel and the Mitidja. Habous lands were declared the
property of the State, subject to its meeting the charitable charges of
the trust, in substitution for the ultimate beneficiary (usually one of the
holy towns of Arabia).
The perpetual usufruct of certain lands held collectively by the tribes
(arch lands) was transformed into full ownership, thus enabling it to be
sold to colonists and other arch lands were taken over for colonists. The
present position, in summary, is that collectively owned land, in the sense
of state lands and common lands (biens communaux), covers a total of
9,200,000 hectares (5 million and 4,200,000 hectares respectively) and that
private property, European and Moslem, amounts to 11,600,000 hectares.
Of this privately owned land, some 2,400,000 hectares are owned by
Europeans and 2,900,000 by Moslems on property titles assimilated to
those under the property laws of the French Civil Code. The rest is held
under the rules of Moslem land tenure, of which there are in Algeria two
main types of tenure, melk and arch. Melk tenure in theory differs little
from ordinary freehold tenure in the sense that the owner has full right of
disposal of the land, but the full right of ownership can only be exercised
over that part of the land which is being cultivated, the ownership of uncultivated portions vesting automatically in the person who brings them
under cultivation. Moreover, since there is no absolute title and since
50
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
transfers of the property must be proved by witnesses, there are often competing claimants to the same land, each with his own set of title deeds. A
further complication lies in the Moslem family structure which leads to
the land being held in undivided shares of which there are often countless
numbers. Any attempt to establish the rights of these co-owners involves
therefore complicated procedures which cost more than the rights are
worth. Arch tenure relates to Berber properties formerly held in freehold,
to which the Arab conquest and the influence of Moslem law have given
the character of collectively owned properties of which the usufruct
belongs to the tribe, the latter in turn ceding this usufructuary right
to the family heads of the tribe. There are about 2,500,000 hectares of
arch lands in Algeria. Much of the land now under the French form of
ownership title is former melk or arch land, the latter having, under a
series of land laws adopted during the colonisation period from 1846
to 1897, and again in 1926, been rendered capable of being transferred
in full ownership in accordance with French forms.
Two other complications served to hinder transfer of melk lands.
The first was the right of chefaa which enables a third party who has
bought the land to be evicted by the co-proprietors. The second was the
habous, the freezing of the ownership of the property for pious or
charitable purposes, the ownership normally being assigned to a religious
or charitable trust, the usufruct only remaining in the hands of the
person constituting the habous. This was often used as a device to avoid
succession difficulties and enabled the cultivation rights to be enjoyed
while at the same time evading the Moslem rules relating to succession
rights. About one-half of melk land had been " haboused " at the time
of the French conquest of Algeria. These habous lands were sometimes
acquired by French colonists from the usufruct owners, who concealed
the limitative nature of their titles.
A series of decrees, dated 26 March 1956 have introduced further farreaching measures of land reform. The first provides the framework for
exchanges and minor regroupings of parcels of land by consent and for
large-scale expropriation and reallocation of land in parcels facilitating
family farming in order to improve its exploitation agriculturally, particularly in irrigation areas and in areas where soil conservation or
restoration measures are carried on. As a prelude to this, provision is made
for an over-all survey of the land involved and for determining the rights
of ownership and co-proprietorship in them. Rights may be established
under French law or Moslem law according as the land is held under the
one law or the other. The principle of dividing up the land on succession
instead of leaving it in undivided shares among several heirs is laid
down. The land may, however, be left undivided if there is unanimous
LAND AND LABOUR
51
agreement to that effect. If division means that shares are too small for
economic cultivation, then they are be offered for sale among the various
co-owners and if not bought are taken over by Algeria.
Before the entry into operation of the second decree, long-term
finance was put at the disposal of mutual agricultural credit associations
(caisses de crédit agricole mutuel) and agricultural provident societies
(sociétés agricoles de prévoyance) to enable them to make loans not
exceeding 3 million francs per person to European and Moslem farmers
for the acquisition of smallholdings. These were acquired by direct
purchase from individuals willing to sell. In order to broaden the scope
of this type of initiative, the decree of 26 March 1956 provided for
the setting up of a fund of accession to land holding and rural development, which is empowered to acquire lands by direct purchase or by
expropriation for public purposes. The fund may be given, or acquire
in full property, lands belonging to the State, to Algeria or to other
public bodies. The lands thus acquired by the fund are laid out and
prepared by it for taking up by small farmers to whom they are sold or
let on a long term or farming lease. A third decree compels landowners
in areas where irrigation facilities are available to practise irrigation
cultivation in default of which their lands may be expropriated against
compensation and placed at the disposal of the fund.
It was intended by these measures to limit the area of irrigated
holdings to 50 hectares (150 hectares maximum per family), thus permitting the redistribution of about 40,000 hectares and the resettlement
of some 5,000 fellahin, and this is being achieved. The more ambitious
projects, involving the redistribution of some 300,000 hectares of state
domains and common lands in Algeria and the Sahara, including the lands
of the Compagnie Algérienne (68,000 hectares) and the Compagnie Genevoise (16,500 hectares) are being carried through by the fund as quickly
as circumstances permit. Some 500 families have been settled in the Sahara
region and some 300 to 400 families in the north. At the same time, a
reform of the land holding system was introduced by an ordinance of
3 January 1959. This enables the establishment of property rights to
be speeded up, a cadastral survey to be undertaken and division and
regrouping of holdings to be carried out by a more simple procedure.
It is obvious, therefore, that the whole plan is an imaginative approach
involving something in the nature of a revolution, not merely in forms
of land tenure but also in agricultural techniques, while at the same time
calling for extensive regrouping of holdings. But it can only be successfully carried through in conditions of peace, mutual understanding and
co-operation between the administration, the local authorities, the
agricultural services and the mass of the peasantry.
52
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
The final decree of the series, and not the least important, deals with
certain agricultural contracts commonly in use. Of these, the most
important is the khammessat or métayage by one-fifth, a very ancient
form of customary contract in Moslem countries under which one
associate furnishes his labour and the other the land, seed, livestock
and equipment. The former receives one-fifth of the crop in return for
his labour and the holder of the ground the rest. The khammessat
system will be examined in detail later. Here it is only necessary to say
that the decree in question provides that in any future contract of
association, whether khammessat or other, the aim of which is cropsharing, the holder of the ground will not be entitled to receive more than
half the crop, even if the other party furnishes only his labour, nor may
the latter be called upon for any other payment or service of any kind.
In Morocco the traditional categories of land or property holding
followed closely the Algerian pattern and constituted four main types:
makhzen, belonging to the Moslem community but in fact constituting
the domain of the Sultan who often conceded cultivation rights to others ;
habous property, public or private, the latter set up in favour of the
founder's heirs but becoming public habous on the failure of the
succession ; collective lands in the hands of tribes or sections of tribes
which were allocated annually for cultivation purposes among the
members of these communities under the authority of the djemaa
(assembly of heads of families), and included the communal grazing
grounds. These three types of holding had in common that they were
not in private ownership, although some makhzen lands had been
handed over to certain tribes—the guich tribes—in return for the provision of military forces for the Sultan in time of need. Finally, there
were the melk lands which, though alienable, were subject to similar
procedural difficulties for establishment of title as in Algeria.
The makhzen lands are exploited directly by the State or rented.
Under the French Protectorate, these lands were at first placed at the
disposal of private individuals, particularly old soldiers, with full user
rights as virtual owners. Owing, however, to the development of practices
tending to the alienation and splitting up of the land by the beneficiaries,
it became necessary to limit their rights strictly to those of users paying
certain amounts to the State based on production. Thus the makhzen
lands were more fruitfully employed and were not liable to sale or
fragmentation.
The habous properties are administered either directly by the Minister
of Habous or are rented to individuals. In 1929 there were 50,000 such
properties, not counting private habous and those in favour of zaouias
(fraternities). In practice, habous lands suffer from being fragmented
LAND AND LABOUR
53
and cultivated in traditional fashion. It is customary to put them up for
rent by a public auction procedure every two or three years.
While collective lands could not, in principle, be alienated, this was
in fact permitted eventually by a Dahir of 22 January 1952. As a result,
the status of a large part of these lands has changed. The rest continue
to be used in various ways as communal grazing grounds, for cropping
with a share-out every two to three years, and so on. The result is that
they are not exploited to the full. A Dahir of 9 May 1959 provided for
the cancellation, under prescribed conditions, of alienations and perpetual
concessions of collective lands formerly granted. In this way, some
40,000 hectares of collective lands formerly held by colonists have been
handed over to be run by the agricultural work centres (Centres de travaux agricoles). The working of these centres is discussed later in this
chapter.
As regards melk lands one of the first acts of the French Administration was to introduce, by Dahir of 12 August 1913, a voluntary system of
land registration on the Australian Torrens Act model, giving a clear
and absolute title to the land thus registered. At the end of 1952, with
the gradual extension of the system throughout the country, 78,406
property titles had been registered in terms of this Dahir, covering a
total of 1,758,000 hectares, of which 963,000 belonged to Moroccans.
The traditional rules of Koranic law were, however, maintained for
non-registered property, but a Dahir of 7 February 1944 introduced new
procedures to facilitate proof of title, while not giving the guarantees of
registered land ownership.
In Tunisia traditional types of land tenure were of three types:
melk (i.e. freehold), habous or waqf and tribal common land belonging
to particular ethnic groups. At an early stage some of this collectively
owned land passed into the hands of the Sovereign as private domain of
the State. In 1881 this consisted of some 350,000 to 400,000 hectares in
different parts of the country, but, long before the Protectorate, the State
had permitted permanent or temporary occupation of this land in return
for a moderate rent. The lands were not all cultivated and included land
used for grazing by the semi-nomadic tribes in the centre and southwest of Tunisia. Among them was the " Sialine Concession " covering
some 200,000 hectares in the Sfax district, large portions of which were
sold, under a Decree of 8 February 1892, amended in 1905 and 1918,
at 10 francs a hectare to personalities closely connected with the French
Administration. This area now contains some of the finest olive plantations in Tunisia. State land in other areas was likewise sold to colonists
at low prices. At the same time, under a Decree of 4 April 1890, amended
and extended by further decrees of 1903, 1928 and 1935, all uncultivated
54
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
or bush lands were classified as state forests and land not suitable for
afforestation purposes was made available for sale to colonists.
As regards habous or waqf lands, no dealings were, strictly speaking,
possible since they were inaUenable in the sense that, while profit might
be drawn from their use, they could not be ceded, the fundamental aim
of this form of tenure being to benefit the Moslem community. However,
the practice developed of granting leases in perpetuity of habous land
in return for an irredeemable perpetual rent. This was called enzel and
by 1890 it was recognised that lands so held could be mortgaged since
in effect the enzel was equivalent to a sale subject to a perpetual ground
rent. This idea was carried further by a Decree of 22 January 1905
which authorised the purchase of enzel lands in return for the payment
of 20 or 25 annuities. This had the effect of creating complete transferability of enzel rent lands. Moreover, a series of decrees of 1898
legalised the exchange of public or private habous property against the
receipt of other property of equal value or of money to be invested by
the habous administration, and required the habous administration to
place all public habous land at the disposal of the Department of Agriculture with a view to facilitating colonisation. This has been done
gradually over the years and it is from this source that much land transferred to colonists has come. At the same time, these measures enabled
small tenants cultivating land on the big habous estates, without a legal
title, to acquire such a title. Finally, in 1956 all public habous were
abolished and the lands incorporated in the private domain of the State,
thus enabling the land to be used for smallholdings or otherwise as might
be appropriate. Private habous were abolished in the following year and
the persons who would normally inherit became proprietors of the land
concerned.
Concurrently with all this, measures were taken to define land rights
in the open lands of the south. These lands were in the joint possession
of settled people or semi-nomads, or portions of tribes or of families in
the patriarchal sense. Some were the object of title deeds of ownership,
others were used as open grazing lands and were in the true sense " collective ". But whether the subject of title deeds or not, these " open " lands
were subject to forms of ownership and possession, differing according to
locality, but frequently based on such factors as land clearance or improvement, or simple occupancy and prior to the Protectorate they were
considered to be in the patrimony of the Moslem community, differentiated from private state domain, and available for local cultivators in
need of land or for nomads from further afield in times of distress.
However, a Decree of 14 January 1901, amplified by another of 1 January
1907, proclaimed by implication the indefeasible rights of the State over
LAND AND LABOUR
55
the whole collection of lands held in collective possession and set up a
commission to study and define the conditions of occupation, possession,
registration and transfer of property in these lands.
While this action enabled rights to be more clearly defined and agricultural operations to be better organised, it undoubtedly meant the loss
to local inhabitants of considerable areas over which they had always
assumed they had rights of user and thus caused considerable discontent,
particularly as the object was clearly to establish state ownership of as
much of the open lands as possible so as to enable the State to put them to
more profitable use, often by colonising them. Political expediency, however, prevented a great deal of practical action being taken under the
decree. A further Decree of 20 December 1935 defined the usufructuary
rights in collective lands and prescribed the circumstances under which
these rights might be converted into private land-holding rights. Moreover, special regulations enabled the conversion of collective lands in the
tribal areas of Overghemma, Matmata and Nefzaoua into registered
private property following on development by tree planting. Private
property rights have also been granted to the Oulad Ali Ben Aoum tribe
in the Al Hammana district following on development of the lands
concerned.
The balance sheet of all these operations as in 1957 may be presented
as follows :
LAND CATEGORIES AND DISTRIBUTION IN TUNISIA, 1957
Hectares
Tribal common lands
Habous lands
State domain:
Official colonisation
Allotments to Tunisians
2,965,000
1,285,000
241,200
352,200
593,400
Melk (freehold) land (of which private colonists held
420,000 hectares)
Total . . .
2,173,600
7,017,000
Source: BARBOUR, op. cit., p. 327.
It should be mentioned in conclusion that as early as 1885 a system of
voluntary registration of land titles based, as was the later Moroccan
system, on the Australian Torrens Act, was introduced. This gained
favour only slowly and registration and surveying of only a quarter of
the cultivable land had been completed by 1957. The allotment of habous
lands for the benefit of the occupants had not covered more than onesixth of the total area of such lands. The official allotment of common
land had not covered more than a tenth of this category, though most
56
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
tribes had carried out a semi-official distribution to their members. On
the other hand, all lands belonging to the private domain of the State
had been distributed or sold either to colonists or to Tunisians.1
However, perhaps the most important step in regard to land reform
has been taken by the promulgation of an Act of 10 October 1959.
This decree provides for the issue of certificates of possession by local
governors to bona fide occupants during five years of land which they
cultivate themselves. These certificates, which will be personal to the
holder and may not be transferred or become the subject of a tenancy,
will be given on satisfactory proof of " notorious ownership " and will
enable credit institutions to advance loans to the cultivators by means of
a mortgage, which will be noted on the certificate. While it is too early
to say to what extent land-holders will take advantage of these facilities, it
may well be that they will finally provide the way towards better capitalisation of Tunisian agriculture.
Only fragmentary information is available as to land tenure in Libya.
It appears, however, that both in Cyrenaica and in Tripolitania the
Ottoman Land Code of 1858, the principles of which have already been
described, was the basis of the land tenure system. Its registration
procedures operated in the towns and in the areas just outside but were
not applied to tribal lands and grazing grounds and the tribes were not
called on to acquire a title to them. Nevertheless, the State claimed all
tribal lands not bearing buildings or plantations as miri or public domain
but allowed the tribes the use of them, the tassaruf, in perpetuity. Some
time after the Italian invasion of Libya in 1913 land registries were set up
on the basis of the Turkish registers. All tribal lands were classed as
state domain in which the occupiers had the right of use. Lands were
acquired by various means—" natural right ", purchase, expropriation,
renunciation and confiscation. Later, these processes proving too slow
in Cyrenaica, the State, in virtue of its supreme authority, asked the
owners of lands considered useful to the State to renounce their rights to
them against compensation, to be divided equally among the various
participants in the tassaruf. Proclamations covering the lands required
for colonisation were drawn up and notice given of intention to register
them in the name of the State if no objections were received within a
certain time. Since these notices were not posted anywhere near the lands
in question, no objections were raised and the lands were registered in the
name of the State. This served to confirm its title as the bare owner, as
heir to the Turkish miri property, and payment of compensation confirmed the possessio utile. The Bedouin tribes thus dispossessed, though
1
BARBOUR, op. cit., p. 327.
LAND AND LABOUR
57
cantoned in the south for general grazing and catch crop cultivation,
were to be given access to summer grazing and water in the plateaux to
the north by corridors passing through the zones of Italian colonisation.
It was also hoped that they would form a reservoir of seasonal labour for
Italian farms.1 The advent of the Second World War cut short these
plans. It would appear therefore that the lands which the State acquired
for Italian colonisation remain state property but that the tribes in whose
possession they were still consider that they have the right of user in
them. At the end of the period of Italian occupation the State owned
629,153 hectares of registered land of which 79,832 hectares were developed to settled farming by various Italian companies and individuals.
In Tripolitania the Italians concentrated their attention on the
registration and settlement of the melk and waqf lands of the coastal
oases so as to facilitate expropriation in those areas where the Italian
settlements were subsequently situated and where settled farming was
possible. These lands were acquired by nationalisation, confiscation or
purchase as the circumstances dictated. Between 1913 and 1940 some
250,000 hectares of land were nationalised or purchased, of which
153,000 hectares were in the effective ownership and use of Italians.2
This represented some 20 per cent, of the exploitable steppe lands of
Tripolitania.
By the Libyan-Italian Agreement of 1956 the future status of the
Ente or " demographic " farms was settled. Under it all the former
Ente farms in Cyrenaica were formally returned to the Libyan Government. These had been abandoned by the Italians in 1942. In Tripolitania,
farms which were abandoned by their Italian holders during or after
the war were also returned to the Libyan Government but the demographic farms still occupied by Italians are to remain Italian property
and the present occupants are to receive ownership rights in 1960.
Special arrangements have been made for duty-free importation of
machinery and materials up to 1960 and for duty-free concessions on
limited imports of olive oil into Italy. The farms will remain free of
taxation by the Libyan Government for a period of 25 years from
the date of their first establishment. Total area of Ente farms in
Cyrenaica was given as 28,449 hectares in 1958. Proposals have been
made for their future development in units of 25 to 30 hectares by Libyan
farmers, under the guidance, and with the help, of an Agricultural
1
See E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD: The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1954), pp. 217-226.
2
The figure given in the I.B.R.D. report (The Economic Development of Libya,
op. cit.) is 148,145 hectares, of which 80,366 were private concessions, 2,300 were
owned by the Italian Tobacco Co. and the remaining 65,479 were "demographic" farms.
58
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Development Board. In Tripolitania, out of 2,102 Ente farms originally
established, 702 have been returned to Libya, leaving 1,400 retained
by Italians (of which 74 have since been abandoned). The approximate
area of Ente farms still in Italian hands was 39,310 hectares at April
1959.1 The I.B.R.D. Mission makes a strong plea for the enactment of
a land law securing permanent individual rights in land in those areas
where tribal systems based on communal ownership prevail, which
include most of Cyrenaica and parts of the Jefara and Jebel in Tripolitania, and giving reasonable security of tenure to existing tenants on
privately owned land as a condition precedent for agricultural development.2
The basis of land tenure in Egypt, as already indicated, was the
Ottoman Land Code of 1858 and this remained in all its essentials until
the reforms of 1952. Historically, there were two main categories of
land tenure—melk, or freehold, and miri, state domain with usufructuary
possession (tassaruf), in the hands of the existing occupiers, the State's
right of ownership conferring, in effect, the right to tax the occupiers
or to exact labour from them. The waqf system enabled lands to be
permanently endowed for religious or charitable purposes.3 Under
later developments in the system, family waqfs were created by permanent entail of lands by their owners in favour of their families with
reversion to religious or charitable purposes after the family had died
out. These family waqfs were abolished in 1952. The object of the
Ottoman Land Code was to introduce a general system of land ownership and compulsory registration of title to all miri land. This would
enable the State as owner of the miri land to tax directly the cultivators
occupying miri lands without intervention of intermediaries, such as
the tribal sheikhs, the tax collectors or others. In fact, however, it did
not achieve its object, since general registration was never carried out
and, in areas where it was, the title was not always given to the actual
occupier but sometimes to large landowners.
The situation in 1952 was that large areas of land were in fact held
by a small number of large landowners. Table V gives the distribution
of agricultural properties in 1952 before the reforms of that year.
These figures show that, on the one hand, 35.5 per cent, of the total
agricultural land of some 6 million feddans, i.e. 2,100,000 feddans, was
held by proprietors with less than 5 feddans, and on the other, 1,177,000
feddans or 19.8 per cent, was owned by proprietors with an average of
1
The Economic Development of Libya, op. cit., pp. 395-402.
Ibid., pp. 118-121.
3
Waqf lands held for these purposes were made subject to the Land Reform
Law of 1952 by Law No. 152 of 1957.
2
59
LAND AND LABOUR
TABLE V. EGYPT: DISTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS BY
SIZE IN FEDDANS >, 1952
Owners
Size group
(feddans)
1 and under
Over 1 - under 5
„
5- „
10
„ 10- „ 20
» 20- „
30
,. 30- „
50
„ 50- „ 100
„ 100- „ 200
„ 200
Total . . .
(Thousands)
2,018.1
623.8
79.3
46.8
13.1
9.2
6.4
3.2
2.1
2,802.0
Area
Feddans
(thousands)
Per cent.
72.0
22.2
2.8
1.8
0.5
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.1
778
1,344
526
638
309
344
429
437
1,177
13.0
22.5
8.8
10.7
5.0
5.7
7.2
7.3
19.8
100.0
5,982
100.0
Per cent.
Average
area
(feddans)
0.4
2.1
6.6
13.6
23.6
37.4
67.3
137.2
550.9
2.1
Source: Statistical Pocket Year Book, 1953, p. 33, quoted by Doreen WARRINER: Land Reform and
Development in the Middle East (London, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1957), p. 24.
1
1 feddan = 1.038 acres.
550.9 feddans. Proprietors with very small holdings thus numbered
2,641,900 and those with very large ones 2,100 of the total of 2,802,000
proprietors. Indeed, 70 per cent, of all proprietors had less than half a
feddan each and were forced to supplement this by tenancy arrangements
with larger owners, while 188 proprietors owned more than 1,000 feddans,
each with an average holding of 2,600 feddans each. Moreover, some |
1,500,000 further families forming part of the farm population had no ¡
land at all and were either small sharecroppers or casual labourers.
i
The Land Reform Law of 1952 had the expressed intention of
limiting the size of agricultural land-holdings and of expropriating
certain land for distribution among small farmers. In fact, it limited
agricultural holdings to 200 feddans, certain exceptions being made for
industrial companies and benevolent societies, land for reclamation for
purposes of sale, and fallow and desert land for improvement. Landowners might transfer 100 feddans to their children—not more than 50 to
each—and they might sell lots of up to 5 feddans to any tenant or farmer
already owning less than 10. Husbands, wives and minor children
might not own in total more than 300 feddans. The rest was to be
distributed in lots of 2 to 5 feddans among small farmers and labourers
who would buy the land from the State by instalments over 40 years.
Expropriated landowners would receive compensation in the form of
1.5 per cent, state bonds redeemable over the same maximum period, the
value of the land to be assessed at 70 times the basic annual land tax.
The total area requisitioned was said to be 594,247 feddans, of which
some 335,000 had been distributed at the end of September 1959, in
60
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
holdings of 3'/2 feddans on the average.1 Moreover, 145,000 feddans
had been sold to small cultivators. It was envisaged, however, that in the
transitional period, land would generally be rented to farmers on a
yearly basis at a rent of seven times the basic annual land tax. The new
landowners, on allocation of land to them, would pay to the State over
40 years the value of the land as assessed for expropriation purposes plus
15 per cent, for expenses of requisition and distribution plus interest at
1.5 per cent, per annum. Thus there remained just over 100,000 feddans
of requisitioned land to be distributed. It is estimated that about 1 million
persons, i.e. some 200,000 families, have so far acquired land as a
result of the land reform measures.
Table VI shows the state of land distribution following on the Land
Reform Law, as at June 1959:
TABLE VI. EGYPT: LAND DISTRIBUTION FOLLOWING ON THE LAND
REFORM LAW, AS AT JUNE 1959
Size of holding
in feddans
Number of
owners
Percentage of
total owners
Area of land
they own
Percentage of
cultivated land
Less than 5 . . . .
5 to 10
10 „ 50
50 „ 100
100 „ 200
Over 200
2,869,878
79,259
69,115
6,378
3,184
1,768
95.0
2.6
2.3
0.21
0.1
0.058
2,945,065
525,904
1,291,423
429,494
436,775
353,600
49.0
8.8
21.5
7.2
7.3
5.9
Source: Official statistics of the United Arab Republic.
As a means of maintaining and increasing the productivity of the land
thus reapportioned, villages are required to establish an agricultural cooperative society composed of farmers having acquired requisitioned land
and owning not more than 5 feddans. These co-operative societies, which
are government managed, make loans to members, provide seeds, stock,
storage and transport, organise cultivation and exploitation of the land
and sell the principal crops. From the proceeds they pay land instalments,
government taxes and agricultural and other loans. The Land Reform
Law also regulates tenancy conditions and sets out in principle the rights
of the agricultural worker. These will be examined in some detail later.
What have been the effects of the agrarian reform of 1952? A recent
survey 2 assesses the situation on the following lines. The fellahin are
1
Redistribution of benevolent societies' waqf land will add upwards of 200,000
feddans to the 594,247 mentioned above as requisitioned (see Law No. 152 of 1957)
and some 936,000 feddans of state-owned land now held by the Land Reform Organisation will eventually be available for distribution to smallholders. Of the waqf land,
58,000 feddans had been distributed by September 1959.
2
WARRINER, op. cit., pp. 31-49.
LAND AND LABOUR
61
undoubtedly better off, though by how much it is difficult to say. In the
first place, some 70,000 of them, largely former tenants or permanent
labourers, now have land of their own. As regards former tenants, it is
calculated that in Lower Egypt, the gain in money income may be around
£E.20 a year, representing an increase of 50 per cent, on former net
income, while in Upper Egypt the income gain may be as much as 100
per cent. Although they have not yet become individual owners, since
they are paying in instalments over 30 years, and cannot sell their holdings
during that period, they have economic security.
The question of the virtual control of farming operations by the cooperatives societies, which are government-administered, thus creating
more or less a system of collective farming, is much discussed and, while
there is some questioning of the truly co-operative nature of the societies,
it is generally accepted that, having regard to the complex routines necessary for successful farming on irrigated land in Egyptian conditions,
strong central control is required to enforce cultivation standards and to
maintain and add to the fixed capital so essential for efficient operation.
Forms of organisation are, in fact, being varied in accordance with the
crop rotations and the size of the estates involved. Existing tenants, even
if they have not been given requisitioned land, benefit through reduction!
of rent, or in the case of sharecropping tenants, through a reduction of the'
owner's share to one-half after deduction of all expenses. On the other)
hand, the reform has not benefited the poorest class, the casual labourers,
who, because of the reorganisation, tend to have less work than before. I
The minimum wage rates introduced by Ministerial Order in terms of the
Land Reform Law of 1952, which represented an increase of 50 per cent.
on existing rates, have not been generally enforceable, except in Liberation Province and here employment has increased, as is discussed later in
this chapter. The situation may therefore be summed up thus :
. . . No reform, even if it went much further than the present measure,
could provide land for all in this congested country, or could increase employment in agriculture. That the reform has not benefited the casual labourers
is a result, not of weakness in reform policy, but of population pressure.
The Government can do no more than press on with its plans for more land
and more industry.1
WORKERS ON THE LAND
Sharecroppers and Other Cultivators
So far, discussion of land tenure systems has been more or less confined to the forms of land ownership or of right to the usufruct of the land
1
WARRINER, op. cit., p p . 48-49.
62
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
which exist throughout the region. Even more important in practice, in
so far as the majority of the farm population is concerned, are the arrangements made between the landowner or the usufructuary owner and those
who are actually responsible for the cultivation of the soil, since the
nature of these arrangements largely determines the standard of living
of the farm families involved in them. It may be convenient to start
with Egypt.
The larger landowners in Egypt had two possible methods of exploitation of their property. They could either do so themselves with the aid of
machinery and paid labour or they could divide the land into small units
suitable for family farming on a rental basis. In fact the majority chose
the latter method, under arrangements of various kinds, either of the
nature of rental tenancies or of sharecropping métayage. In either case,
however, the duration of the contract was short, usually a year from
1 November to 31 October, or even less where crops could be grown and
harvested in a few months. Short-term sharecropping arrangements
were very common in areas where rice is the main crop since it requires a
great deal of labour which, of course, the métayer has to supply.
The proportion of land in the hands of tenants increased from 17 per cent.
in 1939 to 60 per cent, in 1949 and while formerly money rents were
general, sharecropping tenancies are now more prevalent. This increase
of tenancy arrangements and diminution of owner operation resulted
inevitably from demographic pressure on the land, enabling landowners
to obtain a higher income per unit of land by hiring it out than they
could by farming it themselves. The increase in cotton prices during the
Second World War accentuated this tendency. According to official
figures the average net revenue of owner-operated land in Egypt was
£E.16 to £E.19 in 1946-48 while the average cash rent per feddan was
£E.22 to £E.23.
The rental-paying tenant was far from being his own master since the
owner, or his agent, retained control of water and of digging and cleaning
of canals and drains, for which the tenant had to pay pro rata to the area
he rented ; he also fixed crop rotations, the percentages to be planted in
each crop, harvesting dates and so on. In effect, the tenant was a rentpaying unit on a collective farm. The métayer, who operated mainly in the
north of the Delta and in certain valley areas near the desert, paid for the
' use of the land in kind, the amount left to him varying between half the
\ crop and one-fifth if all he supplied was his labour and that of his family.
Different divisions of the gross product were used for different crops. A
common arrangement was for the landowner to take all, or all but a small
fraction, of the cotton crop, half or more of the wheat crop, leaving the
maize and clover for the cultivator and his buffalo. Blank agreements,
with no division of the crop specified in advance, were sometimes made.
LAND AND LABOUR
63
Whether a rent-paying tenant or a sharecropper, the fellah had often at
his disposition a house in a tied village or ezbah belonging to the landowner since it was to his advantage to have the fellah living on or near
to his land.
In some areas, small plots of land of not more than 1 feddan, together
with accommodation in the ezbah, were put at the disposal of fellahin
as payment for their services as labourers on a permanent basis. This
was known as the tamalia system. On big estates, intermediaries were
sometimes used, the intermediary undertaking to pay the owner a fixed
share of the crop and in turn subletting to small cultivators on less
advantageous terms. In economic terms, the situation of the small tenant
cultivator on a holding of 2 to 3 feddans was only better than that of the
casual labourer to the extent that he was more regularly employed. The
majority of labourers are, in fact, casual and are recruited by contractors,
or rayyess, who direct them at work. This is the system known as
tarhila and is frequently used for cotton and sugar-cane harvesting,
digging canals and repairing roads. It can be assumed that the very
small tenant cultivator, once he had settled accounts with the proprietor,
gained little more than the equivalent of the labour he and his family
furnished. The cultivator, small but on a slightly larger scale, cultivating,
with the help of his wife, two children, a buffalo and a donkey and a <
few implements, not more than 126 ares, i.e. 0.27 feddan, earned in 1947
about £E.30 a year, as against the casual labourer's £E.l6 to fiE.20.1
This situation was changed in important respects by the Land
Reform Law of 1952. That law, in effect, aimed at reconstructing, on a
new basis, the relations between landowners on the one hand and tenants
and labourers on the other. The main provisions, in so far as they relate
to the relations between tenants and owners, are as follows. Agricultural
land may in future be let only to a person undertaking to farm it personally. Thus contracts between proprietors and intermediaries are
abolished. The rent may not exceed seven times the amount of the basic
tax assessed upon the land (i.e. the tax in 1945-46) except for orchards,
gardens and beds of flowers. Since this tax was generally assessed at a
low level, the rent is usually a very reasonable one and may be as little
as one-half the former rent. In the case of sharecroppers, the owner's
share may not exceed one-half after deduction of all expenses. Leases
are to be for not less than three years. Transitional provisions are made
1
The material in this paragraph is largely based on that in WARRINER, op. cit.,
and in J. BESANÇON: Vhomme et le Nil (Paris, Gallimard, 1957) which, together with
H. C. AYROUT, S.J. : Fellahs d'Egypte (Cairo, Editions du Sphynx, 1952) should be
read for a full appreciation of the economic and social situation of the Egyptian
fellahin.
64
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
in respect of requisitioned land. As regards agricultural labourers,
wages were raised in virtue of the law to 18 piastres per day for men
and 10 for women, an increase on existing rates of about 50 per cent.
i These rates have not generally been enforceable and as already said, the
tendency, except in one province, is for some reduction in employment
I to take place. The total number of agricultural labourers (men and boys)
I was 2,835,000 in 1953 and 2,947,000 in 1956 and total yearly wages
£E.51,577,000 and £E.58,274,000 respectively, representing a wage per
head of £E.18.2 in 1953 (old rates) and £E.19.4 in 1956.1
Turning now to the other countries of the region to look at the main
forms of association between landowners and those who actually work
the land, it may be said at the outset that there is one institution which is
to be found throughout the whole area—the khammessat. This is a verbal
contract linking the landholder, whether owner or tenant, to an agricultural worker who is remunerated by being given a proportion of the
crop, in principle one-fifth, called the khoms, from which comes the
name khammès given to the worker. As an institution, the khammessat
is very ancient, essentially based on custom, and while remaining
basically the same throughout the region, has varied in its details both
with time and in accordance with local conditions. The following
description of the khammessat, indicating the forms it has assumed in
present-day Morocco 2, while not necessarily valid in detail for the other
countries of the region, will nevertheless serve to show its essential
nature. Any features peculiar to other areas will be noted later. As a
prelude, it should be pointed out that in Morocco, tenancy arrangements
are not very common, though there is a certain amount of renting of
European-owned land to tenants. The khammessat system, while most
frequent as an arrangement between Moroccans for working small
farms is, nevertheless, also found to a limited extent on larger farms,
both European and Moroccan, owned or tenanted, where the use of
machinery is highly developed. As will be seen, the system is flexible
enough to adapt itself to modern forms of agricultural organisation.
The khammessat, then, is a cultivation arrangement under which the
landholder provides the land, the seeds, the draught animals, the agricultural implements and the irrigation water, if available, while the
khammès provides his labour. It is normally concluded verbally at the
end of summer or the beginning of the autumn rains and ends after
1
Eva GARZOUZI: Old Ills and New Remedies in Egypt (Cairo, 1958), p. 91.
This description is based on two articles: "La question du khammessat",
by PIERSUIS and " Le khammessat et le salariat en milieu agricole marocain ", by
H. REMAURY, both in Bulletin économique et social du Maroc (Rabat), Vol. XX, No. 72,
Apr. 1957, pp. 515-564.
2
LAND AND LABOUR
65
the harvesting and threshing operations seven to nine months later. It is
continued by tacit relocation but the khammès is free to work elsewhere
and keep himself until the start of the next season. Differences are
settled by the Cai'd's court or by arbitration before experts.1 The
khammès is responsible for the whole of the current work of the farm—
ploughing, sowing, weeding, harvesting, care of draught animals and
running repairs to implements. If he does other work, such as digging
wells or ditches, building walls, etc., he is entitled to be paid separately for
it. He bears his share of bad crops and losses owing to weather and other
acts of God. If he is unmarried, he is often fed in his master's house, in
return for help with domestic chores, such as gathering wood and carrying
water. He has no working hours and in principle works from dawn till
dusk seven days a week except for holy days and when there is a funeral
in the douar. If he has to absent himself, he must make suitable
arrangements for a substitute or pay a labourer furnished by his master.
Similarly, if he is ill, he must make suitable arrangements after three days
or bear the cost of a labourer. If he leaves or unreasonably neglects his
work, he may be committed to prison by the Caïd and forced to continue working. Alternatively, the landholder may be authorised to engage
another worker and the original contract may be cancelled without any
compensation to the khammès. If the khammès renounces his contract
after it has started, he is in a similar situation ; if he dies, his son or another
close relative, if qualified, can take over the contract with all its rights and
obligations. In some areas, e.g. in North Morocco, the wife and children
of the khammès have also to take part without payment in certain
work—sowing beans and maize behind the plough, and weeding. The
wife must also help the mistress of the farm to prepare food for the
labourers and take it to them in the fields.
The landholder must provide draught animals, seeds and agricultural
implements (including their transport). He must also furnish extra
labour such as women and children for weeding (where this is the custom),
extra hands for the harvest and for transplanting and usually sends his
son or another member of his family to help in watching over crops
during the night. He is not liable for debts of his khammès unless he
acts as security, in which case he can, on request of the creditors, indemnify them from the khammès' share of the crop. If the landholder goes
bankrupt, the khammès is freed from his contract and has priority over
other creditors as regards his share of the crop.
While the khammès, in principle, is entitled to one-fifth of the crop
as having contributed one of the five elements necessary for it, it is rarely
1
The tribunals of Caïds have now been replaced by Sadad (conciliation) tribunals
in Morocco.
66
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
true that these elements—land, water and manure, seed, draught animals
and their food, extra help and the khammès—contribute in equal
measure to the end result. Hence the khammès' share is frequently not
one-fifth but some other fraction of the crop calculated in accordance
with the nature of the soil and the local climate, local demands for
labour, the crops grown, the size of the farm and whether it is held
directly by the owner or through a tenant whose rental is a fixed share of
the crop. Thus in very good soil and conditions, the khoms may be
one-ninth or one-tenth only; where the crop, such as maize, sorghum
or chick peas, requires a lot of work, the khoms may rise to one-fourth;
on larger farms of 15 to 20 hectares there may be two khammès or, if
there is only one and extra labour must be engaged, the khammès may
receive only one-sixth or even one-eighth or one-ninth of the crop. On
small farms, the khammès may get one-fourth or one-fifth but only
on condition that he accepts additional duties over and above his
normal work or looks after animals for the landholder. Where the
master is himself a sharecropping tenant, the tendency is for him to
reduce the share of the khammès, which is usually paid subject to deduction of an equal proportion of the crop tax (tertib) and of the land tax.
Straw from the farm usually goes to the landholder.
The khammessat was no doubt admirably adapted to the patriarchal
system prevalent in North Africa at a time when land was plentiful,
money little used, needs fairly elementary and agricultural methods
simple. Circumstances were all in favour of the landholder who took
advantage of them to make the khammès and his family virtually forced
labourers. But the development of a money economy, the need for
labour in the towns, and the attractions they offer have provided a
strong pull towards them, while the excessive fragmentation of the land
through overpopulation and inheritance rights has contributed to the
rural exodus. Two sets of factors are at work, one tending towards
improvement of the situation of the khammès, the other tending to
worsen it. The depopulation of the rural areas has tended to make him
more sought after. This has resulted in improvements in the terms
of his contract. In some areas, there has been a tendency to offer a
money payment on engagement, in others to raise the proportion of
the crop payable, to add some extra wheat or maize, to give in addition
to food, when provided, a little sugar, tea and cigarettes from time to
time, to give gleaning rights, to split profits on cattle sent to pasture on
the land, to dispense with family labour and, if needed, to pay for it,
to permit the khammès to do harvesting work for other fellahin on
payment, or on poor lands to hire himself out to other small landholders,
to allow him some choice as to crops, to give a daughter or other person
LAND AND LABOUR
67
under wardship in marriage to him, thus making the association a family
affair, to give him a day off a week to visit the souk, and finally there is
a tendency for the authorities to permit the khammès to break his contract in the spring if the prospective crop seems very bad.
On the other hand, there are many poor areas where the fellah
himself finds difficulty in making ends meet and, while he may be forced
ultimately to give up his khammès and do the work himself, he tries
first every means of cutting down costs at the expense of the khammès.
He makes him provide part of the seed, pay part of the extra harvest
help and part of the threshing costs and, more generally, tries to cheat
him as much as possible, a tactic previously attributed only to the latter.
Thus, while the circumstances vary enormously, sometimes to the advantage of the khammès, sometimes to his disavantage, the fact is that in
Morocco at least, the number of such workers shows a decrease in
favour of the wage-paid agricultural labourer, in spite of the fact that
numbers of large landholders maintain the khammessat system in combination with total or partial mechanisation. In the latter cases, however,
the formula of division of the crop, where there are tractors, teams of
horses or other animals, several khammès and a host of supplementary
duties to perform, becomes more and more complicated.
In the variable circumstances just quoted it would be difficult to
give any indication of the average income from all sources of the khammès
in Morocco. The data available suggest, however, a range of from 20,000
francs to as much as 100,000 francs, with 40,000 to 50,000 francs being
frequently quoted, though not necessarily applying to the large mass
of khammès who, having only a small piece of land at their disposal,
cannot hope to gain as much.
In Algeria the whole situation of the khammessat was transformed
by Decree No. 56-292 of 26 March 1956 which declared that, notwithstanding any agreement or custom to the contrary, the proportion
of the crop going to the landholder under any contract of association
such as khammessat, métayage, etc., may not be more than one-half
of the total crop, even if the other party furnishes only the labour.
Moreover, the other party may not be called upon for any other contribution or service, in cash, in kind or in labour, nor can the landholder
recover any such contribution or service by modifying the terms of the
division of the crop. At the time this decree was adopted there were
130,000 to 140,000 khammès in Algeria, as against 100,000 agricultural
labourers. The report motivating the decree said, inter alia :
. . . In present circumstances, the khammessat serves merely to give to
a work contract an erroneous appearance. Under the pretext that the
khammès is legally an associate, he has been refused the status of an employee
68
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
with all the advantages attached to that status. He is entitled neither to the
guaranteed minimum wage nor to workmen's compensation. He cannot get
the benefits of social insurance. He cannot invoke the protection of the
labour inspection services. All he can do if he considers himself to have been
done down, is to embark on a long and costly legal action.
When the landholder apportions the crop, he deducts advances in kind
made since the last apportionment. The khammès' part then becomes
insufficient to assure his subsistence and that of his family for the year just
starting. He is forced, therefore, by inexorable fate, to stay bound by his
contract and to ask for new advances.
This anachronistic situation must be ended.
In order to prevent landholders from benefiting from the decree by
switching over from the contract of association system to direct exploitation by paid labour as and when they thought this more profitable, it was
provided that before any such change was made, the approval of a government-constituted commission should be obtained. According to the
latest information available, the effect of the decree has been to transform
the khammessat system into a métayer system though the total numbers
involved are now much reduced and presumably the numbers of wagepaid workers have increased as a result.
In Tunisia the khammessat up to the present has been the prevalent
form of association practised by the small fellahin landholders. In such
areas as the Tell, the result has normally been a poor living both for the
fellah and his khammès. In the oases he has a less miserable existence.
With his share of the date crop and of the fruit trees, vegetables, dry
branches of palms and occasional gifts from the proprietor, he may pick
up an annual income of from 35,000 to 80,000 francs, which makes him
the most comfortably off of the " proletariat ", but he is less esteemed
than the casual day labourer, who earns very much less, in some districts
possibly a total of 5,000 to 15,000 francs a year. While one-fifth of the
crop is the basic portion allotted to the khammès, there are, as in
Morocco, many variations of this, depending on the locality, type of
soil and crop and the contribution other than his labour which the
khammès may bring to the association. The system is, however, doomed
to disappear, since government policy is to secure the replacement of
the khammessat by a system of paid agricultural labour and the transformation is gradually taking place. This will enable closer supervision
of wages and working conditions by the authorities and assure to the
worker participation in family allowances and other forms of social
insurance.
In Libya crop-sharing practices similar to the khammessat are prevalent. Often the khammès acts as such to a number of landholders,
since the subdivision of land has been carried to extreme limits and it is
only thus that the land can be effectively cultivated. Even so, the income
LAND AND LABOUR
69
of the khammès is said to be a miserable one and to have produced,
in the Fezzan, " a class of dependent, semi-servile sharecroppers (jabbad)
who lived almost in bondage to the landlords ".1
To sum up, then, it appears that while the khammessat system lent
itself well to the age-old agricultural practices in North Africa and
while it has evolved to take some account of recent developments in
them, it is not likely, without some official regulation, to adapt itself
to modern concepts in the social field. Elasticity is, however, essential
to enable account to be taken of local conditions. In this connection
it has been suggested 2, as regards Morocco, that the following main
points should be established by legislation:
(a) The khammès' part should never be less than one-fifth of the
crop, including straw.
(b) The landholder should advance such sums as the khammès
needs for maintaining himself and his family and if these exceed the
eventual amount due to the khammès at the end of the season they
should not be reimbursable.
(c) Supplementary work by the khammès and his family should be
paid for.
(d) There should be a right to a weekly rest day.
(e) The master should be liable to pay the necessary expenses in
case of an accident at work to the khammès.
(f) The khammès should not have to pay any operating costs of the
holding, unless his portion is raised accordingly.
(g) Land taxes should be a charge on the landholder.
(h) Crop tax should be limited to a maximum of 4 per cent.
In Algeria, of course, suggestions along these lines are already outstripped by the decree of 1956 referred to above.
Another form of association existing in Tunisia should be noted here.
In the Sahel region, where olive growing predominates, the arrangement
known as the contract of mgharsa has given successful results. Under
this form of contract the landowner hands over to the mgharsi the land
to be cleared and planted, the former supplies the plants, the latter the
labour. During the period between planting and maturity of the olive
groves, the mgharsi lives on the proceeds of crops interplanted between
the rows of olive trees, together with any advances he may receive from
the landowner. When the olive groves start producing, the mgharsi
1
BARBOUR, op. cit., p. 367. For a full description of the conditions in which the
jabbad or djebbad lives and works see GODART: " Le djebbad du Fezzan ", in Cahiers
de Tunisie, 17/18, 1957, pp. 45-55 (summarised in African Abstracts, Vol. 10, No.
July 1959, pp. 102-103).
2
PŒRSUIS, op. cit., p. 520.
70
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
becomes owner of half the plantation and is therefore entitled to half
the produce. In addition, he normally continues in charge of the upkeep
of the other half and for that receives a further proportion of the crop
under the terms of a contract known as mouçakate. In this way the
immense olive groves of Sfax were constituted, starting largely on
colonist initiative and capital, and have become one of the riches of
Tunisia, largely Tunisian-owned. There are now 26 million olive trees
in the country and 500,000 more are being planted annually. Production
of olive oil,fluctuatingbetween 20,000 and 100,000 tons a year, represents
some 16 per cent, of agricultural income. The system is used in Morocco
under the name mogharassa, conditions being similar to those in Tunisia.
Agricultural Labourers
It is difficult to give any reliable estimates of the numbers of wagepaid workers in the various countries of North Africa. The figures in
table VII represent the latest estimates from official sources.
TABLE VII. NORTH AFRICA: ESTIMATES OF WAGE-PAID WORKERS IN
AGRICULTURE
Country
Algeria 1
Egypt 2
Libya 3
Morocco *
Tunisia5
Males
Females
Total
581,873
1,260,522
7,466
166,239
589,339
1,426,761
334,215
179,500
18,640
3,090
352,855
182,590
Source: I.L.O.: Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1958 (Geneva, 1958).
1
Figures for 1954.
* Figures for 1947.
* . = figures not available.
Figures for 1956.
1
Figures for 1952.
These figures include not only wage and salary earners in agriculture,
but also in forestry, hunting and fishing. In Algeria, only non-Europeans
are included. Moroccan figures are confined to the former French
Zone.
Official figures of the active population in all occupations in agriculture in Algeria as at 31 October 1954, given in table 9 1, show the breakdown of the wage-earning sector into its various parts, as well as the composition of the non-wage-earning sector.
In Morocco it is officially estimated2 that there is a total of 100,000
agricultural workers distributed thus: mechanised farms, 82,000; collective farms, 2,000; traditional holdings, 4,000; forestry enterprises,
1
See Appendix II.
Ministère du Travail et des Questions Sociales: Le Maroc au travail (Rabat,
1958), pp. 28-29.
2
LAND AND LABOUR
71
12,000. These figures do not include khammès. It is stated, however,
that to them should be added seasonal workers—men, women and
children—of whom 500,000 persons do a total of 17 million days' work,
i.e. an average of 34 days' work per person, and 8,000 persons working
in the alfa enterprises do in all 500,000 days' work. It is difficult to
reconcile these figures with the total of 352,855 persons employed in
agriculture given in table VII—a figure which is also cited in another
part of the publication just referred to.
As regards Egypt, while the figure of 1,260,522 males is in line with
that of 1,245,000 men quoted earlier in this chapter and said also to be
from official sources, it does not at all take into account the 1,590,000
boys said to be employed in agriculture. No figures are available for
Libya but, having regard to the prevalent organisation of agriculture, the
numbers of wage-paid workers must be very small except for essentially
seasonal operations.
Examining first the situation in Egypt, whatever may be the true
figure of the wage-earning workers, it is certain that their lot, in a country
where the standard of living of the mass of the farming population is in
any event extremely low, is far from enviable. Without land of their
own, and unable to rent any, they are forced back on the intense competition of an over-supplied labour market and cannot hope to be fully
employed. Their work is largely seasonal in character even when they
are prepared to go far afield from their villages to get it. The main
occupations are in connection with the cotton and sugar-cane harvests,
the cotton worm destruction season, and the cleaning of canals and
irrigation ditches during the gaffaf, the period when irrigation is stopped.
Much of this kind of work is done in gangs under the control of a
rayyess, who often recruits large numbers of workers for it and who
exercises strict surveillance over its execution. Those who are engaged
permanently—usually by the year—are often remunerated partly in cash
and partly in kind. The latter portion is made up of a parcel of land
rented on credit, the rent being deducted from the notional wage. An
alternative method is to pay part of the notional wage in cash, the rest
being the crop of maize from a feddan of land. In June 1950 the daily- .
paid fellah received 11 to 15 piastres in Lower Egypt, 8 to 10 in Middle ¡
Egypt and 10 to 14 in Upper Egypt. There were in addition certain j
perquisites, such as gleanings, gifts of maize and the proceeds of a small
vegetable patch.
'
Under the 1952 legislation a national minimum wage in agriculture
has been fixed at 18 piastres a day for men and 10 for women and children.
Hours have been fixed at eight per day for this purpose. As already indicated, however, the general position of over-supply is not conducive to
72
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
enforcement of these minimum wages. As regards general working
conditions, it does not seem that the worker in agriculture is covered by
the present (i.e. the pre-1959) legislation respecting such matters as hours
of work, weekly rest, protection of women and children and workmen's
compensation, except if he is working with machinery. There is, for
example, no minimum age for entry into employment in agriculture and,
while education is theoretically compulsory between the ages of 7
and 12, in fact children of both sexes undertake agricultural work,
either by contravening the law, or during school holidays, or in districts
where school facilities are not available. Hours of work average eight a
day, decreasing to seven in certain cases and rising to ten in others according to the season and the exigencies of work. Figures suggest that
the number of working days varies according to province, as follows :
men 150 to 220 days a year, women 115 to 160, and children 90 to 190.
It is not clear, however, whether these figures relate to wage-earning
workers or to farming families in general. If to the latter, they would be
likely to be higher than the average applicable to wage-earning workers.
It should be noted, that the new Labour Code of 1959 covers not
only workers in industry and commerce but also in agriculture. It
is still too early to say what the exact situation as regards agricultural workers will be until the various orders to be issued by the
Minister of Social Affairs and Labour under the Code are available.
Little information is available as to the conditions of wage-paid
agricultural labour in Libya. The Labour Code of 1957 does not apply
to persons employed in pastoral occupations or other forms of agriculture
other than persons in agricultural establishments which process their
products wholly or in part, and persons employed in a permanent
capacity to operate or repair mechanical appliances necessary in connection with agriculture. Except for persons in these latter categories,
therefore, there is no minimum wage for agricultural workers. The
prevailing agricultural organisation suggests that, apart from a few of the
larger concessions to capitalists in Tripolitania made in the early days of
the Italian occupation, which are still operated by their owners with paid
labour and upon which olives and almonds and spray-irrigated vegetable
and forage crops are grown, wage-paid labour in agriculture is practically
non-existent.
The general situation of agriculture in Tunisia and the extent to which
there exist unemployment and underemployment will be described in
Chapter III. Conditions of work in agriculture were regulated by a
Decree of 30 April 1956. Maximum hours of work arefixedat 2,700 per
year for 300 days of work. Daily hours within this limit are fixed by
regulations, according to the season, the district and, if necessary, the
LAND AND LABOUR
73
types of crop grown. Overtime is paid at 25 per cent, over ordinary time
rates. The provisions relating to hours of work do not, however, apply
to shepherds or watchmen. A weekly rest day is provided for and if
because of urgent work it cannot be given in any week, equivalent time
off must be given within the next 30 days. Permanent workers, i.e. those
recruited for a period not fixed but with a view to employment for the
whole agricultural year and who are guaranteed regular work, are entitled
to eight days' notice—but not seasonal or casual workers. Termination
allowances are payable to workers whose contracts are terminated—after
the usual trial period of not more than one month—in accordance with
the following scale: one to three months' service—three days' pay; three
to six months—seven days; six months to one year—two weeks' pay;
over one year—two weeks' pay a year with a maximum of 90 days.
Holidays with pay are granted to agricultural workers on a basis similar
to those for workers in other sectors. The annual entitlement is 15 days
of which 12 must be working days.
An Agricultural Employment Committee, operating in each caïdat and
consisting of representatives of the Caïd, as chairman, the agricultural
labour inspector, the agricultural officer and three representatives each of
employers and workers in agriculture makes recommendations to the
Government as regards limitation of daily hours of work, payment for
piece and task work and occupational classification for wages purposes.
Provision is made, through special offices, to pay family allowances and
old-age pensions to agricultural workers. 1 Regulations issued under the
decree have fixed the minimum daily rate to be paid to agricultural workers over 18 years of age at 350, 325 or 300 francs according to the district.
If work only lasts a half-day or if it is interrupted by bad weather, lack of
material, etc., before the end of the half-day, the worker is only entitled to
half a day's pay. Casual workers and women may be paid by the hour.
Specially qualified workers are entitled to the minimum rates increased by
15 per cent, in the case of workers on combine-harvesters, 20 per cent, in
the case of tractor drivers and 66 per cent, in the case of vine, olive or fruit
tree pruners, for example. A bonus of 10 per cent, of pay is provided for
during the harvest period. Long service bonuses are also fixed on the
following scale: three to six years' service with the same employer—5 per
cent, extra pay; six to nine years—10 per cent.; over nine years—15 per
cent. Women and young persons under 18 years of age are entitled to the
following rates : women—85 per cent, of the appropriate men's rate ; young
persons 16 to 18—75 per cent., and under 16—33 per cent. The value
of customary perquisites in kind must in no case be deducted from any of
1
These arrangements are not yet in operation.
74
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
these rates. Provision is made for the creation of tripartite local Salary
Review Committees to review the salary scales thus fixed and to make
recommendations to the Government on the matter.
In addition, a Decree of 14 March 1957 assimilated certain types of
establishment, formerly classified as agricultural, to the commerce and
industry sector. These included grain stores, oil mills, salt pans, agricultural co-operatives, and wine cellars in the vineyards. As a result,
workers in such establishments now benefit from the general legislation
relating to such matters as hours of work, weekly rest, holidays with pay,
wages and overtime, hygiene and safety and family allowances.
The protection of women and children in agriculture is ensured by a
Decree of 18 February 1954. By it agricultural labour inspectors are
given power to order at any time the termination of employment of a
child under 12 years if the tasks assigned to him exceed his strength, and
likewise in respect of children between 12 and 16 years suffering from
apparent illness or infirmity, subject to confirmation by a medical
practitioner. Special conditions for the authorisation of the employment
of women or children under 16 years of age in certain tasks involving
special risks may be prescribed. Children under 18 years and women may
not be employed between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. save in the case of urgent and
necessary care to be given to livestock or poultry. The period of night rest
for persons under 18 or women must be of not less than 12 consecutive
hours' duration. A woman who interrupts her work for 12 consecutive
weeks in the period before and after confinement may not be dismissed
during that period and for three weeks afterwards in case of medically
certified sickness.
In Algeria, agricultural workers—male and female—have a guaranteed minimum daily wage. At present this is made up of two elements
—the guaranteed daily minimum properly so called, and a special
premiumfixedin terms of a government decision of 28 December 1959.
Table VIII shows the composition of the total wage :
TABLE VIH. ALGERIA: M I N I M U M DAILY WAGE FOR A G R I C U L T U R A L
WORKERS
(In francs)
Wage zone
Zone 2
Zone 3
Guaranteed
daily minimum
Special premium
(Decision No. 5314
of 31 May 1958)
Global
minimum wage
641
587
538
50
50
50
691
637
588
LAND AND LABOUR
75
Perquisites in kind, as customary in the various areas, continue to be
payable over and above these minima and may sometimes amount to as
much as 25 per cent, of the cash wage. Workers engaged in gathering
citrus fruit are entitled to a further allowance of 100 francs a day. There
is also a special daily allowance of 150 francs for grape gathering. Hours
of work in agriculture are regulated by a Decree of 18 February 1957, the
maximum annual number being 2,400 for 300 days' work, divided
up by periods and in accordance with the needs of the region and the
crop and following a prescribed daily average. Hours over and above the
annual limit of 2,400 are permitted to take account of production
needs and local crop and stock-rearing conditions. Hours above the
permitted daily maxima are paid at 25 per cent, extra but must be justified
by urgent work and labour needs. Special provisions exist in regard to
weekly rest in order to assure continuous care of animals and to provide
for exceptional circumstances. Agricultural workers are entitled to paid
leave at the rate of one-and-a-half working days (two days for those under
18 years) per month of service. Extra days are given in cases of long
service. Day and seasonal workers are entitled to one-and-a-half days'
leave per 24 days' work. They are also covered by legislation relating to
workmen's compensation and social security (sickness, invalidity, oldage, death and maternity expenses) 1 but not that relating to family
allowances which has not been extended to the agricultural sector.
There is no provision for unemployment insurance in Algeria.
In Morocco (including the Northern Zone and Tangier) the minimum
daily wage of an agricultural worker is fixed at 350 francs per day ; to
this must be added the customary perquisites in kind. Women receive
five-sixths of the minimum for men and the reductions in the case of
young workers between 14 and 18 years of age vary between 20 and 50
per cent. Until recently, and apart from the minimum wage, the main
legislation applying to agricultural workers was that relating to workmen's compensation, which does not apply to the khammès. However,
a Dahir of 9 April 1958 made applicable to agricultural workers,
with appropriate modifications, the main provisions of the labour
legislation, including those regarding (a) engagement, notice and
termination of employment; (b) conditions of employment of women
and children; (c) limitation of hours of work to 2,700 per year;
(d) weekly rest and holidays ; (e) fixing of wages of women and young
persons; (f) long-service bonuses; (g) guarantee of wages in case
of bad weather; (h) protection of wages (engagement slips, pay books);
(i) holidays with pay, holidays in the case of young persons, and holi1
For further details see Chapter VIII.
76
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
days in cases of long service. Proposals made by I.L.O. experts for
the introduction of a social security system are also under study. These
proposals, however, specifically exclude agricultural workers from the
scope of any scheme, at least during its early stages. The risks to be
covered are sickness, invalidity, old age and death. Family allowances
are not within the scheme, since they are to some extent already provided for, though not in agriculture.1 A certain number of collective
agreements regulating conditions of work in agriculture have been
concluded between employers and workers. Ten of these are of a general
nature, each covering relations between employers and agricultural
workers throughout the whole of a province. Sixteen others deal mainly
with particular aspects of agriculture, e.g. market gardening in Sale and
rice cultivation in Rharb, or forestry, e.g. cedar wood cutters, charcoal
burners, firewood producers. Agricultural labour inspectors (11 provided
for in the 1958 budget), in the absence of legislation affecting agricultural
workers, occupy themselves mainly with arranging differences arising
out of these collective agreements and with making up a country-wide
list of employers in agriculture and with taking a census of agricultural
holdings and of labour in agriculture.
Finally, a brief reference should be made to the position of agricultural
workers as regards their right of association. While the general question is
dealt with in more detail elsewhere, it will be convenient to note here that
in Egypt the right of agricultural workers to form trade unions to defend
their common interests was conceded by article 39 of the Land Reform
Law of 1952 and is now confirmed by the Labour Code of 1959. In
Libya, since the formation and status of trade unions are regulated by the
Labour Act No. 100 of 1957 which, as already stated, does not apply to
agriculture, agricultural workers still have no right of association. In
Tunisia, the right of association has been conceded generally since 1932,
the latest law being that of 10 January 1959. In Algeria, the French law
relating to trade unions, including those in agriculture, was made applicable by Decree of 3 August 1946, while in Morocco the matter is regulated
by Dahir of 16 July 1957.
The Nomads
While it is impossible within the confines of a survey of this kind to
examine in any detail the extent of nomadism in North Africa or its
economic and social organisation, it would be desirable at this point to
give some indication of the place it occupies in the various countries
throughout the region. At the outset, it is important to emphasise that
1
For further details see Chapter VIII.
LAND AND LABOUR
77
there is generally no hard and fast line to be drawn between the nomad
and sedentary populations of the area, nor is there any necessary relation
between nomadism, sedentarism and ethnic grouping. The mode of life
springs naturally from the geographic milieu in which the inhabitants
are placed. Thus it is natural that the peoples of the fertile coastal
plains and the mountains of Morocco, for example, should be sedentary
peoples just as it is normal that those who inhabit the desert steppes and
the vast stretches of the Sahara should be nomads.
In Egypt Dr. Mohamed Awad 1 has estimated the number of nomads
within its frontiers as being 70,472 in 1898, 97,381 in 1907 and 49,000 in
1947, indicative of a steady diminution during the last half-century. The
census figure of 1947 was incidentally 55,073 (27,270 male, 27,803 female).
He distinguishes various stages of assimilation. The pure nomads
wander in Sinai and in the lands immediately west of the Suez Canal and
again between the Red Sea and the Nile. Libyan Arabs usually occupy
the zone between Cyrenaica and the Nile Delta, with the exception of the
oases and the narrow strip of coast. They are essentially camel owning
and tent dwelling, though many have relatives in the Rif agricultural
lands, whom they visit at certain seasons to render services such as
carrying crops for which they are paid. Some inevitably stay behind.
The partial nomads occupy the strip of Mediterranean coastland some
12 miles wide. Here they grow barley as rains permit, figs and olives.
Usually the tribe divides labour, part following the flocks, part raising the
crops. This condition of partial nomadism also exists in parts of Sinai.
The Arabs undergoing partial assimilation occupy the agricultural zone
immediately adjoining the desert and live in villages of their own, separate from the fellahin. At first they five on their flocks and act as guards to
protect the crops of the fellahin. In course of time they stake their claim
to a piece of land on which they have grazed their flock and " persuade "
the peasant owner to sell it. Arab chiefs also hire land from absentee
landlords, sublet it to fellahin or to members of their own tribes. As
assimilation becomes more advanced, the former nomads tend to seek
better land further from the desert. They share the villages of the fellahin,
devote themselves exclusively to agriculture, inter-marry and finally
become indistinguishable from the fellahin.
In Libya the problem of the nomads is said to be most acute in the
Cyrenaica region, where the tented Bedouin population was estimated in
1922-23 as around 150,000, of which only 16,000 were classed as nomads,
35,000 as semi-nomads and 99,000 as stable. " Stable " meant normal
residence in a determined area within which the tents are pitched here
1
" The Assimilation of Nomads in Egypt ", in The Geographical Review,
Vol. XLIV, 1954, No. 2, pp. 240-250.
78
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
and there for watering or other reasons and with periodic movements for
sowing and pasturing. " Semi-nomads " meant those who spread with
greater frequency and more widely, either in their own territory or
towards zones of sowing or pasturing where they remain a long time
because of the less prosperous conditions in their own territory. " Nomads"
meant those who, though possessing their own territory or recognised
centre, emigrate for long periods to distant and not always the same
objectives, and are almost always divided into small groups for watering
and pasturing; or those who normally wander in desert territories,
devoting themselves exclusively to rearing camels.1
The important fact is that the great majority of the tented Bedouins
are essentially pastoralists—sheep, goat and cattle rearers—but also
practise cultivation, mainly of barley but also some wheat. While more
or less subsistence farmers, they do trade surplus stock, wool, skins,
clarified butter, surplus barley, honey and wax for tea, sugar, rice and
cloth, especially the jird, the woollen cloak of the country. The nomads
and semi-nomads of Tripolitania live under similar conditions. As will
be shown later, the figures given above have changed considerably,
though it is still in Cyrenaica that the proportions of nomads and seminomads are highest, reaching 44 per cent, of all households and 45 per
cent, of the total population as against 20 per cent, both as regards
households and persons in Tripolitania and 8 per cent, and 9 per cent.
respectively in the Fezzan.
In the Fezzan, while there are some pure nomads who Uve a completely
pastoral life and come to the oases only to trade their animal products for
dates, most of those who are not permanently settled in the oases own
gardens there and employ local labour to cultivate them. They themselves
follow their herds from January to April over the southern steppes and
grow some barley there and send shepherds with the goats and camels to
summer pastures. Hence these nomads and semi-nomads are a useful
complement to the resources of the oases and enable some advantage to
be taken of land where a sedentary existence is impossible.2
The total settled, semi-nomad and nomad populations of the three
provinces is as indicated in table IX.
In Tunisia, nomadism is more or less confined to the steppe region
and to the desert of the south. In the former, however, pure nomadism
can hardly be said to exist. There is, of course, considerable seasonal
movement to take advantage of pastures or cultivation but the large1
For a full description of the nomadic elements in Cyrenaica see EVANS-PRITCHARD,
op. cit., pp. 29-61.
2
See A. CAUNEILLE: "Le nomadisme des Zentân (Tripolitaine et Fezzan) ", in
Travaux de l'Institut des recherches sahariennes, 16. 2, pp. 73-100, 1957 (summarised
in African Abstracts, Vol. 10, No. 3, July 1959, p. 102).
79
LAND AND LABOUR
TABLE IX. LIBYA: DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION, 1954
Province
Settled
Semi-nomads
Nomads
Total
. . . .
160,361
53,859
587,321
94,767
3,615
98,189
36,111
1,836
52,825
291,239
59,310
738,335
Totals for the
country . . . .
801,541
196,571
90,772
1,088,884
Cyrenaica
Tripolitania
Source: 1954 census.
scale development of fixed cultivations such as olive plantations has not
only tended towards sédentarisation but also to the development of
wage-earning activities. But the nomad mentality continues to be
stimulated by the seasonal migrations which are necessary to take part in
the olive harvest in the coastal areas and the grain and wine harvest in
the Tell region, apart from the search, in dry summers, for grazing to the
north of the dorsal ridge. In the south there is the classic contrast of
bare desert and smiling oasis, the one the domain of the nomad with his
sheep and camels and the other essentially the habitat of village cultivators. But many of the nomad families now have gardens in the oases
and also grow cereals in the wadis. A few still spend the whole year in
tents (or in huts made of branches for greater coolness in the summer) but
none undertake the vast and regular migrations of the pastoral tribes of
the South Algerian Sahara. In general, the Tunisian nomads and seminomads have been forced by adverse conditions more and more to seek
paid labour, some in Tunis where they pick up a series of odd jobs, some
on the farms of the centre and the north. Often they follow a well-established circuit of harvesting, olive picking and other autumnal jobs, returning to their nomad life until it is time for the cycle to start again. Sometimes their families follow them, sometimes not.
The population of the whole of the southern territories of Algeria,
Steppe and Sahara, is about 750,000, of which about half is sedentary and
half nomad. Taking the Algerian Sahara only, there are about 430,000
inhabitants of whom two-thirds are sedentary and one-third nomad. The
sedentary population is grouped largely in the oases which are normally
overpopulated, with consequent underemployment. The agricultural
workers in the oases are in the main engaged on khammès contracts and
are usually hartani, i.e. from tribes of Negro origin.1 The camel-owning
1
For more detailed descriptions cf living conditions of nomads of the Algerian
Sahara see M. BRIGOL: " L'habitat des nomades sédentarisés à Ouargla ", in Travaux
de l'Institut des recherches sahariennes, 16. 2, pp. 191-97, 1957; and J.-F. CHAINTRON:
" Aoulef. Problèmes économiques et sociaux d'une oasis à foggaras ", ibid., 16.
2, pp. 101-120, 1957. (Both summarised in African Abstracts, Vol. 10, No. 3, July 1959,
pp. 99-100.)
80
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
nomads, who are the great wanderers of the Sahara, are typically from
two big tribes, the Touaregs and the Chaambas. Pure nomads, they live
on the resources of the erg and the hamada. Others, such as the tribes
around Laghouat and Touggourt, wander between the Sahara and the
Tell. In the past the practice was, after the harvest in the south, to make
for the Tell to sell their produce and buy grain. In the autumn they
returned to their own pasture grounds and in the winter went to the
Mzab and to Touggourt to sell their own produce and merchandise
brought from the north. With the development of organised agriculture
in the north and the growing restriction of pastures, this picture is gradually changing. Some now pass the summer in the south, the rest go north
in little groups offiveor six families with their sheep and camels, pasturing
where they can. Some members go further north and offer their services
and those of their draught animals for harvesting and the main body
comes north after the harvest and the herds feed on the stubble. In late
autumn there is a general return to the south, to the winter pastures and
odd patches of cultivation. In the Laghouat area, out of a total population of 43,000 in 1954, 11,058 lived in the town of Laghouat itself,
5,579 were sedentary in the Ksouras and 26,364 were nomads. An
inquiry made in 1954 in this area showed an average income of 129,843
francs per family, 23,587 per individual. The nomads had in no case an
income below 30,000 francs per family.1
The main groups of nomads in Morocco are to be found in the east,
on the steppes to the east of the Moulouya and to the south of the Grand
Atlas, towards the Sahara. Semi-nomads are to be found in the Middle
Atlas in the great plains of the Gharb in the north and those of the
Rehamma and the Chiadma in the south, where the pastoral life has not
yet completely given way to a sedentary one. The nomad problem in
Morocco is, however, of smaller dimensions than in Algeria or Tunisia.
Apart from the spartan and subsistence nature of the nomadic life
itself, the main hazard stems from the periodic droughts which wipe
out as much as 90 per cent, of the sheep which are the main wealth.
Successive droughts, the last in 1945, forced many former nomads to
seek work in employment centres. But the general state of unemployment and underemployment and the lack of cultivable land make permanent renunciation of the nomadic life far from easy, in spite of the loss of
former pasture lands and other discouragements. Sédentarisation is not
always a solution, and far less is prolétarisation, since they may mean an
even further reduction of the standard of Ufe. Improvement of pastures
and water, organisation of transport facilities, precautions against bad
' S e e E. DERMENGHEM: " L e pays de Laghouat et des L a r b a â " , in
algériens, N o . 21, 10 May 1957.
Documents
LAND AND LABOUR
81
seasons are, however, all necessary. The following view of the approach
necessary as regards the nomads of the Laghouat area may, perhaps,
have a much wider validity:
. . . The community aspect of the nomad problem deserves the greatest
attention, since it is the essential social unit, the living cell being not the
isolated family, nor the widely scattered tribe, but the douar, consisting of
a few patriarchal families, following the nomadic life together, having
common interests, usufructuary rights on particular grazing grounds, wells,
summer pastures, even rights in specialised activities such as alfa gathering
in particular areas, as well as traditional links with particular groups in the
Tell country. It is only by starting from these living realities, these concrete
conditions, that new life can be given to the communities by adapting
administration, employment, schooling, food supply and medical services to
these conditions and not by regarding sédentarisation as a pre-condition
for all progress and letting nomadism die, little by little, frozen in
its obsolescence.1
APPROACHES TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT
The measures taken or envisaged in the various countries by way of
revision of existing landowning or tenurial systems, and of the terms of
association of landholders and workers for exploitation of the soil, all
of which were to some extent obstacles to the application of an agricultural policy capable of taking care of the ever-growing needs of a rapidly
increasing population, have already been described. Wise regulation of
relationships between the various parties having an interest in the soil,
though important and necessary, is, however, not enough and certainly
the measures actually taken in particular instances are probably not
drastic enough to meet even the situation with which they profess to deal.
It is probable that a proper balance has still not been everywhere achieved
between large-scale and small-scale farming. It seems to be recognised,
in Egypt and Algeria at least, that further transfers of land from
large landowners to small peasant farmers is an essential development
in agricultural policy. Both there and elsewhere, however, it is equally
recognised that mere transfer of land to smallholders is not enough and
that measures must be taken to enable small-scale farming to be carried
on under the most favourable conditions. It is with some of the techniques and projects evolved to achieve that aim that this section deals.
As regards Egypt, the measures incorporated in the Land Reform Law
of 1952 have already been adequately described, Three further main
developments may be noted. The first is the project for a new High Dam
above Aswan, whose object is to make fuller use of the Nile water, much
of which is lost in the flood season. While the scheme is only in the early
stages of execution, it is expected that the amount of additional water
1
DERMENGHEM, op.
cit.
82
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
made available will be 3,500 million cubic metres, rising eventually to
8,000 million. This will add 1,300,000 feddans of new land and enable
700,000 feddans of land in Upper Egypt to be converted to perennial
irrigation and so double the crop on it. Moreover, the increase in hydroelectric power will increase Egypt's industrial capacity and thus tend to
raise rural living standards by drawing surplus rural population towards
industrial employment. Apart from the continuing work of converting
basin irrigation to perennial cultivation by the installation of pumps, a
special programme for the reclamation and cultivation of about 80,000
feddans of new land in the Beheira and Fayum provinces was undertaken
in 1953. This was started as a demonstration project jointly undertaken
by the Egyptian and American Governments through the medium of the
Egyptian American Rural Improvement Service (E.A.R.I. S.) and was
subsequently taken over by the Ministry for Land Reform. On reclaiming the land, it was planned that the necessary housing and public
services would be provided and 16,000 tenant families settled on it.
There would be improvement and expansion of the road network for
better communication between farm and market, vocational training of
rural youth, agricultural guidance, steps to improve marketing of agricultural produce, to promote small industries and handicrafts and to
raise the general standard of health.
By April 1957 work was in progress in two areas: the Abis area of
Beheira province, near Alexandria, and the Qoota area of Fay urn province. In the former, 23,354 feddans were selected for reclamation, of
which 8,198 were under cultivation by 1957 and a further 5,506 were under
reclamation. In the latter, the figures were 6,000,1,300 and 2,200 feddans
respectively. Some ancillary work, such as canals, drains and roads, had
also been completed. No settlement had yet been made at Qoota, but at
Abis the first 90 tenants were settled in 1955 and studies were being made
as to the areas from which settlers should be brought. The general conditions are that settlers should be healthy, landless cultivators, age 25 to
45; maximum size of the family, six persons. Average distribution of
land is about 5 feddans per family and it is held on tenancy for the first
year. Thereafter, suitable settlers are eligible for a purchase contract.
The land may be sold after eight years of ownership, provided all commitments have been met and the buyer is qualified. An entry grant of £E.5 is
given and advances up to £E.65 are made by the village co-operative
society to purchase seeds and fertilisers. Two villages, complete with all
services, have been built for over 900 settlers, plus technical employees,
teachers, administrative employees, medical and social service staff, etc.
Settlement, however, is slow and this may be explained by the comparatively high costs involved. These amount to £E.855 per unit,
LAND AND LABOUR
83
including house, raw land and reclamation and development costs. Provision is made for payment in 33 yearly instalments, small at first, but
stabilised at £E.29.060 a year after the seventh year. This, plus land tax,
maintenance, etc., calls for an annual outlay of £E.45 a year—a very
considerable sum as a first charge on 5 feddans of land.
The third main development is the more ambitious Tahrir Mudiria
(Liberation province) scheme. Under this, an area on the western flank of
the Delta south of Alexandria has been chosen, on which a new province
is to be reclaimed from the desert with the object not merely of providing living space for the increasing population but also of improving
standards of rural life by laying the foundation of a new type of ruralindustrial society. While the total area of the province is 1,200,000 feddans and the area ultimately to be reclaimed amounts to 800,000 feddans,
only a modest start has so far been made : by the end of 1957, 24,000 feddans had been reclaimed and work was proceeding at the rate of 1,0.00
feddans a month. Cultivation is lagging behind reclamation because of
lack of water and the main part of the whole project will depend on the
completion of the High Dam: 12,000 feddans were under cultivation at
the end of 1957 of which 60 per cent, were under vegetables and fruit, 20
per cent, cereals and 20 per cent, pasture for cattle. Settlers are installed
in villages which numbered four at the above date, with a total population of some 20,000, including about 14,000 workers on reclamation and
construction, administrative personnel, technicians and settlers, of whom
there were only 450, and their families. The province will eventually
have 18 districts, each with six villages.
The scheme is not merely one of land settlement but is intended to be
an integrated economic and social effort. Apart from farming there will
be industrial enterprises and the whole will be a rural development
project with strong central direction, not merely on the cultivation side
but over the whole range of activities of the settlements, including sport.
Settlers are selected after social, medical and psychological tests, carried
out both on themselves and their families. They must have only one wife
and no dependants other than children, and no property. On selection,
both men and women receive specially designed vocational training and
partake in organised group activities before being placed in the various
villages where they will eventually remain. Children go to school and
their leisure is collectively organised. Everything is disciplined and standardised. Livestock are kept collectively, baking is done collectively, dress
is uniform. Settlers will have eventual ownership of their house but
not of the land (nominally 5 feddans), which is collectively owned and
farmed in large units, with mechanical aids. Co-operatives run by a
council of 11, including the village mayor, preacher, doctor, school-
84
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
teacher and five elected representatives of the village will purchase all
equipment and arrange centralised marketing of produce. The individual
settler will pay for his house and the land will be notionally held by him
over 30 years; he gets a wage for his work and a share of the earnings
from the co-operative after deduction of his yearly instalment payment
on house and land.
To supply the needs of the settlements already set up, industrial
enterprises including a machine repair shop, a furniture factory and a
cement-brick works have been established. In addition, an ammunition
factory has been erected. Wages of construction workers are said to be
about £E.12 a month, as compared with around £E.3 elsewhere in Upper
Egypt. The whole scheme is beingfinancedfrom the proceeds of properties
confiscated from ex-King Farouk, said to amount to about £E.70 million.
The main difference between the Liberation province scheme and the
E.A.R.I.S. scheme lies in the degree of personal initiative allowed. In the
former there is strict discipline and little personal initiative but this is
compensated for by financial and social assistance and the benefits to be
derived from strong central guidance. In the E.A.R.I.S. scheme, greater
freedom is complemented by heavyfinancialburdens and it is still doubtful whether, left to organise his own life, the farmer can make ends meet
in difficult cultivation conditions. Nevertheless, both schemes are
interesting experiments in community building based on farming as a
way of life.
In Libya very considerable technical aid has been furnished to agriculture by the Food and Agriculture Organisation. Further credit
facilities for farmers are needed and an agricultural bank has been set
up. So far, however, its operations have been mainly in other spheres.
Considerable assistance in the provision of extension services for
farmers and of vocational training in agricultural schools has been
provided by the Joint Libyan-American Service for Agriculture and
Natural Resources.
In Tunisia, apart from barrages and works for irrigation and soil
preservation, and the prevention of erosion, a large amount of educative
work is being undertaken with the object of improving methods of cultivation. Steps are being taken to train instructors and farm managers
and to give further instruction on agricultural matters to young
people after leaving school. Co-operatives of various kinds have been set
up, including not merely producers' co-operatives in the various sectors
of agricultural activity, e.g. cereal culture, olive growing and wine culture,
but also several tractor co-operatives and a central co-operative supply
agency for seed wheat. A Fund for the Revival of the Centre and South
has recently been created,financedby state loans and charged with the task
LAND AND LABOUR
85
of the revival of agriculture in the most impoverished districts of these
areas. More intensive action through the development of cells has been
undertaken in various areas. These cells are being settled with smallholders working irrigated land co-operatively under continuous supervision, somewhat on the Liberation province model in Egypt. Finally, steps
have been taken to improve credit facilities for small farmers through
mortgages on the new certificates of possession, already mentioned.
In Algeria and in Morocco it is largely through the paysannat policy
of the Government that solutions are sought to the problem of how to
improve conditions of the rural populations. In both countries there is,
of course, a modernised sector and a traditional sector of agriculture,
requiring different methods of approach in order to secure favourable
results. Reference is made here particularly to the traditional sector in
which there are three main needs : (a) education of the smaller farmer in
modern techniques of cultivation and animal husbandry; (b) material;
and (c) financial assistance in applying these techniques. In Algeria the
chosen media for financial assistance are the Agricultural Provident
Societies (S.A.P.) which cover the whole country and which provide for
their members, short, medium and long term credits for such needs as
seeds and fertilisers, implements and stock, well digging, irrigation and
other works, as well as special loans for building materials and purchase
of small parcels of land. The S.A.P. also act as co-operative societies—
buying, selling and processing produce, etc.—and provide various forms
of insurance. Apart from members' subscriptions, they have access to
various borrowing sources.
Educational and material needs are taken care of mainly through the
Rural Improvement Sectors (S.A.R.) which have the administrative and
financial help of the S.A.P. officials applying the official paysannat policy
in the sector. In 1957 there were 230 S.A.R., having jurisdiction over
18,300,000 hectares on which lived some 380,000 families. This does not
mean that the educative and other action pursued through them actually
covered the whole of that area or benefited the number of farmers and
pastoralists quoted but simply that the S.A.R. already set up were
pursuing their work in the areas in which the quoted numbers lived, to
the extent permitted by the means at their disposal and the willingness
of the fellahin to co-operate in the work. S.A.R. are set up to specialise
in the type of agriculture predominant in the sector. Thus there are
S.A.R. for cereal culture, forestry, animal husbandry and oasis farming.
Various types of assistance are given through them. The key figure
in all this is the agricultural instructor, who has the task of counselling
the fellah in all his activities. Obviously, however, he cannot do so on
an individual basis and thus he proceeds mainly by way of demonstra-
86
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
tions and pilot schemes in the various branches of agriculture. For this
purpose he has the necessary equipment and personnel at his disposal. In
addition, a certain amount of work, such as building access roads, soil
conservation and restoration, is undertaken. In the S.A.R. specialising in
cereal culture and arboriculture, efforts are concentrated on such matters
as soil improvement, increased yields, better products, cultivation practices, manuring, seed selection, parasite elimination, care of fruit trees,
keeping and conditioning of fruit. In the S.A.R. where livestock predominate, emphasis is placed on such matters as selection and care of herds,
protection of pastures, building up hay reserves, increasing waterpoints,
shelters, dipping and vaccination, etc. In the S.A.R. of the oases,
efforts turn on modernisation of existing plantations, digging of wells,
manuring, pollarding, treatment against parasites, pollination, etc.
The weakness of this system seems to be that the application of the
paysannat policy of the Government, admirable though this policy may
be, is left to the day-to-day control of the S.A.P. provident societies.
These are composed not merely of small farmers but also of big proprietors and their policies are frequently dominated by the latter. It is doubtful, therefore, whether the action taken within the cadre of the S.A.R. for
which the S.A.P. are responsible is always of the maximum benefit to the
fellah, or whether it tends to cater more to the needs of the larger farmers.
Recent indications are, however, that this is fully realised by the authorities and that the S.A.P. are being strongly pressed to intensify their
action in favour of smallholders. Moreover, the series of agrarian reform
measures adopted in 1956 to enable easier access to ownership of smallholdings, referred to earlier, also show a new emphasis in government
policy, as do the activities of the fund set up to implement these measures.
In Morocco the development of agriculture in particular areas is
undertaken by the Secteur de modernisation du Paysannat (S.M.P.).1 The
action of the S.M.P. takes three forms: (a) direct cultivation; (b) work
on contract; and (c) general counsel and guidance to the fellahin.
Direct cultivation may be undertaken either on collectively owned lands
or on the lands of private owners at the latter's request. On collectively
owned lands the idea is to bring these lands, often vacant, into proper
cultivation and to return them eventually to normal exploitation. On
private lands the normal contract between the owner and the S.M.P. is
for the latter to make payment in respect of one-fifth of the crop, or
one-sixth if land reclamation is involved. Direct cultivation has been
much criticised as leading merely to the development of state farms but
it is claimed on the other hand that they are necessary as demonstration
1
The S.M.P. are now called Centres de travaux agricoles.
LAND AND LABOUR
87
projects, as experimental farms and to help to meet expenses and that, in
addition, they provide employment opportunities. Work on contract
takes various forms—clearing land, ploughing, harvesting and threshing
—and it is claimed that this also has its value in demonstrating the
comparative value of different methods. Finally, the S.M.P. undertake
general counsel and guidance of the fellahin. The basis of this is a
form of contract between the S.M.P. and the fellahin under the sponsorship of the local authority, both parties having definite obligations.
In some areas the fellahin give an undertaking to improve their cultivation methods by the use of better implements, use of selected seed,
application of fertilisers, proper rotation of crops, etc. For these purposes they receive credit through the Moroccan Provident Society, while
the S.M.P. holds stocks of spare parts, provides facilities for repairs, etc.
In other areas there may be mobile machine repair units or the S.M.P.
may assume responsibility for irrigation, for initiating the peasants into
techniques of arboriculture, for constituting demonstration herds of
sheep, or may enter into contracts of association with shepherds under
which the shepherd undertakes to follow directions given by the S.M.P.
as to the care of the herd, while the S.M.P. provides hay at times when
natural pastures are lacking; under this contract the sheep are owned in
common by the two parties.
A more recent development has been what has come to be called
" Operation Ploughing ", instituted during the season 1957-58. This
involves the ehmination—with the consent of the landowners—of the
boundaries dividing small plots of land so that large tracts can be
ploughed by government tractors. Fertilisers, seeds and implements are
then distributed to the peasants ; for these services they pay a fee in inverse
proportion to their level of production. In 1957-58, 160,000 hectares
came under the scheme and the area in 1959 was 350,000 hectares. During
the first season wheat production in areas adopting the scheme increased
by about 5 quintals per hectare and peasant incomes are said to have
increased by 25 per cent.
It is not claimed that the information given in this section in regard to
the approaches to rural development is in any way complete. The object
has been simply to draw attention to what seem to be some of the highlights in this field. Any more detailed examination of the question would,
in any case, involve technical matters outside the competence of the I.L.O.
CONCLUSIONS
In spite of the reservations just made, it may be appropriate to try, in
conclusion, to present in the broadest terms a summary of the situation
88
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
as regards land and labour as it has emerged from the foregoing review.
The outstanding features are the general state of overpopulation and the
consequent pressure on available land resources; the extent to which,
except in Egypt, land is owned by persons not indigenous to the countries
concerned; the concentration of ownership, again with the exception of
Egypt, in the hands of mainly non-indigenous large-scale proprietors;
the adoption, notably in Egypt, of measures to cut down the size of
individual holdings and to distribute to landless farmers the land thus
becoming available; the comprehensive measures of agrarian reform
introduced in Algeria, not merely facilitating access to land ownership
by peasants but also radically revising the relationship between the
khammès and the landholder; the efforts being made to improve the
condition of the agricultural labourer by guaranteed minimum wages;
the gradual extension to workers in agriculture of the other benefits of
social and labour legislation, including the right to form trade unions;
the notable gaps which still, however, exist in this connection, and the
preponderance of seasonal workers in agriculture, a large proportion of
whom have little or no other source of income.
In addition to all these, there is the overriding fact that the techniques
applied by the large majority of the active agricultural population are
of the most primitive. Moreover, the propagation of new techniques of
cultivation involves a radical change in social habits and must, therefore,
be pursued with care and circumspection; it is bedevilled by lack of
capital and cannot be expected to yield quick and spectacular results.
To add to the complications, there is a considerable nomad and seminomad element, whose essential preoccupation with the search for
pastures severely curtails, in the absence of adequate water supplies, the
scope of practical measures to improve their lot. The steps which are
being taken to tackle the problems of improving land utilisation are,
however, sometimes spectacular and challenging and, more generally,
indicate an increasing awareness of the magnitude of the job to be done
and of the necessity of concentrating the weight of effort and resources on
measures of assistance to the small farmer rather than to the large and
often non-indigenous landowner.
Yet the first feature mentioned, that of overpopulation, remains the
most fearsome and the most intractable. So far, there are few signs that
industry and mining activities are likely to develop at a sufficiently fast
rate to absorb unemployment and underemployment stemming mainly
from rural sources.
On the other hand, there are indications of a development whereby increasing numbers of individuals are striving to eke out a meagre existence
between wage-paid labour and farming which, given the number of
LAND AND LABOUR
89
mouths to feed on limited land areas, no longer provides full subsistence.
This has resulted in a swelling of the numbers of casual and seasonal
workers in agriculture and a falling off of the amount of employment
available per worker, since total employment is conditioned by the
available arable land and the number of farmers large enough to be able
to offer work. It has also resulted in an increase in the already large
numbers of " odd job " men in the towns. In the social field, the reorientation of agriculture from subsistence to cash cropping, or to wage
earning plus subsistence cultivation, has profoundly changed relationships.
Group solidarity, based on kinship ties, is breaking up under the
increasing impact of a cash economy accompanied by inexorable economic pressures. The most urgent task is to evolve an institutional
framework for agriculture in which more modern techniques and
more productive land use can be achieved with the active and enthusiastic
collaboration of the fellah.1
1
For a full discussion of possible developments in agriculture and forestry in the
area and their co-ordination with more general programmes of development see
F.A.O. Mediterranean Development Project, op. cit.
CHAPTER III
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
POPULATION AND MANPOWER
Total Populations
According to the latest statistics, the total estimated populations of
the countries concerned were, as at mid-1960, the following1 :
Country
Population
Algeria
Egypt
Libya
Morocco 1
Tunisia
10,400,000
26,000,000
1,210,000
10,800,000
4,120,000
Total . . . 52,530,000
1
Including former Spanish Zone and Tangier.
The survey, therefore, covers some 52.5 million people,"of whom roughly
half are in the area between the western frontiers of Egypt and the
Republic of the Sudan on the one side and the Atlantic on the other, and
stretching southward to the limits of the four countries concerned—
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The other half is in Egypt,
including the Sinai Peninsula.
Of the total, all but a small percentage are Moslem but there are
considerable local variations. Algeria has around 1 million Europeans,
including Algerian Jews. Morocco has some 300,000 Europeans, their
numbers having been considerably reduced since the attainment of
independence. They are mainly French but include a fair proportion of
Spanish and Italians. There are also some 200,000 Moroccan Jews. In
Tunisia the numbers of Europeans have also fallen considerably, from
some 250,000 in 1956 to around 140,000, composed of some 85,000
French, 50,000 Italians and 5,000 Maltese and others. The number
of Europeans in Libya is small, the main non-Moslem element being
composed of some 40,000 Italians and some 7,500 Jews. The Jewish
1
See also Appendix II, table 10.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
91
community, installed in Libya for centuries, has lately been much reduced
by emigration to Israel. As recently as ten years ago, it numbered about
30,000. The Egyptian population comprises over 22.5 million persons of
pure Egyptian ancestry and, apart from Syrians, a number of communities of Greek, Lebanese, Italian, Armenian, French and British
origin. The French and British communities have been considerably
reduced since 1956.
Population Density
The figures for population density in the various countries given in
table 101 must be cautiously interpreted. Thus Algeria is shown to
have a population density of four persons per square kilometre. The
population is, however, concentrated mainly in the cultivable area of
the north, the density there being some 40 persons per square kilometre.
Closer examination shows, moreover, further concentrations within
that area. For example in the department of Algiers, the density is
around 325 to the square kilometre and in the department of Tizi Ouzou
it is 140. Another point to be noted is the development of towns. The
urban area of Algiers has around 700,000 inhabitants; Oran 300,000;
Constantine 150,000 and Bòne 120,000. In all there are 56 localities
with more than 10,000 inhabitants. More and more peasants are making
their homes in shanty-towns on the outskirts of the built-up areas. In
Algiers these quarters house some 40,000 people and in Oran 43,000.
Some 80,000 people live in the Casbah of Algiers, in an area of 75 acres.
The Moroccan figures for densities of population are given as 22 persons per square kilometre in the former French Zone, 54 in the former
Spanish Zone and 501 in Tangier. Looking particularly at the former
French Zone, the most striking feature in recent years has been the
increase in the populations in the towns. Between 1936 and 1952 the
Moslem populations of the 19 municipalities rose from 703,900 to
1,376,700, an increase of 91 per cent, and this was accompanied by very
heavy increases in the European populations of some of these towns
such as Casablanca. In the same period the Moslem population of the
rural areas rose from 5,181,800 to 6,066,600, an increase of 17.1 per cent.
as against an increase in the total Moslem population over the same
period of 26.5 per cent. It is interesting to note that in 1952 over 80 per
cent, of the Moslem population was still rural although urbanisation
was and is proceeding rapidly and the movement from the countryside
towards rural centres and mining areas was and is extensive, demonstrating the attraction of paid employment, wherever it can be found, whether
1
See Appendix II.
92
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
in organised agriculture, local industries or mining, or even odd jobs,
in preference to family farming.
In Tunisia, the density of population works out at 30 per square
kilometre. The total urban population in 1956 was 1,250,257 of which
Tunis and its suburbs accounted for 561,000. Some 30 per cent, of the
estimated population was therefore living in urban conditions.
The density of population in Libya is one per square kilometre but
varies from 2.8 per square kilometre in Tripolitania to 0.6 in Cyrenaica
and 0.1 in the Fezzan. Within each of these provinces the density varies
considerably, population in the first being mainly (60 per cent.) concentrated in the fertile coastal strip, and in the second on the plateau
known as the Barce Plain. The Fezzan is mostly desert and 90 per cent.
of the settled population live around the few oases. Some 25 per cent.
of the population live in the towns of Tripoli which has a population
of about 130,000 and Benghazi with about 70,000. In all some 30 per
cent, of the population are town dwellers, 45 per cent, are settled in
rural areas and 25 per cent, are nomads.
Egypt's population density is given as 24 per square kilometre but
this, with the exception of some 50,000 nomads and a sedentary population of 170,000 in the oases, Sinai and the Red Sea littoral, is concentrated
within the 34,800 square kilometres of the Nile Valley and Delta and the
Canal Zone. The population density of this settled area therefore
averages about 668 persons to the square kilometre. In 1947 there were
eight cities with populations of over 90,000 including Cairo (2,090,654),
Alexandria (919,024) and Port Said (177,703), and a further seven with
populations of over 50,000.
Population Trends
The population of North Africa has entered into a period of rapid
growth. Recent calculations suggest that the Moslem populations of
Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia combined will have more than doubled
their 1955 figures in 25 years. As regards Algeria in particular, the
Moslem population will in that period attain between 17.2 and 18.3
million, while the European population will reach 1,200,000 in the
absence of migration. Twenty years later, in the year 2000, the Moslem
population will be between 28.4 and 35.5 million and the European
population will be about 1 million. The present rate of annual increase
of the Moslem population is around 2.6 per cent, and is likely to go
higher while that of the European population is about 0.75 per cent.1
1
See L. TABAH: " La population algérienne—Croissance, niveau de vie, investissements ", in Population (Paris, Editions de l'Institut national d'études démographiques),
Vol. XI, No. 3, July-Sep. 1956, pp. 429-460.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
93
In Morocco the Moslem population actually increased from 5,880,686
in 1936 to 7,442,015 in 1952, corresponding to an annual rate of increase
of 1.5 per cent, which is considerably less than the estimated future rate
of increase for Algeria cited above, but the annual rate of increase has
probably already reached 2 per cent.
In Tunisia the. population is estimated to have increased by 60 per
cent, in the years 1920 to 1954. A recent estimate by the Statistical
Service suggests that the 1956 Moslem population of 3.4 million will by
1966 increase to 4.1 million and by 1976 to 5 million, equivalent to an
average annual increase over 20 years of 2.35 per cent.1
In Libya the estimated growth of population is between 1.25 and 1.5
per cent, per annum. If the extremely high infant mortality rate can be
reduced as a result of social and economic developments now proceeding,
there is likely to be a considerably accelerated population growth more
in line with other areas in North Africa.2
Egyptian birth and death rates in post-war years were 4.2 per cent.
and 2.3 per cent, respectively, representing a natural growth rate of
1.9 per cent. Death rate figures show a considerable decline since 1939,
including the figures of infant mortality. Here again, therefore, there
are reasons to believe that there will be an accelerated population growth,
indeed most recent figures suggest that the rate has already risen to 2 per
cent. A study by the Ministry of Planning puts the estimated population
in 1963 at 26,382,000 and in 1978 at 35,553,000.3
These figures, uncertain as the data on which they are founded may
sometimes be and subject to constant revision as the data in table 10
show, do suggest that over the area as a whole something in the nature
of a " population explosion " is taking place, which cannot fail to have
grave repercussions in the manpower field—a matter which will be
discussed later.4 As one author says :
. . . Even if statistical uncertainties are still great in the field of vital
statistics in Africa, one dominant fact at least is uncontestable—the increase
of the population is the key problem in North Africa, to which all other
problems of that region are subordinated. And it may already be asked if
this key problem will not, in the near future, be that of the whole of Black
Africa. There are indications pointing in that direction. The exact position is
unknown but hygiene and the lowering of mortality rates, both infant and
x
For further discussion of this subject see M. J. LEPIDE: "L'évolution de la
population et le problème démographique en Tunisie ", in Notes et études documentaires (Paris, Secrétariat général du gouvernement), No. 2304, 26 June 1957.
2
See The Economie Development of Libya, op. cit., p. 24.
Quoted in Journal du commerce et de la marine (Cairo), 27 Mar. 1959.
* The Demographic Year Book 1958 (Statistical Office of the United Nations,
New York, 1958) gives the following percentage figures of annual increases of population in the years 1953-57: Algeria 2, Egypt 2.4, Libya 1.5, Morocco 1.8, and Tunisia 1.3.
3
94
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
general, added to a slight average increase in the birth rate, seem destined to
lead to a growth in population.1
THE ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE POPULATION AND ITS OCCUPATIONAL
DISTRIBUTION
For the countries other than Libya the total economically active
population, male and female, and the breakdown according to occupation are shown in tables 11 and 12.2 Figures for Libya, rather differently
arranged, are shown in table 13.2
It will be seen that, as might be expected in countries with a certain
homogeneity and at comparable levels of development, the proportion
of the total population which is economically active varies within fairly
narrow limits—from 29.7 per cent, in the case of Egypt to 39 per cent.
in the case of Morocco. Figures for economically active males only
reveal that the percentage is 53.5 per cent, in the case of Egypt, the
percentages in the other countries varying only a small extent above
and below that figure. On the other hand, the percentage of economically
active females is said to be only 6.1 in Egypt, 10.9 in Libya and between
22.6 and 24.5 in the other cases. The key to these apparent discrepancies
lies in the question of what constitutes economic activity in agriculture.
Examination of the data given shows the economically active population
engaged in agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing to be as indicated
in table X.
TABLE X. NORTH AFRICA: DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION
ENGAGED IN AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, HUNTING AND FISHING
Country
Algeria (1954) 1.
Egypt (1947) . .
Morocco (1952)
Tunisia (1956) .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Males
Females
Total
Percentage of
economically
active
population
1,650,175
3,644,680
1,292,400
556,400
981,217
481,070
771,200
349,600
2,631,392
4,125,750
2,063,600
916,000
. 75
64
71
68
Source: I.L.O.: Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1959 (Geneva, 1959).
1
Including Europeans and non-Europeans.
It would seem that the comparatively low figures for females engaged
in economic activity in agriculture in Egypt are based on a restrictive
interpretation of that phrase. While it could hardly be said that the
majority of women forming part of the agricultural family are either
1
" Problèmes de population en Afrique ", in Etudes et conjoncture (Paris, Presses
universitaires de France), Vol. 10, No. 8, Aug. 1955, p. 732.
2
See Appendix II.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
95
working on their own account or are employed for wages, there is no
doubt that their activities other than their housekeeping and watercarrying chores, such as tending poultry and small livestock and help
in such field work as weeding and harvesting, put the majority in the
economically active category. If, therefore, account be taken of this
fact, the numbers engaged in agricultural activities in Egypt are likely
to be considerably higher and the proportion comparable to that of
Algeria.
Apart from agriculture, the main avenues of employment—manufacturing industry, commerce, services, transport and communications,
construction and mining and quarrying—follow normally in that order
of importance. It is important to emphasise, however, that the figures
relate to different years—in the case of Egypt as early as 1947—and that
considerable changes may have taken place in the numbers employed
in the different sectors of activity since the dates to which the figures
relate. To give only one example, in Tunisia the latestfiguresfor numbers
employed in building and public works according to social security
statistics is 39,522 as against the figure of 28,650 in 1956. Some special
features of occupational distribution by sector of activity deserve special
comment.
In Algeria, it is interesting to note that of some 350,000 Europeans
economically active, only 39,000 are engaged in agriculture (and of these
about 50 per cent, of the males work on their own account), whereas of
non-Europeans, 2,600,000 of the 3,150,000 economically active are so
engaged. This means that the proportions of Europeans engaged in
manufacturing, in construction, in services, in transport, storage and
communications, and in commerce, are very high as compared with the
proportions of non-Europeans. Indeed, there are actually more Europeans (89,441) engaged in services, including administration, etc., than
non-Europeans (70,824). In commerce the figures are Europeans
73,804 and non-Europeans 100,545, in transport, etc., 31,086 as compared with 32,317 and in manufacturing 60,836 as compared with
91,640.
In Morocco (former French Zone) there are no separate official
figures for Europeans. It is noteworthy, however, that the transport,
storage and communications group (241,330) occupies the highest
number after agriculture, followed by manufacturing (198,730), services
(141,000) and commerce (122,365).
One authority 1 gives an estimate for the year 1952 of total population
and manpower in the whole of Morocco, including Tangier and the
1
P. DUBOIS: "Aspects économiques des problèmes de l'emploi au Maroc", in
Bulletin économique et social du Maroc, Vol. XXII, No. 80, Apr. 1959, pp. 481-500.
96
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Northern Zone. His figures1 indicate that the active population will
have reached 4,870,000 in 1960 (3,280,000 in agriculture and 1,590,000
in non-agricultural occupations).
In Tunisia the order in 1956 was manufacturing (82,110), services
(67,150), commerce (63,560) and construction (28,650). In Egypt in
1947 services occupied first position, after agriculture, with 729,506
followed by manufacturing (648,554), transport, etc. (202,891), and
construction (113,172).
The low place occupied by mining and quarrying in the area as a
whole is indicated by the fact that only some 60,000 persons are so
engaged, though this figure is increasing rapidly. The basic features of
the domestic economies of the various countries dealt with in this study
have, however, already been examined in Chapter I.
While the sectors of activity in which the economically active populations of the area are engaged are thus fairly clear, any attempt to assess
the numbers of specialists, skilled workers and unskilled workers occupied in those sectors and to separate them according to occupation is a
much more difficult matter owing to the lack of statistical data for the
area as a whole. What is apparent, however, is the comparatively large
proportions of actively employed persons in agriculture, industry,
commerce and in service activities, who are employers or workers on
their own account. As far as agriculture is concerned, the figures
in table 12 relating to employers and workers on their own account
certainly include a large proportion of what would normally be
regarded as unpaid family workers, particularly females. For example
it is estimated that 98 per cent, of the females working in Tunisian
agriculture are unpaid family workers. The percentages of the economically active population engaged in agriculture who are actually wage
earners are: Algeria 22, Egypt 30, Morocco 17 and Tunisia 20. If,
however, the considerations regarding female family workers in Egypt
already mentioned are taken into account, the proportion of wage
earners is likely to correspond more closely to the figures for the other
countries. In industry the high proportion of persons working on their
own account is likely to be partly explained by the large numbers engaged
in artisanal activities which are a feature of the economy of the whole
area. One-man businesses will equally explain the proportion of those
engaged in commercial activities on their own account. Service activities, apart from government service, are typically performed for the
most part by persons working for their own account, often on a casual
basis.
1
See Appendix II, table 14.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
97
MOVEMENTS OF MANPOWER
The most important characteristic of the economy of the whole area
is that it functions in what are essentially two different worlds. On the
one hand there is the traditional sector largely occupied with family
agriculture and handicrafts and on the other a modern capitalist sector
occupied with organised agriculture, industry and commerce. While
from the point of view of organisation, human relations, social and
economic implications and general mode of life, these two facets of the
North African scene have little in common, yet they are not by any
means shut off the one from the other. In particular there are considerable
movements of manpower, mainly from the traditional towards the
modern sector. Faced with lessening possibilities of employment, apart
from seasonal work, in the rural areas, large numbers of workers are
attracted by hopes of more permanent work in the towns or by the
possibilities of picking up odds and ends to do there. Thus over the
years there has been a steady exodus from the countryside and a steep
rise in urban populations. The manifestations of this problem particular
to each country will now be examined separately starting with Egypt
and moving westwards.
In Egypt there are, apart from the movements of nomads in the
Western and Eastern Deserts and in Sinai, two main streams of migration
—from Upper Egypt to Lower Egypt and from the countryside to the
towns. Upper Egypt is more densely populated than Lower Egypt,
having a population of over 7 million in 1947 and a crop area of 0.47
feddan (half an acre) per person. On the other hand, Lower Egypt,
excluding Cairo, Alexandria, the Canal and northern frontier districts
had 8 million inhabitants and a crop area of 0.64 feddan (two-thirds
of an acre) per person, thus providing an important economic inducement
for migration from the south to the north. According to a recent survey,
it is claimed that—
. . . The men of Upper Egypt, who suffer less than those of the North from
the debilitating endemic diseases, can often find work in enterprises for which
the northerner is unfitted. Furthermore the people of Lower Egypt seem to be
more attached to the soil than those of the Nile Valley. Even so, migration
to the delta from the south has not yet equated density of population and
resources; though some provinces—for example, Giza in the immediate
vicinity of Cairo—may
be oversaturated, there is an actual shortage of labour
in other delta areas.1
The drift of population from the rural areas to the towns is of formidable dimensions. Between 1937 and 1947 the populations of various
1
Human Relations Area Files : Country Survey
Connecticut, 1957), p. 41.
Series : Egypt (New Haven,
98
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
towns increased as follows: Cairo 1,312,096 to 2,090,654; Alexandria
685,736 to 919,024; Suez 63,000 to 107,244 and Mehalla el Kobra 25,000
to 115,758. More recent estimates suggest that by 1956 Cairo and
Alexandria had populations of 2,550,000 and 1,157,000 respectively.
Industrial developments in and around the towns tend to add to the
numbers leaving the overcrowded countryside in search of a better livelihood but it is doubtful whether this drift to the towns does more than
take care of the annual increase in population, thus leaving the numbers
to be supported by the rural areas undiminished.
The urban population of Libya is around 200,000 (about 18 per cent.
of the total population). There was considerable movement to the towns
during the period of Italian occupation, largely as a result of displacement
of Libyan peasants by Italians in colonisation areas, leading to the
creation of shanty-towns around existing town boundaries and to overcrowding in the towns themselves and these features have persisted.
Some 60 per cent, of the population Uve in settled rural communities
while the rest follow a nomadic or semi-nomadic mode of life, supporting
themselves by itinerant grazing or by growing crops—mainly of barley—
in years of good rains.
In Tunisia there has equally been a heavy increase in the urban
populations. The city of Tunis and its suburbs grew from 463,593 in
1946 to 561,000 in 1956; Sfax from 55,000 to 65,000; Sousse from 36,566
to 48,172 and Bizerta from 39,327 to 44,681. The total urban population
in 1956 amounted to 1,250,257—over 30 per cent, of the whole population—of which Tunis and suburbs accounted for about one-half. Apart
from the heavy general population increase, this increase in the urban
( population has been due to two main reasons. Firstly, there has been the
I attraction to the town of a large floating agricultural population who
I could count only on intermittent or seasonal work in agriculture and
j who were thus impelled towards the towns by the possibilities existing in
them for doing odd jobs. The second reason has been the development
of mechanisation in agriculture and the resultant displacement of agri• cultural labourers. The reorganisation of cultivation methods involved
has also led to the disappearance of certain forms of farmer tenancy and
of métayage. While Tunisians do not emigrate to the same extent as
Algerians, there are estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000 Tunisians
working in France.
In Algeria the problem of migration presents itself in rather special
forms. As in Libya and Morocco, there is a considerable amount of
nomadism in the southern regions. The pastoral tribes migrate seasonally, drifting in summer towards the northern plateaux to find the alfa
and other grasses with which to feed their sheep. Considerable numbers
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
99
of Mozabites have migrated definitively to the towns in the Tell region
and on the coasts and to Ghardaia. More generally, important numbers
of the rural populations have tended to drift towards the towns and
industrial and mining centres. Sometimes their absences from their
rural homes are temporary or even seasonal but many are now installed
with their families in or around these towns and centres. Finally there is a
very large migratory movement towards France. A large proportion of
these migrants come from the Kabyles, the settled peoples of Berber
stock inhabiting the low mountainous regions of Tizi Ouzou, Bougie and
Sétif. Recent indications suggest, however, that this migration towards
France has become more generalised and includes migrants from other
regions, notably Oran.
In 1958 the total number of Algerians in France amounted to over
320,000, including 261,800 adult males, 15,200 women and 45,000 children
under 14. They were mainly concentrated in the industrial areas and more
particularly in the big towns, with 110,000 in the department of the Seine
alone. There were 9,800 unemployed and only 30 per cent, were semiskilled or skilled workers. There is a considerable turnover of workers;
50 per cent, go back to Algeria every year, some to pass their annual
paid leave, others permanently or for a long stay, in which case they are
automatically replaced by new arrivals. This constant rotation means
that a large proportion of the male population will have at one time or
another worked in France. From the French point of view, the contribution of these Algerian workers in France to the industrial effort is considerable; from the Algerian point of view, the benefits are primordial.
Forced to leave their lands to relieve the ever-increasing pressure of
population on poor soils and the constant fragmentation due to inheritance rights, these 320,000 workers nevertheless contribute a considerable
proportion of the total income accruing to the regions from which they
come. It was estimated that in 1957 they sent around 50,000 million
francs to their families in Algeria, thus enabling some 2 million people,
nearly a quarter of the population of Algeria, to Uve in tolerable
conditions.
In Morocco there is not only a drift towards the towns but considerable population movements between different rural areas. The Moslem
populations of the 19 municipalities rose from 703,900 in 1936 to
1,376,700 in 1952. The annual increase in the urban population daring
that period was 4.3 percent, while that of the rural population was only
1 per cent. In particular cases the advance has been far greater. The
Moslem population of Casablanca grew from 146,000 in 1936 to 472,000
in 1952, an average yearly increase of 7.6 per cent. In fact, the total
population of Casablanca advanced from 257,000 in 1936 to 682,388 in
100
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
1952. This increase of the urban population has been due to intense
industrial development, particularly in the ports such as Agadir, Sari,
Kenitra, and Casablanca, to exports of minerals such as phosphates
through them, and to increased mining and agricultural activities in
the Oujda region. Certain rural areas have also considerably increased
their populations because of the presence in or near them of new agricultural, industrial or mining enterprises. Finally, the seasonal migratory
movements of the sheep-rearing tribes of the Central and High Atlas
regions should be recalled.
THE EMPLOYMENT MARKET
General Features
As already shown, the economy of the North African region as a
whole is characterised by its dual nature. On the one hand there is
the traditional economy, represented mainly by agriculture chiefly
organised with the resources and for the subsistence of basically selfcontained rural communities whose participation in exchange is incidental, depending on availability of marketable surpluses. Complementary to this are specialised traditional handicrafts. On the other hand
there is a modern economy which includes organised agriculture, forestry,
fishing, mining, industry, construction, trade and transport. These
sectors have been largely organised with external capital, entrepreneurship and skills. The local populations have until recently been involved
in them mainly as a reservoir of semi-skilled and unskilled labour.
Except for trade and, to some extent, agriculture, local enterprise has
played a minor part in their organisation. While this situation is rapidly
changing, the general contrast between the two economies remains.
Their relative importance is in no way reflected, however, by the proportions of the total active population engaged in them. For example,
in Morocco it is estimated that the modern economy, while only employing one-third of the total active population, accounts for more than
two-thirds of domestic product, while the remainder, occupied in the
traditional economy, contributes only one-third of domestic product.1
This is not the place to discuss what this means in terms of relative
standards of living of the populations concerned. In its employment
aspects, however, it has important consequences, having regard to the
actual situation in the traditional economy. The fact is that throughout
the area as a whole, there is heavy demographic pressure on the available
1
Structure and Growth of Selected African Economies, op. cit., p. 81.
101
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
means of subsistence. By and large, a state of general stagnation reigns
in the traditional agriculture and handicraft economy and while employment in the modern economy has developed, this has not been sufficient
or rapid enough to relieve pressure on the traditional economy by withdrawing any considerable amount of manpower from it, account being
taken of the normal accretions of manpower to it by the natural increase
of population.
The general picture, therefore, is one not merely of considerable
unemployment in rural areas, but of an immense amount of disguised
unemployment in the sense that the same output could be achieved with
a smaller labour force without any improvement in technical methods.
Quite simply, available labour is far from fully occupied. In urban areas,
though the situation varies in different countries and in different regions,
it can be firmly stated that there are more men available than jobs for
them and that in certain areas there is serious unemployment and
underemployment. This will clearly emerge on examination country by
country.
Some indication of the state of chronic underemployment in the
agricultural sector in Egypt may be gained by the figures of the average
number of working days per year in some of the Egyptian provinces
(predominantly rural in character), indicated in table XI.
TABLE XI.
E G Y P T : E M P L O Y M E N T AVERAGES IN SOME
PROVINCES
(Number of working days per year)
Province
Gharbia
Aswan
Asyut
Males
Females
Children
185
180
175
150
220
140
120
115
140
160
140
170
90
100
190
Source: Old Ills and New Remedies in Egypt, op. cit., p. 51.
The relationship between the numbers engaged in agriculture and the
cultivated and crop areas has steadily deteriorated over the years. In 1907
there were 2.3 million people engaged in agriculture; this figure rose to
4.5 in 1954, an annual rate of increase of 2 per cent. In the same period
the cultivated area rose from 5.4 million feddans to 6.1, an annual
increase of 0.3 per cent., while the crop area (there being two crops per
year in certain parts) rose from 7.7 to 9.3 million feddans, an annual
102
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
increase of 0.5 per cent.1 This means that during a period in which the
population engaged in agriculture has almost doubled, the crop area
has increased by only 20 per cent. Even assuming that any improved
techniques have resulted in no saving of manpower in the interval, it is
apparent that underemployment in agriculture has been steadily mounting
and that there is a growing number of surplus hands.
According to the same source, during the decade 1927-37 manpower (males between 15 and 60 years of age) engaged in industry and
agriculture increased at the rate of 47,000 persons per year, of whom
40,000 were in agriculture and only 7,000 in industry, in spite of the oversupply already existing in agriculture. During the next decade, 1937-47,
manpower increased at the rate of 90,000 a year, of whom 19,000
were absorbed in agriculture and 18,000 in industry, while most of the
remainder went to transport, commerce and public and private services,
all of which greatly increased during the Second World War. This
development did not last and by 1947 some 376,000 were either unemployed or were " engaged in unproductive occupations ". During the
years 1947-57 it was estimated that the annual increase of manpower
available for labour would average 130,000.
The actual situation at the end of 1958 showed a total population
of 24,167,000, which was 464,000 more than in 1957. About 7,122,000
were estimated to be economically active. Of these, 4,081,000 were
engaged in agriculture, 650,000 in manufacturing industry, 34,000 in
mines and quarries, 140,000 in construction, 10,000 in the electricity
industry, 700,000 in commerce, 231,000 in transport and 1,188,110 in
public and private services. The main increases on 1957 were in manufacturing industry and in electricity (65,000 and 6,000) and the main
decreases in construction and transport (63,000 and 46,000). The overall increase was 88,000.
Other indications of the employment market situation are shown in
connection with child labour, hours of work and underemployment.
The number of children between 6 and 11 years of age in the labour
force fell from 281,000 in 1957 to 221,000 in 1958, presumably on account
of the extension of schooling facilities. As regards hours of work,
2,680,000 employees worked in 1958 a week of 48 hours or more; 721,000
worked a 40-hour week. As regards underemployment, the numbers
working only six hours a week fell from 240,000 in 1957 to 100,000 in
1
Government of Egypt: Report of the Permanent Council for the Development
of National Production (roneoed), 1955, p. 7. As regards employment in agriculture,
the figures given show a considerable discrepancy with the figures quoted later, viz.
4,500,000 in 1954 as against 4,081,000 in 1958. Which is the more accurate figure
it is not possible to say but it is doubtful whether the numbers engaged in agriculture
have decreased by over 400,000 in the past four years.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
103
1958 and those working 12 hours a week fell from 310,000 to 160,000.
On the other hand, those working 18 hours a week rose from 298 to
200,000 and those working 24 hours a week fell from 779,000 to 466,000.
The situation in Libya has been summed up in a recent report as
follows :
. . . The predominance of agricultural and related activities makes for much
underemployment and for seasonal unemployment among unskilled workers.
While recent cut-backs at British installations have added to the problem, this
has been offset to some degree by expanding operations of petroleum exploration companies. A fair proportion of those who seek employment, however,
are reportedly unemployable because of infirmities or invalidism. In so far as
concerns the very limited supply of semi-skilled and skilled workers, unemployment is seldom a problem.
The unskilled Arab element in the urban labour force fluctuates in size.
When periods of drought presage crop failures, as happens periodically,
tribesmen from the rural districts tend to gravitate towards the populated
areas of the northern provinces in search of relief or work and to swell the pool
of unemployed workers in the cities. Conversely, when periods of unemployment become protracted many of those without jobs are either sent by the
authorities or else of their own accord drift back to the hinterland and resume
their former mode of life. Thus in Tripoli the number unemployed
has recently
remained fairly constant at between 1,500 and 2,000 persons.1
The employment situation in Tunisia has been considerably complicated in recent years by the effects of the change-over from a French
protectorate to independent status. In the period from 1955 to early
1958 it is estimated that 18,000 male French and 2,500 male Italians left
the Tunisian labour force as a result of net emigration. These, in the
main, were in the non-agricultural sector and represented the more
highly skilled technical, professional and managerial categories.2 This
process continues. At the same time the build-up of an independent
Tunisian Government called for the creation of new departments and
the transformation of others and in 1959 there were still many vacancies,
particularly in the technical departments, for a whole range of officials
requiring technical qualifications which were apparently not then available locally. Moreover, the reorientation of the Tunisian economy
towards greater self-sufficiency, less dependence on France, closer ties to
North Africa and increased world trade, involving development of the
tourist trade, of agriculture and fisheries, the establishment of light
industries and increased manufactures of consumer goods, created
1
International Cooperation Administration : Summary of the Labor Situation in
Libya (Washington, United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
June 1958) (mimeographed), p. 4.
2
The material in this paragraph has been taken from an unpublished International
Cooperation Administration survey. See also " La population active en Tunisie ",
in Bulletin ds statistique et d'études économiques (Tunis, République tunisienne),
New Series, No. 2, Apr.-June 1958.
104
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
demands for manpower of a kind and quality not currently available on
the labour market.
At the same time a series of dry years, coupled with mechanisation of
agriculture, particularly in the north, led to an influx into the towns of
considerable numbers of unemployed and underemployed agricultural
labour. The result, to which the high birth rate and consequent increase
of the active population has also contributed, is that there are currently
some 335,000 either out of work or underemployed, of whom 85,000 are
urban unemployed and 250,000 rural unemployed. Of the latter, 25 per
cent, are agricultural labourers and the rest landowners, tenants, sharecroppers, etc.
To cope with this problem, the Government has set up a permanent
body—the National Employment Council (Conseil national de l'emploi)—
with funds of 1,000 million francs at its disposal to study ways and means
of combating unemployment. Credits for particular works are allocated
in consultation with the different Ministries and the Under-Secretary in
charge of the plan. A census of unemployed in the various regions
has been made and a departmental committee set up, largely consisting
of representatives of the departments of Agriculture and Public Works,
to select projects on the programme of the various Ministries for accelerated execution with unemployed labour and at the expense of the special
credits available. Efforts are made as far as possible to reintegrate
workers into the agricultural sector and near their homes. At the local
level, similar committees presided over by the Governors and containing
representatives of employers' and workers' organisations select projects
for execution within the limits of the credits at their disposal. Works so
far carried out consist mainly of drainage canals, dams, anti-erosion work,
minor irrigation works, search for water and cleaning of cisterns. Pay is
at the rate of 300 francs per day in Tunis and suburbs and 250 francs
elsewhere. Payment is at present being made by way of one-third in
money and two-thirds in wheat put at the Government's disposal for this
purpose by the United States International Cooperation Administration
(I.C.A.).1 Work is done in teams, the teams being changed every 15 days,
the re-composition depending on the number of unemployed in the
locality.2 By Decree of 9 December 1954, the State and other public
authorities thus employing labour are exempted from statutory liabilities
regarding the minimum wage and family allowances but liability for
workmen's compensation remains. Sums spent under these schemes
1
The proportion paid in cash was increased as from 1 November 1959 by 50 francs
a day (Marchés tropicaux et méditerranéens, 5 Dec. 1959, p. 2738).
2
This has recently been abolished and the unemployed must now be given continuous work.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
105
amounted to 2,000 million francs in 1954-55, 2,400 million in 1955-56 and
2,200 million in 1957-58. At the beginning of 1960 the Government
launched a campaign called " the struggle against underdevelopment".
Immigrant foreign workers are only permitted to work in Tunisia if
they have an employment contract issued by the State Secretariat for
Public Health and Social Affairs. Countries which afford reciprocal
treatment are dispensed from this provision. At present workers from
North Africa enjoy this freedom to work in Tunisia without a contract.
Since the Act of 5 November 1959 all foreign workers must obtain a
work card which is valid for one year and is renewable.
The employment market situation in Algeria at the present time is,
of course, very abnormal on account of the disturbed conditions in the
territory. Nevertheless, the broad lines are clearly to be seen—two-thirds
of the total economically active population are engaged in mainly traditional agriculture (three-quarters of the Moslem population), the rest
work on their own account or for wages in commerce, industry, mining,
transport and services. In addition, there are 260,000 males working in
France. In commerce and industry, transport and communications, as
well as in government services, the greater proportion of the skilled and
semi-skilled jobs and posts in the higher echelons generally are held by
Europeans and in some sectors a large proportion of all jobs are also
held by them. In fact, there are probably not more than 200,000 Moslem
Algerians engaged in regular wage-paid work outside agriculture and
government service, though just as many are vaguely attached to the
wage-paid sector in " activities not adequately described ". These are
probably " odd-job " men and unemployed, in proportions which it is
impossible to estimate.
The present state of traditional agriculture is precarious in the
extreme. It has been estimated that on the basis of the amount of work
needed to produce the crops actually grown, the number of man-days of
work furnished by the agricultural population in 1954 was about 150 million. Applied to the male members of thé active population only, this
represents 92_days of work per year per person of working age.1 While
development carried out since that time in the agricultural sector may
have helped somewhat to attenuate that heavy underemployment, it
certainly has not resolved the problem and, apart from continuing
absorption of considerable numbers by France, it is largely to the nonagricultural sector that one must look, here as elsewhere in the region, to
absorb the excess manpower at present in the agricultural sector and to
take care of the constant increase in the population—in other words
1
M. PIQUARD: "Les perspectives d'amélioration du niveau de vie en Algérie", in
Economie et humanisme (Lyons), Vol. XVII, No. 113, Sep.-Oct. 1958, p. 355.
106
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
industrial development is a sine qua non to the solution of the manpower
problem.
Recent figures of unemployment and underemployment in Algeria do
not exist. The last official attempt to estimate their extent was made in
1955 when a report was presented to the Economic Council in Paris by
Mr. Robert Delavignette. His estimates, which should be related to the
active population of that time, were as follows. There were 2,300,000
men in the active Moslem population (excluding those overseas) of whom
1,850,000 were in the rural and 450,000 in the urban sector. In the latter
sector there were 100,000 unemployed, many of them unemployed rural
workers who had come to the towns to look for work. In the rural
sector he broke down the total of 1,850,000 into: 630,000 proprietors,
small and medium, or heads of enterprises ; 170,000 khammès; 230,000
sheep and cattle herds; 170,000 permanent workers. The total of
1,200,000 workers he regarded as being regularly employed in agriculture, leaving 650,000 men—family help and occasional workers
—engaged temporarily for agricultural work. It is among this floating
mass that were (and are) to be found the greatest number of unemployed
and underemployed.
On the basis of these figures, Mr. Delavignette estimated that at its
lowest the number of unemployed for the whole of Algeria, urban and
rural, was 300,000 and that it might be as much as 400,000. To these
figures he considered there should be added around 450,000 underemployed, mainly fellahs who seek paid employment to complement
the work on their land which is insufficient to maintain them. He
thus reached a figure of 850,000 unemployed and underemployed,
adding that the situation was growing worse each year.
It should be pointed out that these figures, particularly as regards the
agricultural sector, vary considerably from the figures revealed as a
result of the 1954 census.1 Moreover, they take no account of the extent
to which females are available for paid employment, especially in agriculture, or the extent to which, were work available, they could assume
further family help duties, thus releasing their menfolk for paid employment.
It has been estimated that in 1957 the amount of man-days' work
available in Algerian agriculture was some 167 million, calculated on
the basis of the crops cultivated and livestock to be taken care of in
that year. This represented for the 1,700,000 active males in agriculture
about 100 days' work per head. Even taking only 200 days' work a year
as representing full employment, this meant underemployment of 50
1
See Chapter II.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
107
per cent, without taking into account the fact that there were some
1 million women, mainly family help, also available. It has also been
estimated that as regards non-Moslems, the active population in the nonagricultural sectors rose from 319,000 to 355,000 between 1954 and 1957
of which 302,000 and 346,000 respectively were employed whole or
part-time; the wholly unemployed non-Moslems thus fell from 17,000
in 1954 to 9,000 in 1957. The corresponding figures for Moslems (excluding those employed in France) were: active population 1954—550,000;
1957—678,000; wholly or partially employed: 1954—452,000; 1957—
548,000; wholly unemployed: 1954—98,000; 1957—130,000. This means
that in 1957 some 19 per cent, of the active Moslem population was
wholly unemployed and to this figure must be added the underemployed.
Taking the active population as a whole, it is estimated, on the basis of
the figures quoted, that of a total active population in the non-agricultural sectors of 1,033,000 there were 139,000 unemployed and 994,000
employed of whom only 688,000 were employed full-time.
It is equally impossible to say to what extent the above figures reflect
the present-day situation. On the one hand industrial activity has
increased and artisanal trades have been prosperous due to the market
created for their products by the army; considerable numbers of Europeans have left the country; in agriculture very widespread efforts have
been made to modernise techniques and otherwise to assist the fellah
to improve his output. Against this, however, must be set the disturbed
conditions over large areas of the countryside, the considerable displacements of rural populations rendered necessary by events and, above all,
the steady increase in the population. Moreover, account must be taken
of the extent to which manpower is engaged on one side or the other in
the present struggle, either directly or indirectly, and the fact that when
peace returns large numbers now absorbed in non-productive activities
will again be available for work in industry or in agriculture.
As regards Morocco, P. Dubois 1 quotes figures to show that 20 per
cent, of the active population of Casablanca was unemployed in March
1958, that this unemployment was of long duration, half of the unemployed having been without work for over a year and that unemployment
affected mainly younger workers: two out of every three unemployed
being under 35 years of age. He also notes considerable underemployment, both evident and concealed, and is prepared to consider the Casablanca figures as representative of urban employment throughout
Morocco. As regards agriculture, and taking full employment to be
250 days' work a year for a man and 150 days for his wife, i.e. a total of
1
Op. cit., p. 493.
108
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
400 days' work per couple per year, he estimates rural underemployment to be around 50 per cent., that is to say, that on the basis of current
crops and livestock, the average number of days work involved per year
per couple is 200.1
Recruiting, Placement of Workers and Employment Exchanges
Recruiting.
Nothing comparable in extent to the recruiting systems which have
for many years been a feature of the employment markets of certain
East, Central and Southern African territories exists in North Africa.
There is, however, organised recruiting for mining activities in Morocco.2
For example, the Office chérifien des phosphates (O.C.P.), which employs
some 10,000 workers, has over many years conducted organised recruiting
campaigns for workers not normally living in or near the regions in
which the mines are situated. The latter offer voluntarily their services
at the place of employment, being part of the general flow, seasonal or
otherwise, of workers from rural areas towards employment centres.
While the recruited workers were originally largely seasonal, their stay
at the mines has now become more extended, although they are still
unstable. They work largely on piece work and their aim is to save
enough money to build a house in their home area and to marry. Recruiting is now carried out at intervals of one or two years by workers,
members of the tribes of the districts in which recruiting takes place,
with the authorisation of the Administration or the Caïd. Propaganda
meetings are held and information given as to wages and conditions.
Recruits are given an advance on wages to enable them to reach Khouribga, 60 miles east of Casablanca, where the mines are. The main
regions of recruitment are parts of the Atlantic Plain, the Central Atlas,
the Dra Oases, Sous and the border regions of the Dra. The O.C.P. has
over the years gradually developed improved housing facilities for the
majority of its workers and since the beginning of 1957 has paid a housing
allowance in cases where housing is not provided. This amounts to 1,200
francs per month per room. An unmarried worker or a married man with
only one child has the right to one room, those married with two or three
children to two rooms and those with more to three rooms.
1
On this basis, rural underemployment in Algeria would amount to some
70 per cent.
a
See " Habitat du personnel journalier permanent de l'Office chérifien des
phosphates ", in Bulletin économique et social du Maroc, Vol. XXI, No. 76, Mar. 1958,
pp. 435-462.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
109
The recruiting campaigns are said to have had varied success, depending on the region and the time of year. There is competition for labour
between various mining centres and sometimes opposition from the local
authorities who need labour for land development, forestry works and
anti-locust campaigns. It may be added that the present system of
recruitment replaced two earlier systems—the first being a system of
forced labour imposed with the co-operation of the local Caïds and the
latter a system of utilisation of prison labour working on task work,
prisons having been specially constructed in the localities to facilitate
the system. The prison system was abolished in 1929 and revived only
temporarily between 1942 and 1944.
It is doubtful whether this method of recruitment still represents a
practical necessity in the present situation of unemployment and underemployment in the employment centres in Morocco, since it would
seem easy to find enough workers in the regions where mining operations
are being carried out.
In Egypt recruiting of workers through labour contractors has been
one of the features of labour organisation, particularly in the case of
unskilled casual labour for seasonal or temporary employment. As
early as 1932, Mr. H. B. Butler, then Deputy Director of the I.L.O., had
referred 1 to the practice in ginning factories whereby girl employees were
recruited by a rayyés who received the total of wages earned and who, in
paying them to the girls " not infrequently retains a portion of their
small earnings ". In some factories, however, the rayyés was paid a daily
wage and wages were also paid directly to the workers by the employer.
This was the system which Mr. Butler recommended should be adopted.2
He recognised, however, that to make this an invariable obligation would
be contrary to the practice which existed in a good many instances,
whereby the employer contracted with the head of a gang or group of
workers to pay a certain sum to the leader in accordance with the quantity produced, the leader being responsible for distributing the amount
so earned among his helpers. He therefore advocated that a distinction
be drawn between genuine subcontracting and cases where the work
done is for the direct benefit of the employer but in which the worker is
nevertheless paid by a contractor who is not responsible in any way for
production but who simply acts as a recruiter of labour.
In spite of this recommendation, the labour contractor hiring system
seems to have continued virtually unhampered, particularly in such
operations as plant construction, digging canals, building roads, and in
1
Report on Labour Conditions in Egypt with Suggestions for Future Social Legislation (Cairo, Government Press, 1932), p. 13.
a
Ibid., p. 26.
110
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
seasonal operations such as cotton ginning and sugar crushing. Use is
also made of contractor arrangements to secure labour for work in
uninhabited desert areas and for bringing large numbers of agricultural
workers to urban areas for short periods of employment.1 One of the
most constant complaints of the unions to the Department of Labour
was that employers frequently used the labour-contractor system as a
means of substituting casual for permanent labour, thereby circumventing
legal employment standards, the casual workers being paid much less
than the permanent.
Efforts were made in 1944 and again in 1952 to tighten up controls.
Act No. 41 of 1944 provided that recruiting agents should hold official
permits and that they should notify the Department of Labour as regards
the employers with whom they entered into contracts, the kind and place
of the work to be performed, the number of workers involved and the
places they were recruited from. They were also required to inform the
Department as to the amount and nature of the guarantee given for
performance of the contract. A standard contract of the period drawn
up on the basis of contracts between the Administration of State Domains
and recruiting agents furnishing gangs of agricultural workers 2 shows,
however, that although the rates of wages to be paid to workers supplied
by recruiters were agreed with the employer, the liability for payment lay
with the recruiting agent, who must, however, pay the wages " in sight
of and under the supervision of the employer ". The recruiting agent
was entitled to receive for his services remuneration amounting to 10
per cent, of the wages of the workers concerned. He was responsible
for transport of the workers to the place of work and for their repatriation, for seeing that accommodation and food were available, and for
compensation for accidents at work. He was also required to conform
to the laws relating to employment. The employer was, however, by
article 8 of the Act rendered liable to pay wages due, to provide the
housing and food contracted for and to repatriate the workers, if the
recruiting agent defaulted in these matters.
A legislative decree of 1952 defined a recruiting agent as " any person
who obtains labour for an employer without himself supervising the
worker or the workers " and went on to place an obligation on the employer, and not the recruiter, to pay their wages directly to the workers.
This seems to have taken care of the activities of contractors who were,
1
For a fuller description of the system and its abuses, see F. HARBISON and
I. A. IBRAHIM: Human Resources for Egyptian Enterprise (New York, McGraw-Hill
Book Co. Inc., 1958), pp. 79-82.
2
See Z. BADAOUI: La législation du travail en Egypte (Alexandria, Edition du
Journal du commerce et de la marine, 1946), p. 51.
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
111
in effect, only supphers of labour. However, the more general case of
contractors who themselves exercise control over the workers and in fact
undertake to do a specified piece of work for an employer seems to have
been less satisfactorily dealt with, since article 15 of the same Act, while
imposing on the contractor an obligation to treat his workers on the
same basis as the employer's own workers and imposing on the employer
a joint obligation to that effect, contained very considerable exceptions. In
particular, it did not apply to work of a non-permanent character nor to
occasional or periodical work, even though it was work of the same kind
or of a kind similar to that normally performed by the employer. These
exceptions have finally been removed by article 53 of the 1959 Labour
Code and it would now seem that the legal position of workers engaged
by recruiting agents or employed by contractors is adequately safeguarded.
It may also be mentioned that, in accordance with article 22 of the Labour
Code of 1959, the recruitment of workers through recruiting agents is
permitted only in districts where no employment office exists.
Placement of Workers and Employment Exchanges.
The placement of workers is dealt with in the labour legislation of
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.
In Algeria placement of workers is regulated mainly by an ordinance
of 24 May 1945. Under it, the regional and departmental manpower
services are alone given power to place workers. Advertisements of
vacancies and by persons seeking work must be visaed by the manpower
service. All persons seeking work must register with the service and employers must notify all vacancies to it. In places where no manpower
service exists, the mayor must keep a register of offers of and applications
for employment. Engagement of workers by direct contracts between employers and workers is, however, allowed. All engagements of workers
and termination of such engagements must be notified to the manpower
service. This latter provision does not apply in certain cases : for example
agriculture and domestic service. Employers are free to refuse workers
proposed to them by the manpower service and workers are not required
to accept the work offered (though this may involve difficulties as regards
any unemployment allowance). Dockers are subject to special registration and call-on arrangements (Act of 6 September 1947 and Order of
5 June 1949).
The latest official figures of persons seeking work and of unsatisfied
vacancies are as follows: the average number seeking work during 1947
was 6,433 of whom 5,705 were men and 728 women; in 1958, for the
first seven months the figures were 5,044 and 332, an average total of
5,376; unsatisfied vacancies amounted to an average of 706 for men and
112
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
591 for women in 1957 as against 893 and 639 respectively for the first
seven months of 1958.
In Libya article 7 of the Labour Code provides for the setting up
in each province of an employment service, with offices in every district,
" to assist employers in recruiting workers and to assist workers in
obtaining employment ". For the purpose the service must keep a
register of unemployed persons; obtain information from employers
respecting vacancies and refer suitable applicants to available employment; give guidance and assistance as regards vocational training or
retraining; and facilitate the transfer of workers from one occupation
to another or from one region to another as necessary. Power is taken
to stipulate that as regards particular trades, establishments, types of
work or categories of workers, workers shall be recruited through the
employment offices only. Power also exists to fix the minimum percentage of Libyan workers to be employed and the minimum percentage of
wages to be paid to such workers in particular establishments. Employment service facilities on these lines already existed under provincial
legislation in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica and in the latter province all
labour for work on oil exploration by agreement with the oil companies
must be recruited through the employment service. In Tripoli and
Benghazi, all engagement of workers is done through the employment
office, although the law does not specifically so provide. Elsewhere,
engagements are free. It is intended gradually to set up a system of
employment offices in other main employment centres. Meanwhile, a
local administration official is charged with fulfilling placement functions.
The 1957 Labour Code does not apply to family workers, agricultural
workers, domestic servants and categories such as seamen and civil
servants, whose conditions of service are governed by other regulations.
An I.L.O. expert has been working recently on measures to improve
existing employment information arrangements in Libya.
Placement of workers in Egypt is now regulated by Chapter III of
the Labour Code of the United Arab Republic. In principle, all unemployed persons who are able and desire to work in any of the localities
to be fixed by order of the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour are
required to register at their local employment office which helps them to
find suitable work. No unemployed person may be engaged unless he
has a certificate of registration issued by an employment office. Employers must notify vacancies and new jobs, together with particulars of
wages and conditions of work, to the employment office within seven
days of their occurring. They must also notify it, within seven days, of
the engagement of any worker and enter in their register of workers the
number and date of the certificate issued by the employment office to
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
113
the worker engaged. Workers who have obtained work may be transported at state expense with their families to the place where they are to
work. Employers may in certain circumstances be compelled to engage
workers according to the chronological order of their registration with
employment offices. Associations, institutions and organisations may
open private employment offices but no fee may be collected from an
unemployed person for placing him in any job to which the provisions
of the chapter apply. The provisions do not at present apply to casual
j'obs of less than two weeks duration, employment of the members
of the employer's family whom he actually supports, and to senior
positions, the holders of which are considered as authorised agents
of the employer.
In localities where the chapter does not apply (i.e. where there are
no placement offices) the employer may ask a recruiting agent to supply
him with workers. A recruiting agent for this purpose is any person who
supplies a gang of workers to an employer without supervising the work
or the worker. All recruiting agents must hold an official permit to
recruit. All contracts between employers and recruiting agents must be
in writing and must specify the nature of the work, the wage rates to be
paid, the employer's obligation to pay wages direct to the worker, the
approximate duration of the work and the locations from which the
workers have come. Neither the employer nor his representative, nor
the recruiting agent may collect any amount from the worker in consideration for his employment or for keeping him employed.
There is at present a total of 18 employment offices located mainly
in the industrial centres and including three in Cairo, two in Alexandria
and two in Port Said. Provision is made for setting up advisory committees on which government, employers and workers will be represented,
to assist employment offices in the fulfilment of their duties. These
advisory committees may make suggestions for the approval of the
Minister regarding local employment policy, vocational guidance,
equalisation of chances of employment, methods of recruitment to
public services through the offices, classification and selection of registered unemployed, organisation of transfer of workers from one area to
another according to work requirements and methods of ensuring
registration and candidatures of workers residing in scattered localities
remote from employment offices.
Finally, twice a year, in January and July, employers must give to the
local employment office particulars of the type of jobs held by all persons employed by them and of the jobs which have become vacant and
which have been filled in the previous six months, the reasons for not
filling any jobs, their nature and the pay attaching to them and also an
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
indication of the employment situation as regards the possibilities of
employing more or less labour.
The Moroccan Manpower Office, which is responsible in principle
for placement of workers throughout Morocco, functions through a
mixed system of state and municipally operated free public employment
offices. Eighteen such offices exist at present, 17 in the former French
Zone and one in Tangier. It is, in effect, only in the localities where the
offices exist that the placement system operates. Each office maintains a
register of vacancies and applications for employment which is freely
at the disposal of the public, as well as a card index on which applications
for employment are classified by occupational category. Fee-paying
employment agencies have been abolished except for those for the engagement of artists for public performances in the theatre, cinema, music
halls, concerts, circuses, etc., which are subject to strict control measures.
Joint committees, consisting of three employers' and three workers'
representatives, a labour inspector, the head of the employment office,
presided over by a representative of the head of the local administration,
supervise the work of the main employment offices.
Since the coming into force of the Decree of 3 July 1959 all engagements of workers in industry, commerce and the uberai professions must
be effected through or in agreement with the public employment offices
or in their absence, a local control authority. Before that date unskilled
workers were not required to register for work. If the employment
Office cannot supply the wants of the employer, the latter may recruit
the worker directly but must so notify the employment office within
seven days. If the employment office refuses its visa, the worker must
be discharged within ten days but he can be retained pending appeal to
the Labour Department. All departures and discharges of workers in
the sectors named above must be notified to the employment office
within three days. Newspaper advertisements concerning vacancies or
jobs required are controlled. No name or address either of the employer
or worker may be given but interested parties must be referred to one
of the employment offices.
Tangier, which had its own employment office under the legislation
of the Zone, is now subject to the Moroccan legislation on the matter.
The same measure abolished fee-paying employment agencies in Tangier
and ordered their closure within six months from its date (i.e. from
4 October 1957).
As to the activities of the placement offices, figures for the first nine
months of 1959 suggest that as against offers of employment averaging
3,200 a month, some 3,000 of the vacancies were filled through these
offices. Estimates of work seekers as given by the placement offices vary
MANPOWER AND EMPLOYMENT
115
enormously. Recently these figures have averaged about 42,000, but
this figure certainly underestimates considerably the amount of unemployment or non-employment, even in the areas covered by the placement
offices. Present arrangements are (March 1960) under review by an
I.L.O. expert.
As regards Tunisia the only employment office in operation is
that located in Tunis. 1 The traditional system of direct recruitment is
still strongly entrenched, though practical measures have been taken
through the newspapers, posters and the radio to publicise vacancies
and demands for employment. Fee-paying employment agencies are
forbidden and free private employment agencies operate under strict
control on the authorisation of the Government. In fact, only two
such agencies exist—one for domestic services and the other of a more
general character but specialising in watchmen—and the extent of their
operations is extremely small, though no details of the number of placements effected are known.
Figures from the employment office at Tunis for applications for
jobs and vacancies notified and filled in 1957 and 1958 are given in
table XII.
TABLE XII. TUNISIA: ACTIVITY OF THE EMPLOYMENT OFFICE
AT TUNIS IN 1957 AND 1958
Applications
Vacancies notified
Jobs filled
Description
Females
Total . . .
1957
1958
1957
1,780
1,928
260
162
2,040
2,090
|
1958
1957
1958
1,967
642
1,955
582
209
124
94
80
2,176
766
2,049
662
Source : Rapport annuel sur Vapplication de la législation ouvrière en Tunisie 1958 (roneoed document).
The slight increase in applications for jobs should not necessarily
be taken as an indication of greater unemployment but simply that the
employment office has become better known. In any case, the office only
dealt with a tiny fraction of the known unemployed. It is to be noted
that the placements of females were almost wholly of domestic servants.
The diminution in vacancies notified and jobs filled in 1958 as compared
with 1957 is said to be due to the elimination from both columns of
placements with firms receiving contracts for public works who must
1
Dockworkers in Tunis and La Goulette have special engagement arrangements.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
get their vacancies filled from the placement office or from the Governorates of the interior.
A plan for the establishment of a network of employment offices in
the main employment centres is at present being worked out. This
will be accompanied by the imtiation of an employment market information programme.
CHAPTER IV
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
GENERAL
The need for an expansion of technical and vocational training
facilities in the various countries covered by this survey has become
more and more evident as the changes in political, economic and social
conditions which have been taking place since the end of the Second
World War have made their influence felt. The demand for skilled
workers is constantly increasing as a result of economic and social
changes, the departure of foreign specialists and the adoption by the
authorities of economic development schemes.
As industrialisation develops, the shortage of skilled workers and
supervisors is becoming more marked, particularly in countries such as
Morocco and Tunisia, where part of the skilled labour force (which
consisted mainly of foreigners) emigrated when political independence
was attained. Morocco is a typical case. In 1957 the Government
conducted an inquiry into the situation in industry in Morocco, covering
35 engineering and 33 textile undertakings, the average number of
employees in each undertaking being 154. The inquiry showed that
in none of the firms were any engineers of Moroccan nationality employed
and that only 7 per cent, of the foremen in the engineering firms and 22
per cent, in the textile firms were Moroccans. The inquiry also revealed
that in 15 of the firms (seven engineering and eight textile firms) there
were no Moroccan employees in the skilled or higher grades. The
figures obtained in 1957 for the largely publicly owned undertakings
were similar to those for the private engineering and textile undertakings;
for instance, none of the engineers employed by the North African Coal
Mines were of Moroccan nationality, while of the 67 foremen working
underground only five were Moroccans. In addition, in the mines owned
by the Sherifian Phosphate Office 1.5 per cent, of the 194 foremen
employed underground and 20 per cent, of those employed on the
surface were of Moroccan nationality.
It is quite probable that similar statistical data exist for the other
countries covered by this study. For instance, in Tunisia it was observed
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
at the end of 1956 that most of the specialised staff were foreigners.
In Libya, in 1958, most of the key posts in the public services and in
industry were held by foreigners, while in both the private and public
sectors of industry there were very few—and certainly not enough—
Libyan workers with any degree of training. In Algeria at the beginning
of 1959 it was noted that in most sectors the number of Moslems holding
trade certificates was too small. In Egypt in 1957 it was considered that
there was a shortage of skilled foremen in industry and that the standards
of competence were relatively low owing to the fact that most of them
had not had any proper technical training.
Today interest in technical and vocational training seems to be
reawakening as is evidenced by the important reforms which are being
carried through in this sphere in order to give more thorough technical
and vocational training of all kinds to more people. This chapter describes the structure of technical and vocational training in each country
and gives a detailed account of the scope of the measures taken, the plans
in course of implementation and the technical assistance given by the
International Labour Office in Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.
Generally speaking it may be said that, as a result of the steady rise
in the number of unskilled workers and the increasing demand for skilled
workers, the governments have been led to seek methods of vocational
training which will give rapid results and provide workers with the skills
immediately required. This explains the emphasis placed in many
countries on the development and use of accelerated methods of training
adults to supplement the general technical and vocational training
schemes and on new developments in the field of apprentice training; in
the spheres of training for agriculture and handicrafts direct approaches
are being made to farmers and to artisans in order to modernise current
practices in those sectors of the economy as rapidly as possible.
The vocational training systems in these countries are thus intended
to serve two main purposes :firstly,to combat unemployment caused by
the rapid increase in population, and secondly, to promote economic
development. The fact that by far the greater part of the populations
concerned lives in rural areas explains the priority often given to the
teaching of agricultural subjects and training for agriculture; in this
particular sphere the main tasks include the introduction of new methods
into the peasant way of life, and the development of agricultural training
in rural primary schools, the promotion of the rural crafts required for
the upkeep of equipment, the training of instructors who will teach the
fellahin how they can improve their methods of farming and the training
of the technicians who will form the key personnel in the public sector
of industry and the big agricultural undertakings.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
119
On the whole, however, the trend is towards more comprehensive
training systemsflexibleenough to serve the various purposes of economic
and cultural development.
OBSTACLES TO THE EXPANSION OF TECHNICAL AND
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
The organisation of technical and vocational training is usually
hampered by various difficulties arising out of the circumstances obtaining
in each of the countries. One of the main difficulties lies in the fact that
illiteracy is widespread and that compulsory education has not yet become
general. For instance, in 1958 it was estimated that in Libya between 85
and 90 per cent, of the adult population was illiterate and that the
number of pupils in primary, secondary and technical schools, although
twice as great as in 1952, was slightly less than 7 per cent, of the total
population. In Egypt it was observed in 1957 that illiteracy among junior
supervisors and foremen was not infrequent. In Algeria at the beginning
of 1959 although there were 690,000 persons employed in commerce and
industry there were only 20,000 children registered in schools1, i.e. one
for every 32 workers; it was also found that only one pupil out of every
53 who went to primary schools was able to prepare for the trade certificate, and that only one pupil out of every 125 was able to enter a
secondary technical school.2 Obviously, the lack of elementary general
education all too frequently restricts a worker's chances of obtaining
proper vocational training, even at the skilled worker level, and workers
who have acquired occupational experience but are lacking in general
knowledge inevitably have difficulty in obtaining promotion.
The tendency to prefer general to technical education has also given
rise to serious difficulties in all the countries covered by this survey.
The best pupils enter the liberal professions or take administrative jobs;
moreover, some of the people who undergo initial technical training
(for instance, those who hold a trade certificate) tend to seek employment
of a non-technical character. These tendencies have not escaped the
notice of the governments, and the authorities have been trying, especially
1
Documents nord-africains (Paris, Etudes sociales nord-africaines), No. 338,
31 Jan. 1959.
2
According to a brochure entitled Algérie—développement 1959 published in
September 1959 by the Information Service of the Délégation générale du gouvernement en Algérie, while in 1948 one Moslem child in nine went to school, ten years
later the proportion had risen to about one in four. The Statistical Department has
published the following figures on the numbers of pupils registered in schools in
1958-59 in all the Algerian departments: Primary education: 524,988, including 419,161
Moslems (15,679schools open); Secondary education: 41,984, including8,670 Moslems;
Vocational training: 13,152, including 8,231 Moslems.
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during the last few years, to inculcate a more favourable attitude towards
technical and vocational training either by suitable propaganda measures
or, in certain cases, by making changes in existing legislation.
Another difficulty which is liable to hinder the development of
technical and vocational training is the occupational and geographical
instability of a considerable number of the workers who have not
sufficient knowledge of any particular trade. Moreover, employers tend
to disregard the knowledge and experience obtained from organised
technical and vocational training or are reluctant to participate in training
schemes. In addition, both agricultural and industrial vocational
schools often seem to be out of touch with the economic sectors they
are catering for, while the training given frequently suffers from the fact
that the equipment used is obsolete or inadequate. It also seems that
the training of foremen is too complicated a task for medium-sized and
small undertakings ; these often have to overcome psychological stumbling blocks such as the opposition of the workers' unions (which is
occasionally encountered), the reluctance of foremen already in employment to train their successors or the tradition of always recruiting foreign
specialists to fill supervisory and foremen's posts. Finally, the number
of skilled workers who have had proper training is so small that it is
difficult to find suitable candidates for posts of chargehand and foreman.
Here again, the shortage of suitably skilled foremen makes the organisation of vocational training schemes—for instance, the introduction of
properly controlled apprenticeship schemes in undertakings—more
difficult.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING TODAY
There are various types of technical and vocational training, selection
of any particular type depending on whether the pupils are young persons
of or above school age, unskilled adults or workers who have acquired a
certain amount of manual dexterity and who need further technological
knowledge in order to be able to obtain promotion to skilled jobs or to
supervisory or executive posts. The following section describes in turn
the various aspects of vocational training as it exists in the different
countries included in the survey, and, in particular, it describes technical
training given in schools, vocational training provided in undertakings
in the form of regular apprenticeship or on-the-job training, the rapid
training of adults or young persons who are above school-leaving age and
the training of supervisory staff, foremen and instructors.
Vocational training schemes normally provide comprehensive technical courses lasting two years or longer and are usually run by the
government department responsible for education. The vocational
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
121
training plans drawn up by the countries under consideration here
generally provide for vocational or technical training of three types
(skilled workers, technicians and operational engineers), depending on
the standards reached by the pupils. However, the technical training
establishments have been unable by themselves to produce all the skilled
workers required to meet the increasing needs of economies in course of
industrialisation and modernisation; consequently both the public
authorities and private undertakings have made use of other methods
of imparting basic and advanced training. The government departments
responsible for labour and social affairs, agriculture and public works
frequently have a part to play in such alternative methods, which include
the establishment of training centres accepting young people without
school diplomas, the organisation of evening classes and upgrading
courses in undertakings, the granting of bursaries, the establishment of
pupil-teacher schools and the opening of rapid vocational training centres
for adult workers or young workers who are unable to spend a long
period in apprenticeship on account of illiteracy, age or their conditions
of employment.
In all these countries there are statutory restrictions—some of them
of long-standing—on the employment of apprentices. In practice,
apprenticeship contracts (i.e. contracts in which an employer undertakes
to give, either himself or through an intermediary, vocational training to
a person who undertakes to work for him for a stipulated time and under
agreed conditions) are not very numerous ; it seems that in the past the
majority of the skilled and semi-skilled workers in industrial and commercial undertakings have acquired all their training on the job, by
working with more experienced workers.
The problems of developing technical and vocational training in the
countries of North Africa and in neighbouring countries were discussed
at a conference on this subject convened in 1957 by the Egyptian Government in co-operation with the League of Arab States, the F.A.O., the
I.L.O. and U.N.E.S.C.O.
Among the various recommendations made by this conference
mention should be made of the great importance attached to co-ordination of the various measures to provide technical and vocational education and training, the need for long-term planning and administrative
action and the expansion and improvement of the existing systems.
Other recommendations related to various aspects of administration and
finance, the selection and guidance of pupils, the curricula of courses and
teacher training.
A great variety of technical assistance activities, organised under the
international technical assistance programmes and under bilateral
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
agreements, are also being carried on in the various countries in this area.
These activities are described in greater detail below.
United Arab Republic (EgyptJ
Vocational Training.
Since 1955 the Egyptian Government has been taking steps to
reorganise the country's vocational training system, which up to then
had shown itself to be completely inadequate, owing mainly to the
insufficient training given to teaching staff and the lack of suitable
equipment in the schools. These shortcomings were particularly glaring
on the industrial side; on the commercial side undertakings tended
to prefer graduates of commercial secondary schools to those of general
secondary schools. In addition, the lack of interest in vocational training
for jobs other than office jobs was such that all the best pupils preferred
to take purely academic courses. That is why one of the main objectives
of the Government in this field in recent years has been to reawaken
among young people a respect for all forms of work and particularly
manual work. This desire is apparent in Act No. 22 of 1956 which set up
machinery to bring the technical training syllabuses of vocational schools
more closely into line with the practical requirements of undertakings
and made provision for the selection of pupils on the basis of their
abilities and their interest in particular trades and occupations.
The 1956 Act established a system of state education providing
training at four levels—primary, preparatory, secondary and of university
standard. Vocational training, which is administered by the technical
education department of the Ministry of Education, is divided into three
main branches—industrial, commercial and agricultural.
The Act provided for the establishment of advisory committees to
maintain liaison between the authorities and the organisations interested
in the efficient operation of the technical schools. There are committees
in each region and a central committee. The tasks of these committees
include the choice of the types of activity for which training is to be
provided, the fixing of the number of pupils to be accepted in each
section, the establishment of training programmes for instructors and
assistance in the organisation of evening classes in certain undertakings.
The basis of the vocational training system is the vocational preparatory school. The pupils are boys who, at the age of 14, fail their final
examinations at general primary schools or who pass that examination
but fail the entrance examination for secondary preparatory schools or
are unable to attend them. The courses, which are known as post-
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
123
primary courses, take three years ; they are intended to provide practical
training for jobs of types in which considerable numbers of persons are
already employed.
To obtain admission to a preparatory secondary school candidates
must hold the primary general school-leaving certificate and pass aptitude
tests. The courses take three years and are either general or pre-vocational in character.
In the secondary vocational schools the courses last three years.
The pupils are boys who have attended preparatory secondary schools ;
in principle, 70 per cent, of them must be drawn from preparatory
general schools and 30 per cent, from preparatory vocational schools.
The technical training given in secondary vocational schools is intended
to prepare the pupils for " technical " posts.
Finally there is an Arts and Crafts Institute and at the university
level, special sections for agriculture, commerce, etc., to which the better
students who wish to obtain further technical training after leaving
secondary vocational schools are admitted. It should also be mentioned
that during the last few years students have been regularly sent abroad
to obtain practical training in factories.
In addition to the government vocational schools, there are numbers
of private schools providing vocational training for industry, among
which are the Don Bosco schools situated in Cairo and Alexandria,
which are run by the Salesian Order. These schools give full-time fouryear courses covering the theoretical and practical aspects of metalworking, electricity and woodworking. Mention should also be made of
the Egyptian Electro-Radio Institute, the Coptic Industrial School, the
National Wireless Institute, the Telecommunication Training School,
etc. Moreover, there is considerable vocational training given in evening
schools in both commercial and industrial subjects.
A technological institute to train instructors for technical schools
and foremen was recently founded. The students come from secondary
vocational schools.
In 1958-59 there were 113 technical preparatory schools with a total
of 29,753 pupils, of whom 6,428 were girls, and 89 technical secondary
schools with a total of about 50,000 pupils, of whom about 10,000
were girls.
The Ministry of Education has drawn up a five-year plan for the
development of all the different types of technical education, the implementation of which began in the academic year 1959-60 and is due to be
completed in 1963-64. This plan provides that the number of technical
schools to be established in each region will be fixed in accordance with
the population and the degree of economic and industrial development
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
reached in that region. Thirty-two preparatory schools, five secondary
schools and three higher institutes are to be estabhshed to provide
training in agricultural subjects, while 57 preparatory schools, three
secondary schools and five higher institutes are to be estabhshed to
provide training for industry. Commercial training will be provided
in 19 preparatory schools, two secondary schools and an institute of
higher commercial studies. In addition, the plan provides for the
establishment of two secondary schools (one in Cairo and one in Alexandria) and 11 technical training centres for girls.
Apprenticeship and Other Types of Vocational Training in the Undertaking.
Until recently, organised training of apprentices within undertakings
could only be found in a few plants and organisations; even then, the
schemes were usually too limited in scope to supply all the trained manpower required by the undertakings in question. Recently, however,
there have been a number of developments in this field.
In 1954 the Egyptian Government asked the International Labour
Organisation for assistance in the establishment of a productivity and
vocational training centre. The International Labour Office began by
making an exploratory study of the requirements in the field of productivity, the demand for manpower and the need for vocational training
in the various branches of industry in Egypt; later in the same year a
technical assistance mission was sent to Cairo to establish a department
within the Ministry of Industry to take responsibility for vocational
training and productivity in industry; the mission has been there ever
since. During the first two years of its activity the centre concentrated
on studies of the conditions obtaining in industry in Egypt, on experimental projects to improve working methods in the textile and metal
industries, on refresher courses for managers and executives of middle
rank and on the formulation of training programmes for foremen in
undertakings. By 1960 the Ministry of Industry had set up seven vocational training centres (five in Cairo and two in Alexandria). It is
envisaged that 23 new centres will be estabhshed as part of the Second
Five-Year Plan.
Co-ordination of Training Activities.
Recently an important step was taken towards the co-ordination of
the various activities in the field of vocational and technical training and
education when a Vocational Training Co-ordination Committee was
set up by the Government. All the different branches of the Egyptian
economy are represented on this Committee.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
125
Libya
During the last few years the Libyan Government has been actively
working on the preparation of schemes to provide vocational training
for industry, agriculture, handicrafts, commerce and office work.
The Labour Code of 1957 contains provisions governing contracts of
apprenticeship; in particular, it provides that young persons of 16 years
of age or over may themselves enter into apprenticeship contracts and
that such contracts must comply with the conditions laid down in the
regulations issued under the Code and must be reported to the Director
of Labour within a week of their signature.
The rural elementary school is still the basis of all training for agriculture. Attempts have been made to improve the teaching material
available in such a way as to make it more suitable to local conditions
and to include handicrafts among the subjects taught.
The Cyrenaica agricultural school was opened in 1950. The courses
last three years, include both theoretical and practical training and are
open to pupils who have completed their primary schooling. In 1952
the first-year course was divided into two sections, one containing 17
ordinary pupils and the other 19 government workers who were on a
special training course. Since then the number of pupils has increased
steadily. At Sidi Misry near Tripoli there is a handicrafts and agricultural
school which provides three-year training courses at two levels (admission
at 12 or 14 years).
After the end of the Second World War the Government took steps
to meet the most urgent requirements of industry by, inter alia, organising
rapid training courses for workers and offering bursaries for study
abroad to young Libyans who had reached sufficiently high standards of
education. Two technical schools have been set up, one in Cyrenaica
and the other in Tripolitania. The Benghazi technical school which had
300 pupils in 1959 runs two-year courses providing training for semiskilled employment in the woodworking, metalworking, leatherworking and textile industries. In Tripolitania a centre has been established to provide training in technical and administrative subjects for
persons who intend to enter government service as officials or workers.
Two types of on-the-job training have also been introduced. In Benghazi the Public Works Department has organised an apprenticeship
system in the woodworking and metalworking trades ; in Tripolitania training of this kind is available not only to young workers but also to adults.
The Tripoli Technical and Commercial Training Centre.
In 1950 a technical and commercial training centre was opened in
Tripoli under the auspices of U.N.E.S.C.O. In 1952-53 the International
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Labour Organisation (which in 1951 had signed an agreement with
U.N.E.S.C.O. concerning joint action in the project) took over full
technical and administrative responsibility for the running of the centre
in co-operation with the Tripolitani'an Ministry of Education. Considerable resources in staff and material have been made available under
international supervision; at one time the international staff included as
many as 33 experts and instructors. It was planned to complete the
handing over of the centre to the Libyan Government by the end of 1960.
The centre is intended to train skilled workers, junior grade technicians and office staff and also to train Libyans to replace the international
staff. Priority was given to the needs of the Libyan Government at the
time of the foundation of the centre.
During the last few years the quality of the training given in the centre
has steadily improved, and most of its graduates have found employment
suitable to their qualifications either in government service or in private
industry. Until the beginning of the academic year 1956-57 the length of
all the training courses was two years, later increased to three years.
The centre has an industrial and a commercial section. In each
section instruction is given at two levels. In order to obtain admission
to the centre, students must have a primary school-leaving certificate
for the lower standard (junior courses), while for the higher standard
(senior courses) they must have had instruction equivalent to the
second year of secondary schooling. In the industrial section the main
subjects taught in the junior courses are carpentry, car maintenance
and repair, electrical fitting, blacksmith's work, sheet metal work,
plumbing and welding. In the commercial section the main subjects
taught are secretarial work and book-keeping. In the senior courses
mechanical draughtsmanship is taught in the industrial section and
elementary accountancy and book-keeping in the commercial section.
Two years of additional training were required to train Libyan
instructors up to levels where they can take over from the I.L.O.
instructors. According to the information available, most of them seem
to be able to do their work satisfactorily but will need supervision for
some little time. However, the Government has expressed the wish that
the training of instructors in the centre should be discontinued and that
the existing teacher-training college should be used instead.
The Tripoli centre has expanded considerably since its foundation,
and in 1958 additional classes had to be started to meet the new demand.
In 1958-59 there were 342 pupils in the centre, 137 of them on the industrial and 205 on the commercial side. In 1959 the 460 graduates trained
since the centre was opened (273 in the commercial section and 187 in
the industrial section) had found jobs. There was no difficulty in finding
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
127
jobs for the graduates from the commercial side, for whom there was a
steady demand in government service ; on the other hand, the finding of
jobs for graduates from the industrial side was a slower process, owing
to the fact that there were few vacancies in government service and that
most of the graduates were not accustomed to making their own efforts
to look for work in private industry.
A handicraft training centre was recently established at Sebha in the
Fezzan with the assistance of an I.L.O. expert. As far as can be judged
at present, the achievements of the centre are such as to suggest that it
will establish itself and expand in the coming years.
Tunisia
The General and Technical Education System.
Since the reforms undertaken in the organisation of education in
Tunisia in 1958, technical and vocational education has been given at
two levels, namely in the middle schools and at the secondary school
level. Plans for an institute of higher technology are in course of preparation.
The basic middle-school unit offers three types of course—general,
commercial, industrial—intended mainly for the training of the workers
who will form the basis of the different trades and occupations. The
courses include a substantial proportion of general education in addition
to the vocational training given in occupations of importance in the
economic activity of the country such as mechanics' and fitters' work,
masonry, joinery, electricians' work, etc.; office jobs in commerce,
industry and agriculture ; clerical grades in government or public services.
Secondary education is designed to train middle-rank supervisors
and to prepare pupils to train for senior supervisory posts. On the
technical side, the principal function of the secondary schools will be the
training of skilled manual and non-manual employees, supervisors and
technicians; the choice of the trades taught at any time will depend on
the economic and technical requirements of the country as it develops.
On the " economic " side middle-ranking supervisors in commerce and
the tertiary sector of the economy will be trained. On both the economic
and technical sides, however, the teaching given will include preparation
for the baccalauréat examination and thus give the pupils opportunities
of obtaining higher technical education and obtaining jobs as senior
technicians or engineers. The syllabus of general education is intended
not only to give the pupils a general educational background but also
to provide non-technical personnel qualified for supervisory work in the
liberal professions, in government departments and in welfare work
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
(primary-school teachers, middle-grade staff in government departments and public services, etc.) and to prepare them to go on to more
advanced educational institutes in which they will be trained for senior
posts in the different branches of economic activity (doctors, engineers,
research workers, senior officials, teachers, etc.).1
Generally speaking, in the two vocational departments of the middle
schools half the time is devoted to general subjects and the rest to
practical technical instruction.
The secondary schools are also divided into three departments,
each of which is further subdivided in the tenth year of schooling into a
number of specialities, the choice of which will depend on the careers
selected by the pupils. The courses given on the general side, in which
there are specialised sections for classical and modern languages, science
and mathematics, lead to the baccalauréat examination and give general
preparation for university studies. In the section normale pupils are
prepared for employment as primary-school teachers. On the economic
side there are two sections: a commercial section, preparing the pupils
for a diploma of commercial studies, and an economic section, ending
with an examination for the baccalauréat économique, which opens the
road to higher studies. Finally, on the industrial side the students can
choose between the general technological section, which leads to a
baccalauréat technique and prepares pupils for higher technical studies
or one of six specialised technical sections (mechanics, maintenance,
electricity, electronics, chemistry, civil engineering) which train for
technicians' diplomas.
The commercial and technical departments are undergoing rapid
expansion and development. Thus in the newly established middle
schools there were, in 1958, 1,128 students in these two branches, while
in the 52 vocational training centres which are to be brought into the
group of middle schools, 6,303 pupils were also studying commercial
and technical subjects. The number of students in technical secondary
colleges (commercial and industrial), increased from 2,478 to 2,675,
between 1957 and 1958, an increase of about 8 per cent.2
Vocational Training Schools in Undertakings.
As the demand for skilled workers increased, private undertakings
attempted to find suitable methods of obtaining the workers they needed
and who had to be trained on the job. The methods used include evening
classes, further training courses and the provision of bursaries; occasion1
Secrétariat d'Etat à l'Education nationale : Nouvelle conception de renseignement
en Tunisie, (Oct. 1958).
2
Ibid., Statistical Annex.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
129
ally, in a number of branches such as mining, building, the electrical
trades, refrigeration, iron foundries and transport, comprehensive
apprenticeship schemes have been organised. Little is known about the
concrete results obtained by training of this kind; it seems that they have
not been negligible but that what has been achieved has been on a very
small scale and on a piecemeal basis.
The Organisation of Apprenticeship.
The first attempt to place statutory safeguards on the employment
of apprentices was the Decree of 15 June 1910. The first comprehensive
instrument regulating the situation of apprentices was, however, the
Decree of 12 January 1956, which regulates vocational training in the
different branches of industry and commerce. It provides for the institution of vocational training in handicrafts but does not apply to the
traditional corporate institutions of the country.
The decree states that vocational training comprises—
(1) in the case of young persons of either sex and, in exceptional cases,
adults—apprenticeship ;
(2) in the case of young workers and adult workers—(a) upgrading
courses, (b) training for occupational reclassification, (c) accelerated
vocational training.
It establishes a Vocational Training Council, composed of representatives of the various ministries concerned with vocational training
and representatives of employers and workers. The duties of the Council
are to make recommendations on questions concerning the vocational
training of apprentices, young workers and adult workers.
The decree regulates the nature and form of contracts of apprenticeship, the conditions of contracts and their termination; it lays down the
duties of masters and apprentices and provides for the organisation of
general and technical courses in particular groups of occupations. It
also states that undertakings may organise complete apprenticeship
training courses in trades forming part of their normal activity, provided
that certain standards are observed.
The decree also institutes a vocational training tax to be paid by all
undertakings which have to pay a business licence tax with the exception
of agricultural undertakings and undertakings which pay this tax in the
form of a lump sum; undertakings which make special efforts in
the field of vocational training are allowed exemption or rebates. The
amount of this tax was fixed under a Decree dated 16 January 1957
at 1 per cent, of the wages paid; in that year it yielded 215 million
francs.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Rapid Vocational Training.
During the last few years a number of upgrading centres have been
established under the authority of the Secretariat of Public Health and
Social Affairs ; although of very recent origin they seem to have proved
an effective means of providing skilled workers wherever they are
needed most. The purpose of the centres is twofold, namely: to help
pupils who have completed courses in vocational training centres to
adapt themselves to conditions in industry by enabling them to become
familiar with the atmosphere of the undertaking; and to facilitate the
promotion of workers who have acquired the necessary manual dexterity
but do not have the technical knowledge required in higher posts.
The theoretical and practical training given is based on modern
methods of accelerated vocational training (the Carrard method and
audio-visual systems). The duration of the courses varies between six
and 11 months according to the trade being taught; pupils completing
the courses receive diplomas. The students are boys holding trade
certificates or workers sent by the undertakings in which they are employed, the latter agreeing to re-engage them when they have completed
their courses. Before being admitted applicants have to undergo medical
and pyschological tests.
Upgrading centres may be established by state-owned or private
undertakings or by employers' and workers' organisations. If approved
by the Government they receive subsidies from a fund financed from the
yield of the vocational training tax. These centres are run hke actual
undertakings, and the students are treated hke workers for purposes of
both pay and the organisation of work.
There are at present three upgrading centres : a centre organised by
the Tunisian National Railway Company, a shoe making centre, and a
training centre in the electrical trades.
The first-named centre, which was opened in July 1957, was established with the assistance of the International Labour Office. It consists of
four sections (for fitters, turners, millers and diesel-engine mechanics),
and the courses last six months. By the end of 1958 about 100 skilled
workers trained in the centre had secured jobs with the company. It is
hoped that in 1957 and in succeeding years it may be able to train
a few skilled workers to meet the most urgent requirements of certain
private undertakings.
The shoe making school was opened in May 1958; it was intended
to introduce modern methods into the craft and to provide the skilled
workers needed by the Tunisian boot and shoe industry. The administrative and teaching staffare all Tunisians who attended a special training
course at Romans, in France. In 1958 it was attended by 25 students.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
131
The electrical training centre opened in October 1959 and at present
has an intake of 16 trainees a year.
Algeria
Vocational Training.
The metropolitan Act of 25 July 1919 concerning the organisation of
technical education of an industrial or commercial character has been
made applicable to Algeria. This Act provides that " the purpose of
technical, industrial or commercial training is the theoretical and practical
study of sciences and arts or crafts as a preparation for industry or
commerce, without prejudice to further general education ". The Act
provides for the establishment of a higher council and an inspection
service, and advisory committees on technical education at the departmental and cantonal levels. It also regulates state and private technical training schools and upgrading courses organised for apprentices,
workers and salaried employees in commerce and industry.
Since 1944 the technical training branch has had a separate budget.
At the base of the vocational training structure are the complementary
vocational training courses and the apprenticeship centres, which were
attended by 5,000 boys in 1954 and 14,000 in 1959 (of whom 9,000 were
Moslems).1 At the middle level in 1959 training was given in a national
technical school (250 pupils), six technical colleges (3,200 pupils) and
15 technical sections of secondary schools or colleges (500 pupils, of
whom 120 were Moslems). Higher-grade vocational and technical
training, the role of which is to prepare supervisors in commerce and
industry, is given in particular at the Maison Carrée National Engineering
College and at the Algiers Higher Commercial School (190 students in
1959). Agricultural vocational training for the rural section of the
population is also available at various levels.
Vocational Training of Adults.
The statutory basis for the vocational training of adults in Algeria
was laid down in an Order dated 29 April 1949, although a centre for
adults had been set up in the iron and steel industry as early as 1944.
The order covers training for three purposes—(a) to prepare adults for
employment (training); (b) to train them for a different kind of job
(reclassification) ; (c) to enable them to obtain more advanced vocational
training (upgrading).
General. The organisation of vocational training in Algeria is based
to a considerable extent on that of metropolitan France, but differs
1
In 1959 there were 25 apprenticeship centres and 124 complementary vocational
training courses.
132
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
from the latter in some respects, in particular owing to the fact that the
great majority of the pupils are boys between 17 and 20 years of age.
As in France, certain private organisations run centres in Algeria with
the aid of government subsidies. The trainees are not considered as
wage earners; they receive monthly allowances and attendance bonuses
to enable them to purchase the essential tools of their trades at the end
of the course. In addition, heads of families receive family allowances,
and all the trainees receive medical assistance.1
Vocational selection. Applications are invited by radio broadcasts,
advertisements in the press and printed circulars available in the manpower offices. Applicants are required to undergo psychological tests
and examinations so that trades can be selected for them on the basis
of their abilities and their preferences.
Training. After a preparatory course, which consists of a series of
psychological tests lasting between three weeks and a month, the pupils
are directed into the trades most suitable for them. The courses usually
last six months; they are intended to enable as many of the pupils as
possible to obtain posts in thefirstof the skilled grades (or its equivalent)
immediately after completing their studies. All the courses are organised
on the principle that they must be of immediate practical value, and the
pupils must be able to make the transition from classroom to factory or
work site without difficulty. To achieve this, arrangements are often
made, at the end of courses, for the pupils to do real work for an employer
but under the supervision of their instructors and without receiving any
wages from the employer.
Organisation. The Order of 29 April 1949 provides for—(1) the
establishment of " autonomous centres " run as independent state
agencies; (2) contributions from the Algerian budget towards the cost
of vocational training given in factory centres ; (3) the payment of subsidies to private undertakings or local authorities providing vocational
training for their workers out of their own resources.
A Central Committee for the Vocational Training of Adults was
established by the same order. It consists of 16 members, including
representatives of the government and the occupational associations of
employers and workers and persons of generally recognised competence
in the field of vocational training of adults.2 It makes recommendations
1
In 1957 the allowance payable was 14,000 francs per month; this amount was
reduced by 20 per cent, for pupils under 18 years of age and by 1,000 francs for pupils
for whom accommodation was provided. The attendance bonus was calculated on the
basis of 1,500 francs for each month of attendance.
2
Order of 6 April. 1959 concerning the composition of the Central Committee for
the Vocational Training of Adults.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
133
on all matters affecting vocational training, and particularly on requests
for subsidies from private undertakings.
An Order of 12 February 1959 established specialised technical
committees on the vocational training of adults, each one dealing with a
particular occupational skill; they make recommendations and report
their findings to the Central Committee.
Under the Order of 29 April 1949 the Governor-General may order
the establishment of independent centres after consulting the Central
Committee for Vocational Training. These centres have boarding
facilities and canteens and are run by special supervisory boards which
include representatives of employers' and workers' organisations.
To open a factory vocational training centre, the head of the undertaking must enter into an agreement with the Government; the agreement must contain certain clauses specifying the standard of the training
to be given. The amount of the subsidy granted does not normally
exceed the amount of the vocational training tax paid by the employer;
it may be granted in the form of tools and equipment. During the
financial year 1956-57 the subsidies paid to undertakings amounted to
257 million francs.
Present situation. In their attempts to meet the requirements of the
economy and to combat underemployment, the centres have inevitably
concentrated on developing training in the building trades and industry
and, during the last few years, those branches of agriculture which are
becoming more and more mechanised.
The development of occupational specialisation in the different
branches of the building industry has led to the organisation of separate
training facilities for brick-makers, plasterers, tile-layers, etc.; but
workers with a knowledge of more than one trade had to be trained as
well to meet the requirements of the very large numbers of undertakings
which are too small to allow for such a division of labour. The accessory
building trades, such as plumbing, central-heating installation, electrician's work and painting are also taught; the courses for these trades
are longer than those for the others.
The metal-working trades taught are machine assembly, lathe work,
milling, machine-tool fitting, electrician's work, boiler-making, locksmith's
work, motor-body repair, radio, general and motor mechanic's work,
motor-car-electrician's work, industrial draughtsmanship and typesetting.
In some centres upgrading courses are organised for apprentices or
workers already employed in the trade concerned. These courses are
intended to enable the workers to improve their skills, to obtain promotion to higher grades and in certain cases to obtain the additional knowledge which will qualify them for supervisory posts.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
One of the problems of principal concern to the competent authorities
has hitherto been the recruitment of instructors and the improvement
of their technical and teaching standards. In 1955 an instructor training
school was established; by the beginning of 1957 some 60 students,
47 of them Moslems (in 1951 there was only one Moslem employed as an
instructor in a vocational school for adults) had completed the course.
On 31 December 1956 there were ten centres for the building trades,
five teaching a number of different trades and three for the metalworking trades. Each centre has a section for day pupils which usually
teaches subjects pertaining to the building trades. On the same date
there were four works centres teaching metal-working trades, an hotel
management centre run by the Family Allowances Fund, another for
watchmaking run by the Red Cross, one for women in Algiers and four
in the Sahara run by the White Fathers. The number of sections increased from 67 in April 1951 to 202 in December 1956 and 409 in July
1959, and the number of pupils from 1,250 in 1951 to over 4,000 in
1956 and 7,000 in 1959. A clearer idea of the scale on which vocational
training for adults has expanded during the last few years can be obtained
from the annual figures for capital expenditure under this head, which
were as follows: 1952-53, 104 million francs; 1953-54, 205 million;
1954-55, 670 million; 1955-56, 525 million; 1956-57 825 million. The
credits for vocational training in the ordinary budget increased from
650 million francs in the financial year 1951-52 to nearly 1,500 million
for the year 1956-57.
Training and Refresher Courses for Junior Management Personnel.
An association called " Maitral " was set up in 1954 by the General
Confederation of Employers of Algeria, which at the beginning of 1960
had some 100 members. In the course of the academic year 1958-59
it organised 31 training sessions attended by 313 junior executives and
119 supervisors. Apart from the usual training (work simplification,
the art of teaching and human relations on the job), the association
organised a course dealing with safety at work and two refresher courses
for private secretaries.
Morocco
Vocational Training.
In 1946 a Technical Education Department was set up under the
authority of the Directorate of Public Instruction; it was subsequently
transferred to the Ministry of Education. Under an Order of 26 January
1955 a Higher Committee on Technical Education was set up to make
recommendations on all matters relating to technical education and in
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
135
particular to formulate vocational training policies and devise methods
of co-ordinating and controlling the activity of the different departments
responsible for implementing those policies. The number of pupils in
technical schools is on the rise but is nevertheless small in comparison
with the number of pupils attending ordinary schools; in 1955 there
were 17,000 pupils * attending state vocational schools, compared with
more than 300,000 attending ordinary schools. In November 1957 the
figures for students in the technical sections of the primary and secondary
schools were as follows: primary schools—12,227 pupils, including
4,762 girls (of this number 10,443 were Moroccans, including 4,218 girls);
secondary schools—6,031 pupils, including 2,168 girls (of this number
2,103 were Moroccans, including 703 girls).
Education in Agricultural Subjects.
Training in agricultural subjects is given at various levels, mainly to
the children of small farmers cultivating their land by traditional methods
and receiving a meagre return for their labour.
In 1955 primary training in agricultural subjects was being given in
about 250 schools. It sets out not only to give boys of school age a
knowledge of agricultural subjects but also to maintain the atmosphere
of rural life in the schools. Rural handicraft centres have been set up
to supplement teaming in agricultural subjects with a practical study of
the different types of manual work with which every farmer must be able
to cope, such" as joinery, carpentry, smith's work, harness-making, etc.
In the larger rural schools there are practical agricultural sections which
admit pupils from rural areas aged 14 or over who are unable to enter
secondary schools. The courses in these sections last two years and deal
with farming and rural handicrafts ; pupils completing them receive agricultural apprenticeship certificates. In addition, there are elementary
schools 2 giving three-year courses in agriculture and horticulture, to
which children of 14 years of age holding primary school-leaving certificates may be admitted on the basis of a competitive examination.
Secondary education in agricultural subjects can be obtained in
schools in Casablanca, Kenitra and Fez, which admit pupils holding
primary school-leaving certificates on the basis of a competitive examination. The courses last three years; pupils who complete them successfully
receive agricultural diplomas which qualify them for admission to certain
practical schools run by the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition to these
schools there are three others : one trains supervisors specialising in the
1
To this figure must be added the number of pupils in private schools run by
occupational organisations and those in charity schools.
2
In 1955 there were, four such schools.
136
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
cultivation of non-irrigated land, another trains specialists in market
gardening and the cultivation of fruit and flowers, and the third turns
out specialists in the cultivation of irrigated land. The institute of higher
education in agricultural subjects is the Moroccan Agricultural College
in Meknes, which trains senior agricultural technicians. The courses
last three years, and on completing them students are awarded either
the degree of engineer of the Moroccan Agricultural College or a diploma,
depending on the average marks awarded during their training. In 1955
it was attended by 70 pupils in all. Training for teachers in agricultural
subjects is carried out at the Abdelmalek Saâdi College in Kenitra.
Technical Training for Industry and Commerce.
Training under this heading is given at various levels in a number of
schools which are under the authority of the Ministry of Education.
Training at elementary level is given to children aged 14 when they
leave primary schools. In 1955 there were a considerable number of
schools of this type, providing training in a number of trades * ; in the
same year 637 pupils successfully completed courses and received
trade certificates. It should be mentioned in passing that there are a
certain number of such vocational schools for girls, which teach them
modern housekeeping methods and child care while keeping alive the
traditions of certain specifically Moroccan crafts such as carpet-making,
embroidery and lace-work.
Secondary education is given in technical schools; the vocational
training part of the syllabus is spread over four years, and pupils completing the course receive industrial or commercial training diplomas.
In 1955 there were 11 such schools for boys and five for girls.
There is only one institute for higher education, namely the Industrial
and Commercial College in Casablanca. This college trains skilled
workers for metal and electrical trades, the refrigeration industry, joinery
and the textile industries.
According to estimates of the Ministry of National Education, the
total numbers of pupils undergoing vocational or technical training
during the coming years should be as follows: 1960, 6,546; 1961, 8,149;
1962, 13,209; 1963, 26,236 and 1964, 35,982. It is also proposed to
establish a college in Casablanca specialising in the training of teachers
of commercial subjects and to set up an institute for training in artisanal
subjects, crafts and architecture.
x
In 1955 there were 31 watchmaking and mechanics' trade schools, 28 schools
teaching building trades, five business and hotel management schools, three seafarers'
schools training sailors for Moroccan fishing boats and merchant shipping and one
school for mine workers.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
137
Accelerated Apprenticeship and Vocational Training in Industry.
The statutory basis of vocational training instruction as it exists
today is a Dahir dated 16 April 1940, as amended and supplemented by
the Dahir of 7 March 1954. There are various types of training, all of
them organised and administered by the Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs.
Apprenticeship in the factory. Young workers can learn trades by
entering into contracts of apprenticeship with employers who have agreed
to organise the systematic training of workers in their undertakings in
accordance with certain approved standards. 1 The syllabuses are designed
for boys of 16 years of age or over. Training lasts three years, and the
course is made up of practical subjects the nature of which varies according to the trade and the organisation of the workshops by the employer;
theoretical training is provided in the form of free additional training
courses given every evening, at which the main subjects taught are labour
law, hygiene and accident prevention. Bonuses are paid to apprentices
who attend the classes regularly; at the end of the year each pupil receives
a grant for the purchase of a tool kit.
Rapid vocational training. Rapid vocational training is given in
vocational instruction centres (CLP.,).2 The students at these centres are
usually men between the ages of 20 and 35 years. They are sent there by
the manpower services or by undertakings; some of them come on their
own initiative. The courses usually last ten months and include theoretical
as well as practical training. On passing the final examination the pupil
receives a vocational training certificate. In 1956-57 these centres were
attended by a total of 186 pupils, 101 of whom were boarders. The pupils
are trained to become fitters, motor mechanics, machine-tool fitters,
sheet-metal welders, radio repairers and radio operators.
In addition, there are four vocational training centres for trainee
tailors giving three-year courses. In 1956-57 these centres were attended
by 110 men and 21 women. Mention should also be made of the evening
classes for adults which have been organised in Rabat, Meknes, Fez and
Casablanca to enable workers between 17 and 30 years of age in a number
of metal-working and clothing trades to improve their skills. The classes
last three years and take up two hours every evening; they are given in the
C L P . workshops. Every adult worker receives a bonus of 150 francs
for each hour of attendance. On completion of their training the students
1
Between 1950 and 1957 an average of 440 pupils were trained every year in the
factory apprenticeship centres which exist in ten towns in Morocco.
8
These centres were established under an Order dated 27 July 1953 as amended
by the Order of 22 June 1955.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
receive vocational training certificates. In 1956-57 these courses were
attended by 307 workers (160 in the clothing trade courses and 147 in the
metal-working courses).
Table 15 1 indicates the numbers of trainees in principal vocational
training centres during the academic year 1959-60.
Additional vocational training centres were opened at the end of
1959. Among these were the big centre at Fez which is to provide
specialised training to a selected group of students who have received
preliminary training (240 students), the vocational training centres at
Marrakesh, Nador, Oudjda, Safi and Tetuan which are to have 180
students each and the centre at Casablanca for general mechanics, motor
mechanics and electricity (60 students).
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has provided in its normal
programme for the coming years for the training of 409 skilled workers
in 1961, 486 in 1962, 889 in 1963 and 1,176 in 1964. Moreover, the
Ministry's proposals to the Vocational Training Committee of the FiveYear Plan provide for the construction during the period 1960-64 of
25 vocational training centres and for the training of 7,500 specialist
workers each year. For this purpose the Ministry has also made provision
for training 325 vocational training teachers at the rate of 65 a year
through the National Training Institute for Vocational and Technical
Training Instructors.
Vocational Training in Agricultural Subjects.
In addition to providing actual technical training in agricultural
subjects, the Ministry of Agriculture has organised agricultural vocational training institutes, and in particular a training centre for instructors
who will subsequently be called upon to disseminate a basic knowledge
of improved methods of cultivation of kinds which Moroccan peasants
might be persuaded to adopt. The farmers' aid service has established
three types of agricultural training centres, namely the regional centres
in which pupils from primary rural schools can increase their knowledge
of agricultural subjects ; the training centre for rural leaders at " Les
Chênes ", which was attended by 40 students in 1955 and which runs
two-year training courses in modern methods of cultivation; and the
practical training centre for rural leaders, which was established in 1950
and attended by 30 students in 1955, where students leaving the centre
at " Les Chênes " consolidate their technical knowledge and receive
practical training to enable them to earn a living.
1
See Appendix II.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
139
Reorganisation of Vocational Training.
During the last few years the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
has had to review the whole field of vocational training, mainly owing to
the paucity of the results obtained and the lack of co-ordination between
the activities of the different Ministries concerned. In 1956 technical
assistance was asked for—and obtained—from the International Labour
Office. The mission reports prepared by the I.L.O. experts described the
reforms which were necessary, stressed the need for changes in the
methods used in the vocational training centres and pointed out the
desirability of a general census of the numbers of supervisors and technicians required. In July 1957 the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
asked the I.L.O. to transmit to it all the recommendations of the Asian
Regional Conference ; these recommendations were intended to lay down
the principles to be followed in order to achieve the logical and coordinated organisation of all aspects of vocational training. The I.L.O.
was also requested to send a mission of experts to Morocco to try to find
on the spot a solution to the problem of training foremen within industry.
The reorganisation of vocational training which is now taking place is
based on the recommendations of the Asian Regional Conference and
the conclusions of the I.L.O. experts.
In December 1957 an office for technical and pedagogic studies was
set up. A Decree of 12 September 1957 established an Interministerial
Social Commission, the tasks of which included a study of the fundamental problem of co-ordination between the different Ministries in the
field of technical and vocational training; this Commission decided to
form a National Co-ordination Committee, which met for the first
time at the beginning oi 1958. As a result of that meeting a number of
working subcommittees were set up to study either the special problems
of agriculture, industry, commerce or handicrafts or general subjects
such as vocational guidance, the assessment of needs, legislative and
financial problems, and the establishment of a national institute for
vocational training of supervisors and instructors.
It is worthy of note that in 1958 the greater part of the credits asked
for by the Ministry of Labour under the plan for the equipment of the
country were used for vocational training. In 1959 the National Training
Institute for Vocational and Technical Training Instructors was set up in
Rabat. This Institute is intended for skilled workers or technicians who,
after a period of technical and teaching instruction, would be able to teach
a trade. A credit of 105 million francs has been devoted to equipping the
Institute, which comprises five classrooms and five basic workshops.
The classrooms are used for physics and chemistry, industrial drawing,
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
mechanics, audio-visual systems and applied mathematics. The basic
workshops consist of four completely equipped sections (machine tools,
metal testing, sheet iron and welding, electricity and electronics) and one
motor section, construction of which was begun in January 1960.
The executive personnel includes in particular an expert and two
instructors from the International Labour Office; one of the latter is a
machine tool and general mechanical specialist and the other a speciahst
in electricity and electronics.
A 21-day refresher course for vocational education teachers (Ministry
of National Education) and vocational training instructors (Ministries of
Labour, Public Works, Posts and Mines) was held in April 1959. A
second course for 40 vocational training instructors of the Ministry of
Labour was held between June and November 1959. The best of these
trainees have been put in charge of vocational training centres. A similar
course began in November 1959 with 41 pupils of whom 20 were mechanics and garage men, 10 sheet-iron workers, welders and boilermakers
and 11 electricians. Concurrently with the training of instructors, the
Institute undertook the training, over, nine months, of 55 workertrainees (20 mechanics, 20 sheet-iron workers and 15 electricians). The
Institute also organises improver courses; in March 1960, 76 workers
attended these courses, given in the evenings.
^J
PRINCIPAL TRENDS
The foregoing has given a broad outline of what has been attempted
and what has so far been achieved in thefieldsof technical and vocational
training. It shows the increasing importance which the governments of
the different countries covered by this survey have come to attach to
training of this kind, as the demand for skilled labour and technically
qualified supervisors increases. An examination of the present situation
reveals that, generally speaking, this demand is still far from having been
met. It also reveals that, although the nature of technical and vocational
training will vary in some respects because of the circumstances peculiar
to each country, the policies of the various governments are frequently
similar in so far as they are intended to cope with similar problems.
Everywhere the public authorities are being forced increasingly to adopt
vocational training methods which will supply large numbers of trained
workers and thus help to solve the urgent and complex problems which
the existing training facilities are inadequate to deal with. In all these
countries it is urgently necessary to develop every type of technical and
vocational training; but it is equally necessary—if not more so—to
provide greater elementary education facilities for illiterate children over
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
141
school age and adults, to organise elementary pre-vocational training
within the framework of primary education, to establish co-ordination
between the primary schools and the vocational training schools and to
provide vocational training facilities for unskilled adult workers.
The various governments concerned have all to deal with similar
problems when undertaking such tasks as awakening an interest in one
particular trade, encouraging young people to take pleasure in manual
work and technical progress and giving them a general education together
with training specially designed to give them a knowledge of the activities
carried on in their own particular areas and the needs of those
areas. Moreover, in most of the countries the problem of standardising
vocational training and adapting vocational training schemes to requirements within a long-term economic policy is becoming increasingly
serious owing, inter alia, to population pressure ; if this problem is not
overcome, pupils may be directed into occupations in which there will
later be no work for them. Consequently the competent authorities are
becoming more and more concerned with the organisation of preliminary
and periodic inquiries taking account of the economic development plans,
in order to determine the number and types of skills to be taught under
vocational training schemes and the changes to be made in the range of
skills taught in the light of changes in demand. In this connection the
governments are seeking means of developing essential contacts between
the public authorities and the world of industry and business and close
co-ordination among all the ministries or departments the work of which
has any bearing on technical and vocational training.
General Education and Preparation for Vocational Training
In all the countries under consideration special emphasis is laid on
the importance of developing all forms of education—campaigns against
illiteracy among adult workers and children over school age, the expansion of education facilities at all levels, particularly the elementary, and
the improvement of vocational training standards.
Experimental literacy campaigns among the workers have been tried
out. Literacy helps workers who have adequate occupational experience
but are unable to obtain promotion because of the lack of basic instruction.
It also encourages speciahsation, for it enables newly recruited young
workers to obtain more thorough vocational training. Finally, it helps
workers who are already in responsible jobs to consolidate their positions.
In Egypt a 1944 Act 1 requires all undertakings employing more than
30 workers to give them elementary instruction; all illiterate men between
*Act No. 110 of 13 August 1944 concerning the campaign against illiteracy.
142
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
12 and 45 and girls between 12 and 15 years of age are to be given two
hours' free instruction every day for five days each week during a period
of nine months. Since it came into force this Act has been attacked by
employers because the resulting cost to industry ; moreover, the workers
concerned, although they have not actually opposed its enforcement,
have not greeted it with any enthusiasm. So far the progress made
towards the vital objective—the disappearance of illiteracy—seems to
have been very small. In Morocco an experimental literacy campaign
launched at the end of 1957 among the workers in the Moroccan Goods
Handling and Storage Company proved successful, and similar experiments have been made in other branches of the economy, such as the
railways, the state industrial corporation, handicrafts, the postal and
telegraph services and mining. Literacy campaigns of this kind have
facilitated upgrading, as they have enabled workers who could not
read or write but did possess the necessary occupational qualifications,
to obtain promotion to more responsible jobs. In Algeria in the last
few years emphasis has been laid on the necessity for establishing welfare
centres which would take charge of all boys who were unable to read or
write in French. While only two welfare centres existed in 1956, in
August 1959 there were 56.1 These centres are to give courses lasting six
months, at the end of which the pupils will have reached a minimum
standard sufficient to enable them to assimilate further training.
The information given earlier reveals the efforts made by the different
governments to strike a suitable balance between theoretical and practical
work in primary schools and to organise pre-vocational and elementary
vocational education in such as way that it will form a logical series of
steps from the primary school to the beginning of the upgrading process.
This has been done mainly to eliminate the situation encountered all too
frequently where many boys and youths, on completion of their primary
studies, find themselves with nothing to do while they are waiting to be
admitted to apprenticeship centres or vocational training schools for
adults—the very period of three or four years during which they are best
able to assimilate education and instruction, and to prepare for their
first contacts with practical work. As regards Algeria, mention should
be made in this connection of the technical training service for young
people set up on 1 December 1958. This service, whose staff is at present
provided by the Army, gives basic education and preparatory technical
training. Its activities take several different forms. The sports centres 2
bring young people up to the age of 16 together so that they may be
1
According to the estimates, there should be more than 100 centres by 1960.
At the end of 1959 the estimated number of sports centres was 650, catering
for 60,000 young people.
2
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
143
prepared physically and morally for the human and social tasks which
await them; the youth centres 1 furnish boys and girls between the ages
of 14 and 16 years with a natural complement to the sports centres.
The education they provide is of a general character; the Algerian youth
training centres 2 cater for boys from 16 to 18 years of age and provide
some addition to general education, as well as preliminary vocational
instruction; the young workers' hostel is intended to provide decent
food and accommodation for young unmarried Moslem workers. Staff
training for the youth service is undertaken in a number of centres in
metropolitan France—the training centre for monitresses at Nantes
(150 girls aged 18); the monitors' training centre at Issoire (two courses
a year for 500 Moslem monitors) ; and the Rivesaltes military vocational
training centre (300 young Moslems for six-month training courses as
specialised building workers).
As far as can be seen at present, there now seems to be a tendency in
most countries to treat schools not only as establishments for the education of young people but also as centres in which all the educational
activities of the community are to be co-ordinated. For instance, in
Egypt, Libya and Morocco there has been a tendency during the last few
years to organise teaching in rural primary schools in such a way as to
give it a direct bearing on the social life of the community and to make
it a means of improving that life. The teaching is essentially practical in
character; its purpose is not to replace one mode of life by another, but
to promote the best possible use of existing resources in a particular area.
Similarly, in Egypt where labour camps have been established to give
young men an opportunity of taking part in the work of the welfare and
economic services, the teaching in many of the technical schools not only
helps the pupils to attain higher levels of skill in a given trade but also
encourages them to take up various types of handicraft work which are
in widespread use in the area concerned.
Adaptation of Programmes to Requirements
Before rational vocational training programmes which take into
account the economic and financial resources available can be established,
a detailed analysis must be made of the requirements and the resources
available to meet them. Consequently careful investigation is necessary;
1
There were 70 youth centres at the end of 1959.
It is estimated that between March and June 1960, 2,500 young persons passed
out of the training centres. Some of these will proceed to adult training centres,
some to the monitors' training centre at Issoire and the rest can become apprentices
in industry.
2
144
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
moreover, as the requirements change very rapidly in countries in course
of industrialisation the investigations must be repeated periodically. It
was stated earlier that in most of the countries covered by this survey the
authorities were devoting increasing attention to the organisation of such
investigations. In this connection mention may be made of the inquiries
undertaken in recent years with the assistance of the International Labour
Office, particularly in Egypt and Morocco; in addition, Libya is at
present considering the organisation of an inquiry of this kind in cooperation with the I.L.O. Good relations between the public authorities
and the main occupational groups may be of vital importance here, for
the latter can then be asked to indicate as accurately as possible their
requirements, their current trends and future prospects. Co-operation
between the public authorities and the world of business and industry in
the field of technical and vocational training is in fact essential for the
evaluation of the over-all requirements of the country and the joint
implementation of the plans adopted.
An examination of the present situation suggests that in spite of what
has been done so far to standardise technical and vocational training,
much still remains to be done in this field. Firstly, in many cases private
industry has not yet played so active a part as it might have in the
development of technical and vocational training; in particular, any such
expansion gives rise to financial problems which undertakings should
help to overcome, since a properly trained worker is primarily of value
to the undertaking in which he is employed; his value to the State is
only indirect. In addition, the syllabuses—particularly those for technical training—do not always take sufficient account of actual conditions
and concrete requirements in industry, agriculture and commerce, while
co-ordination in the work of the various departments responsible for
technical and vocational training is sometimes lacking. However,
attempts have been made, especially in recent years, in several of the
countries under consideration, clearly to differentiate between the respective administrative responsibilities of the various authorities responsible for different aspects of technical and vocational training and to
devise machinery to co-ordinate their work. As has been seen earlier,
committees have been set up (particularly in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco
and Tunisia) which include not only representatives of the various government departments concerned and vocational training experts, but also
representatives of the employers' associations and workers' unions. The
field of competence of several of these committees covers the administrative authorities as well as the machinery of production, and they have
a vital part to play in the prevention of the dispersal of efforts and the
wastage of the often limited credits available.
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
145
The problem of technical and vocational training is of prime importance at the present stage of development of the various countries under
consideration, all of which exhibit the legitimate desire to develop their
industries and to modernise their economies. The problem is both serious
and urgent, for the rate of population increase is such as to give rise to
the danger that large numbers of persons without occupational skills may
one day find themselves unemployed and because, as the process of
economic development gathers way—and it must not be allowed to lose
way—the immediate demand for skilled workers, supervisors and technicians is growing rapidly. The best solution can only be found by
giving all concerned—the public authorities, the undertakings and the
workers—a part to play in the framing and implementation of rational
technical and vocational training policies.
CHAPTER V
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
EMPLOYERS' AND WORKERS' ORGANISATIONS
There is no appreciable uniformity in the development of the trade
union movement in the countries covered in this survey. Whereas in
some of these countries—such as Egypt and Tunisia—labour unions
have existed for many years, in Libya the trade union movement did
not come into existence until after the Second World War and only
started developing when the country became independent. It is therefore
not possible to give an over-all description of the growth of the movement
in all the countries in question. An attempt will, however, be made in
the present section, first of all to mention the main stages in the history
of the trade union movement in each of the countries separately, and
then to give a general review of the present position of trade unions in
the group of countries as a whole.
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Workers' Organisations.
The first trade union organisations were set up at the beginning of the
twentieth century. In 1911 there were 11 unions with an aggregate
membership of about 7,000; in 1919 the Government took official cognizance of labour-management relations by establishing a central committee of conciliation. In 1930 it was estimated that there were 55 workers' unions—restricted in scope either to single undertakings or to single
trades in a given place. In that same year the unions formed a general
confederation. Despite government opposition and the slight powers
possessed by the confederation, it and its affiliates continued to be active
until 1940.
The history of the modern trade union movement in Egypt really
started with the Second World War. During the war, despite the very
strict control exercised by the Government over the activities of the
unions and despite the banning of strikes, the workers' complaints were
heard and taken into account. In 1942 freedom of association in trade
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
147
unions was formally recognised by law, although large groups of
employed persons, such as government employees and agricultural
workers, were not covered by the provisions of the Act. In 1952 a
decree respecting trade unions of workers gave some classes of
agricultural workers the right to organise and introduced provisions
enabling the trade union movement to develop; the obligation previously
placed on unions to obtain the approval of the Department of Labour
was abolished; and a union could henceforth be dissolved only by
judgment of a court of law. Revised provisions regarding trade unions,
replacing the 1952 decree are included in the Labour Code which was
issued early in 1959.
Table XIII shows that unions in Egypt have increased mainly since
the end of the Second World War and that the number of organised
workers has risen regularly during the post-war years.
TABLE XIII: E G Y P T : D E V E L O P M E N T O F T H E T R A D E U N I O N
M O V E M E N T , 1942-59
Year
1942-52 x
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
Number of trade unions
Number of organised workers
472
947 a
1,155
1,154
1,278
1,347
1,377
1,456
116,735
265,192 3
300,300 4
373,338
415,698
437,751
433,000
480,502
Source: Up to 1955: HARBISON and IBRAHIM: Human Resources for Egyptian Enterprise, op. cit.,
p. 182; from 1956, communications to the I.L.O.
1
Average figure. * Includes 74 farmers* unions, representing about 6 per cent, of the total number
of persons organised. s According to another estimate (G.L. HARRIS: Country Survey Series : Egypt,
op. cit.), in March 1953, the total number of organised workers was about 150,000. * According to
another estimate, in 1957 the Egyptian Confederation of Labour had 275,000 members in 24 federations.
According to available information, in 1947 the total gainfully occupied
population was over 6,476,000 and the total number of employed persons
(wage earners and salaried employees) was 2,752,254.1
Egyptian workers' unions are organised on a plant or on a craft basis.
In December 1955 there were 438 craft unions and 716 plant unions.
Most of the latter are associated in federations of workers—in the
textile, petroleum and chemical industries, transport, etc. The same
1
Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1958, op. cit., pp. 14-15.
148
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
applies to the craft unions, which establish separate federations, e.g. for
carpenters, joiners and cabinet makers, bank employees, etc. Since 1957
there has been an Egyptian Confederation of Labour which includes
almost all the organised workers and is affiliated to the International
Confederation of Arab Trade Unions. Following the foundation of the
United Arab Republic, negotiations took place between the Egyptian
Confederation of Labour and the Syrian Federation of Labour with a
view to forming a single confederation.
It is estimated that more than half the organised workers are concentrated in a few cities and areas—Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and the
Canal Zone. The biggest organisations are found in a few main industries,
such as textiles, petroleum and transport. In commerce the ratio of
organised workers to the whole working force is smaller than in industry,
and in agriculture the trade union movement is still relatively
undeveloped.
Employers' Organisations.
The employers in Egypt are organised in chambers of commerce and
chambers of industry.
The legislation on chambers of commerce provides that these shall
represent " regional commercial and industrial interests " in their
dealings with the public authorities.1 The chambers are regarded as public
institutions and are set up, one in each region, by ministerial order.
In 1956 there were 19 such bodies. According to the legislation in force
the members may all be nominated by the competent Minister. Recently
the Government established a federation of chambers of commerce.
Apparently it is mainly the chambers of industry which are considered
to be " employers' organisations ". According to the legislation in
force 2 these chambers, which are regarded as public institutions, are
established for industries prescribed by the Minister for Industry. The
number of chambers of industry was fixed at 20 in June 1958 3 ; under the
terms of the Act, the chambers are required to form a federation, called
the " Federation of Industries of the Egyptian Region ", which has its
1
Act No. 189 of 1951 to establish chambers of commerce as amended by Act
No. 313 of 1954.
2
Decision to establish chambers of industry, Order No. 170 of 1958 of the Minister
for Industry specifying the chambers of industry; decision to establish the federation
of industries ; decision to establish regional councils for industry.
» Chambers of industry have been established for the following branches of activity:
oil and oil products, sugar and confectionery, grain, preserved foods, brewing and
distilling, milk industry, tobacco, cotton ginning and baling, spinning and weaving,
mines and petroleum, leather, chemical industries, pharmaceutical and beauty products,
printing and paper industry, civil engineering, building materials and pottery, engineering and metal trades, electrical industry, handicrafts, and the woodworking industry.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
149
headquarters in Cairo. Every undertaking with a capital of £E.5,000 or
more and employing at least 25 workers must belong to the appropriate
chamber of industry.
There is a third central organisation, the Egyptian Agricultural
Society.
The Federation of Industries is affiliated to the International Organisation of Employers. The Federation of Chambers of Commerce
and the Agricultural Society are not affiliated to any employers' international organisation.
Libya
Workers' Organisations.
The trade union movement in Libya is represented mainly by the
Libyan General Workers' Union (L.G.W.U.), which was established
in 1952 and succeeded the Federation of Libyan Trade Unions. Following the promulgation in Tripolitania of the Trade Unions Act, No. 6
of 1951, most of the workers' organisations existing at that time amalgamated with the L.G.W.U., forming special sections within that
organisation covering all the main industries. According to estimates
the L.G.W.U. had about 30,000 members in October 1959. This
organisation, as successor to the Federation of Libyan Trade Unions, is
a member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions;
it is one of the foundation members of the International Confederation
of Arab Trade Unions established in 1956.
The L.G.W.U. is, however, operating only in Tripolitania and even
there another trade union, as yet unregistered, is trying to organise
workers in various industries, apparently for political rather than
industrial motives. The situation therefore is not yet stabilised and the
extent to which some of the individual unions registered under the 1951
law are in fact now merely sections of the L.G.W.U. remains open to
doubt although the latter is undoubtedly the mainspring of the whole
Libyan trade union movement.
In Cyrenaica there are various small unions of dockers and seafarers,
mechanics, unskilled labourers, painters and carpenters, bakers, shoemakers and drivers registered under 1951 legislation and mainly grouped
in a single federation. Others are awaiting registration under the 1957
law when the regulations regarding registration procedures are promulgated. The total number of members is estimated at some 2,000
so.
or less.
The L.G.W.U. and the Cyrenaican Federation amalgamated in
November 1959 to constitute the Libyan National Confederation of
Trade Unions.
150
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
According to available information, in 1956 the total gainfully
occupied population of the towns and urban areas of Libya was about
67,700 and the aggregate number of employed persons (wage earners
and salaried employees) was 53,30o.1
Employers' Organisations.
The first employers' organisation was established at Tripoli in 1951.
In 1956 the following organisations were in existence: Association of
Industrialists, Traders and Manufacturers (500 members); Association
of Master Grocers (500); Libyan Association of Butchers (120); Tripoli
Association of Butchers (35); Association of Sawmill Proprietors (18).
Tunisia
Workers'" Organisations.
The first trade union centre—the Tunisian General Confederation of
Labour—was established in 1924. Until 1936 this organisation remained
in close touch with the French C.G.T.; in 1938 it was banned. Starting
in 1943 many independent unions were set up, and at a congress held in
January 1946 the General Federation of Tunisian Workers (U.G.T.T.),
an unaffiliated central organisation with tendencies similar to those of
the Neo-Destour Party, was established. It then had about 100,000
members, most of them in Tunis and the remainder in the docks and
mines elsewhere. Another organisation, the Federation of Tunisian
Workers' Unions, was set up in the same period; it was affiliated with the
World Federation of Trade Unions and ceased activities in September
1956. In November of the same year a split occurred in the U.G.T.T.,
leading to the establishment of the Federation of Tunisian Workers
which regrouped with the U.G.T.T. in September 1957.
At present almost all the workers in commerce, industry the, professions and agriculture belong to the U.G.T.T., which has been affiliated
with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions since 1951.
It had about 150,000 members in 1959. There were, until January 1959,
also two other organisations—the Federation of Christian Trade Unions
in Tunisia (about 100,000 members) and a Tunisian section of the French
C.G.T.—Force ouvrière.
At the end of 1957 the U.G.T.T. was reorganised and 12 national
trade union federations on an industry basis were established within it
for agricultural workers, dockers, building workers, food industry
workers, state employees, clothing workers, officials, metallurgical
1
Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1958, op. cit., pp. 14-15.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
151
workers, miners, transport workers, bank and commerce employees and
workers in sundry occupations.
In 1956 the total gainfully occupied population of Tunisia was about
1,345,000 and the total number of employed persons (wage earners and
salaried employees) was about 509,00o.1
Employers' Organisations.
The main employers' organisations are the Tunisian Federation of
Handicrafts and Commerce and the National Federation of Tunisian
Farmers. Two others, the Confederation of Commerce and Industry and
the General Confederation of Agriculture ceased legally to exist after
the coming into force of the Act of 10 January 1959. There are also
chambers of agriculture, commerce and mines.
Algeria
Workers' Organisations.
Until 1954 each trade union centre in metropolitan France had
regional organisations in Algeria. In that year the French General
Confederation of Labour (C.G.T.), which is affiliated with the World
Federation of Trade Unions and had hitherto included a majority of the
organised workers, split in two. The General Federation of Algerian
Trade Unions (U.G.S.A.) was then established and joined the W.F.T.U.;
its membership was estimated at 15,000 in 1957.2 In 1956 two other
organisations were set up—the Algerian Workers' Trade Union Federation (U.S.T.A.) and the General Federation of Algerian Workers
(U.G.T.A.). In 1957 the U.S.T.A. (which has Algerian National Movement sympathies) estimated its membership at 105,000 of whom 100,000
were employed in metropolitan France and 5,000 in the Algerian departments. 3 The U.G.T.A. (which has National Liberation Front
sympathies) has been affiliated with the I.C.F.T.U. since 1956 and is
said to have had between 100,000 and 150,000 members in 1957.4 Finally,
there are two independent federations of trade unions, together with a
1
Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1958, op. cit., pp. 18-19.
A Survey of North West Africa, op. cit. According to another source the
U.G.S.A. had 5,000 members in 1957 and was dissolved in 1958 {Directory of
Labor Organizations, Africa (Washington, United States Department of Labor,
Feb. 1958)).
8
A Survey of North West Africa, op. cit. According to the Directory of Labor
Organizations, Africa, op. cit., the U.S.T.A. had 50,000 members in 1957. This
organisation, which is not affiliated to any international trade union federation, held
a congress in metropolitan France in 1957.
4
According to the Directory of Labor Organizations, Africa, op. cit., the U.G.T.A.
had 150,000 members in 1957.
a
152
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Regional Federation of the French Confederation of Christian Trade
Unions, and a Federation of Force-ouvrière Unions in Algeria. According to an estimate made in 1957, these last four organisations totalled
about 115,000 members, distributed as follows J : Council of Independent
Federations and Unions in Algeria—40,000 members; Regional Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Algeria—15,000; Regional Federation (Algeria) of the French Confederation of Christian Trade Unions
—35,000; Federation oî Force-ouvrière Unions in Algeria—25,000.
At the end of 1956 and early in 1957 various complaints were made
to the Committee on Freedom of Association of the I.L.O. Governing
Body alleging infringements of trade union rights in Algeria. Some of
these allegations related to the withdrawal of representative status from
the U.G.S.A., the U.G.T.A. and the U.S.T.A. and others to the arrest
or expulsion of trade union leaders and militants. In its reply the French
Government stated that the trade union centres in question had not been
banned and that no action had been taken to dissolve them, but that the
action taken had been aimed at depriving them of all representative
status on advisory and decision-taking bodies in both the private and the
public sector. As regards the action against trade union militants, the
Government stated that this was due not to their character as trade
unionists or to their trade union activities but to other activities of a
political and subversive character. After examination of these complaints
by the Committee on Freedom of Association, the Governing Body of
the I.L.O. on recommendation by the Committee, informed the French
Government that while, having regard to the prevailing situation, the
decision to withdraw representative status might " be explained to a
certain extent by the political activities of the organisations concerned,
it would nevertheless be desirable, in order to avoid any possibility of
abuse and of giving grounds for criticism, that decisions having such
consequences should be taken in all cases in accordance with a procedure
offering every guarantee of impartiality ". The Governing Body also
called the Government's attention to " the importance which it attaches
to the principle that when trade unionists are accused of political or
criminal offences which a government considers to be outside the scope
of their trade union activities they should be charged promptly by an
impartial and judicial authority ".2
Altogether, the trade union movement in Algeria has about
375,000 members. In 1954 the total gainfully occupied population of the
1
Directory of Labor Organizations, Africa, op. cit.
Twenty-seventh Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association instituted
by the Governing Body of the I.L.O. See Official Bulletin, Vol. XLI, No. 3, 1958,
particularly pp. 175 and 176.
2
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
153
Algerian departments was about 3,500,000 and the total number of
employed persons (wage earners and salaried employees') was about
1,300,00o.1
Employers' Organisations.
The chief employers' organisations appear to be the General Confederation of Algerian Employers and the General Confederation of
Agriculture, Algerian Union. In 1956 a new employers' organisation
was established, the General Union of Algerian Commerce (U.G.C.A.)
which has National Liberation Front sympathies.2 The General Confederation of Algerian Employers seems to be the organisation representative of the whole of industry and commerce. It has four local
organisations (at Algiers, Oran, Constantine and Bòne) and 25 federations of individual industries with a total of 400 units. There is also an
artisans and small merchants federation (F.A.C.P.I.A.).
Morocco
Workers' Organisations.
The first trade unions in Morocco were set up by European workers
under the Protectorate. Following incidents in the Khuribga mines
in 1936, Moroccan subjects were forbidden to join trade unions. Despite
this official prohibition, large numbers of Moroccan workers—particularly in 1943 and succeeding years—became members of the General
Federation of Trade Unions in Morocco (U.G.S.M.), affiliated to the
French General Confederation of Labour (C.G.T.). In 1955 the
Moroccan Federation of Labour (U.M.T.) was established and joined
the I.C.F.T.U. During the period immediately preceding independence,
despite lack of any legislative provision enabling Moroccans to form or
join trade unions, the public authorities did not oppose the trade union
movement. During the period following Morocco's independence, the
U.M.T.—which had close finks with the Istiqlal Party—developed
considerably and collected the great majority of former members of the
U.G.S.M. Whereas in April 1955 the U.M.T. was estimated to have
25,000 members, in 1959 it claimed 650,000, organised in 30 trade union
federations for various occupations ; moreover, the U.M.T. is also
divided regionally into groups of local unions, of which there are 45.
Following a decree.issued in 1957 which required trade union officers
to be of Moroccan nationality, the local affiliates of the French organ1
Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1958, op. cit., pp. 14-15.
Some of the above-mentioned complaints regarding workers' organisations also
related to the U.G.C.A.
2
154
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
isations broke up and their members established " workers' associations";
some of their former members joined unions affiliated to the U.M.T.
The Istiqlal Party having recently split into two, the part which remained
under its previous leaders strove to establish a new trade union movement which would be independent of the U.M.T. There is little information available about the number of unions thus created or about their
membership. Set up as local unions at the beginning of 1960, the
" independent " unions federated at the national level in March 1960,
becoming members of the Moroccan General Federation of Labour
(U.G.T.M.) whose founders claimed to have 100,000 adherents at that
date. The fact that the Moroccan Government did not object to the
constitution of the U.G.T.M. as it is permitted to do by law " as a
transitional and exceptional measure " caused dismay to the U.M.T.,
which called a strike in protest. Stoppages of work occurred, particularly
in Casablanca and Rabat, at the end of March I960.1
In 1952 the total gainfully occupied population of Morocco was
about 2,900,000 including about 930,000 employed persons (wage earners
and salaried employees).2
Employers' Organisations.
The chief employers' organisations in Morocco appear to be the
Moroccan Commercial, Industrial and Handicrafts Union, the Moroccan
General Economic Confederation, the General Industrial Union of
Morocco and the Moroccan Agricultural Union. There are also
chambers of agriculture, commerce and industry. Elections to chambers
of commerce and industry were in preparation in April 1960.
General Review
This brief review of the principal stages in the history of trade unions
and the present position of the movement in each of the countries in
question justifies certain broad statements. First of all, if regard is had
to the political activities of the chief workers' central organisations now
in existence, it will be noted that in three of the countries—Tunisia,
Algeria and Morocco—these central organisations, or some of them, are
more or less closely associated with the work of political parties or of
groups having political tendencies. This is clearly the case in Tunisia,
where, ever since its establishment, the U.G.T.T. has been closely
associated with the Neo-Destour Party, and in Morocco where the
U.M.T. appears also to be closely associated with that part of the Istiqlal
1
2
See VAvant-garde, organ of the U.M.T., No. 58, 26 Mar. 1960.
Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1958, op. cit., pp. 16-17.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
155
which recently broke away from the Party's former political leadership.
Furthermore, it is interesting to note that trade union militants have
entered the present Tunisian Cabinet and the Moroccan Consultative
Assembly. In Egypt, on the other hand, the trade unions are prohibited
by legislation from " dealing with political questions ". 1 Lastly, as
regards Libya, available information does not show to what extent, if
any, the trade unions have relations with political parties or tendencies.
Reference should also be made to the attempts to establish trade
union co-operation between some of the countries concerned. For
instance, the Moroccan Federation of Labour has taken the initiative of
contacting the Algerian, Tunisian and Libyan unions with a view to the
establishment of a North African trade union federation; and the
Tunisian U.G.T.T. organised in 1955 a course of trade union training
which was attended by eight Moroccans and ten Libyans as well as
22 Tunisians.
It may be useful to show in a single table the available information
on the membership of the workers' unions and their international
affiliation, and to indicate with regard to each country the total number
of employed persons (wage earners and salaried employees) according
to the latest estimates. This has been done in table XIV.
TABLE XIV. N O R T H A F R I C A : M E M B E R S H I P 1 O F W O R K E R S ' U N I O N S
A N D DISTRIBUTION A C C O R D I N G TO INTERNATIONAL AFFILIATION
(Thousands)
InterInterInternational national
national
Total
ConFederation World
ConUnaffiliTotal
federaFederation ated or
number of memberfederaof
tion
of
of
Trade
employed
tion of
ship
unknown
Christian
Arab
Free Trade
Unions
persons
Trade
Trade
Unions
Unions
Unions
Country
Egypt (1947) .
Libya (1956) .
Tunisia (1956)
Algeria (1954)
Morocco (1952)
Total
1
. . .
•7
,1,275
53«
508
1,300
930
4,066
Maximum estimates.
480
32
155
375
670
150
175
650
1,712
975
480
30
510
1
35
5
2
4
160
20
36
5
186
* Towns and urban areas only.
Although the above figures in table XIV cannot be considered as more
than indications, it is interesting to note that if the total membership of
1
Labour Code of 1959, art. 174, para. 3.
156
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
trade unions is compared to the total number of employed persons in
each country, the resulting proportion ranges from about 72 per cent.
in Morocco to 60 in Libya, 37 in Egypt, and 30 in Tunisia and Algeria. It
is also not without interest to note that, according to the same estimates,
the approximate total of 1,712,000 organised workers in all the five
countries is divided mainly between the I.C.F.T.U. with about 60 per
cent, and the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions with
30 per cent, (including almost all the organised workers in Egypt and
Libya).
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND PROTECTION OF TRADE UNION RIGHTS
This section analyses the statutory provisions in force in Egypt 1 ,
Libya 2, Tunisia 3 , Algeria 4 and Morocco 5, as regards the various rights
and guarantees for which provision is made in the two international
labour Conventions on freedom of association and the right to organise.6
These international standards provide for certain rights and guarantees to be enjoyed by workers and employers or by their occupational
organisations as the case may be.
Rights and Guarantees Enjoyed by Workers and Employers
Under the above-mentioned international labour Conventions, the
workers and employers " without distinction whatsoever " 7 must enjoy,
inter alia, the following rights and guarantees: the right to establish
organisations; the right to join organisations of their own choosing,
subject only to the rules of the organisation concerned; and, for the
1
Labour Code, art. 160-187; decision to establish chambers of industry and
decision concerning organisation of the Federation of Industries.
2
Labour Code of 1957. This Code has so far not been applied in practice
as regards the rights and obligations of trade unions which are still regulated by the
earlier legislation of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. However, it is expected that the
necessary implementing regulations win be promulgated very soon.
3
Act No. 59-4 of 10 January 1959: trade unions.
1
Labour Code, Title I, Book III, made applicable to Algeria by Decree of 11 April
1946.
5
Dahir No. 1-57-119 of 16 July 1957, and Decree No. 2-57-0571 of 17 July 1957,
respecting trade unions ; Decree of 8 February 1958 respecting exercise of trade union
rights by public officials.
6
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention,
1948 (No. 87) ; Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).
7
Article 9 of Convention No. 87, however, leaves it to each State to determine the
extent to which the guarantees provided for shall apply to the armed forces and the
police.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
157
workers 1 , adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination
in respect of their employment.
Persons to Whom Trade Union Rights Extend.
The minimum age at which persons may join trade unions (except in
the event of objection by the parents where minors are concerned) is
15 years in Egypt and 16 years in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco; no
minimum seems to be laid down by the legislation in force in Libya. In
Tunisia and Algeria the legislation on freedom of association makes no
distinction between the various classes of workers. In the other three
countries, the legislation on the subject appears to make no distinction
based on nationality 2, race, political opinion or sex either for workers
or employers ; in two countries, Morocco and Algeria, it is even expressly
stated that married women may join unions and take part in their operation and management without the authorisation of their husbands.
In three of the countries—Egypt, Libya and Morocco—there are
distinctions based on the occupation or kind of employment. In Morocco
these relate to officials and employees of public authorities, offices and
establishments; such persons, excepting personnel of the police and
auxiliary forces under the Ministry of the Interior, have trade union
rights, but the legislation provides that every trade union organisation of
public officials or employees is required to communicate its rules and a
list of its officers to the competent authority.
In Libya the legislation on trade unions does not apply to certain
classes of workers, particularly agricultural workers (with some exceptions 3 ), domestic servants, public officials and self-employed workers ;
nor does it apply to employers.
In Egypt different statutory provisions are applicable to workers and
employers respectively. As regards workers, the legislation does not
apply in principle to employees of the Government and public organisations, nor to managers authorised to act in the employer's name. However, the Labour Code expressly states that it is to be applied gradually
to public officials and employees of public organisations and corporations.4 As regards employers, the provisions of the Labour Code on
trade unions are not applicable ; the legislation concerning the economic
1
This protection is required by Convention No. 98, Article 6 of which provides
that the Convention " does not deal with the position of public servants engaged in the
administration of the State ".
2
But see below as regards the restrictions on choice of trade union officers.
3
The Labour Code applies to persons employed in agricultural establishments
which process their products wholly or in part and those employed in a permanent
capacity to operate or repair mechanical appliances used in agriculture.
4
Labour Code, art. 4.
158
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
organisation of certain occupations provides for the estabhshment of
chambers of commerce, chambers of industry and chambers of agriculture, to which affiliation is compulsory in certain cases.1
Rules Applying to the Establishment of Organisations.
The international standards provide for the right to establish organisations " without previous authorisation ". In Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco the formalities attached by legislation to the estabhshment of
unions consist merely in communication of the rules and a list of the
officers. In Tunisia and Algeria the authorities to whom this communication has to be made do not seem to possess any statutory power to object
to the estabhshment of a trade union ; in Morocco, as a transitional and
exceptional measure, the Secretary-General of the Government, after
consulting the ministers concerned, may object within three months of
communication of the union's rules.2 In Libya trade unions must be
registered by an office established in the ministry responsible for labour
affairs in the federal government; however, if no decision has been taken
by the authorities within three months from receipt of the application
for registration, the rules are considered to have been approved and the
organisation is automatically registered.3
The position is more complicated in Egypt. As regards workers'
unions, the officer responsible for communicating the rules to the competent administrative agency must tatach a supporting letter from the
federation of trade unions. 4 Furthermore, the administration may,
within 30 days of communication of the rules, notify its objection to the
establishment of a trade union and, if the procedure for estabhshment of
the union has not been corrected within a further 30 days, may bring the
matter before a court of law which will take a final decision.6 As regards
employers' organisations, it should be borne in mind that chambers of
industry are established by Ministerial Order.
Free Choice of Organisation to Be Established.
In Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco there appears to be no
statutory provision restricting the free choice of individuals as regards the
1
In this connection the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions
and Recommendations has expressed the view that it is " doubtful whether these
economic organisations, constituted under the aegis of the State and often placed
under its control, and which it is compulsory for the persons in question to join,
really correspond to trade union organisations within the meanings of the Conventions . . . " 0.L.O. : Report of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, Report III (IV), International Labour Conference, 43rd
Session, Geneva, 1959 (Geneva, 1959), p. 106, para. 23).
2
Decree of 17 July 1957, art. 1.
3
Labour Code of 1957, art. 34.
* Labour Code, art. 165.
6
Ibid., art. 167.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
159
organisation which they wish to establish. However, in Tunis, no union
may be set up as an administratively dependent section of a foreign trade
union organisation. In Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, although workers
employed in different branches of the economy are prohibited from
establishing a joint union, this prohibition appears to be formal only,
since different primary organisations restricted to particular occupations
may freely establish federations, and persons not belonging to or no
longer engaged in the occupation for which the union was established may
be chosen as officers. In Egypt the fact that the rules of a workers'
organisation may be communicated only by a person holding authority
from the Federation of Trade Unions appears to prevent establishment
of any union not affiliated to the Federation. Furthermore, under article
162 of the Labour Code, only one general union may be established in
any province for workers of the same occupation or trade. 1 Lastly, employers may apparently establish only chambers of industry.
Right of Individuals to Join Organisations Freely.
In three of the countries—Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco—the legislation guarantees to workers and employers not merely the right to join the
organisation which they prefer, subject only to its rules, but also the
right to refuse to join a given organisation; and it penalises any pressure
which might be exercised with a view to inducing a person to join.
Furthermore, in the same countries, persons who are no longer engaged
in the occupation or no longer perform the functions with which a given
union deals may continue to belong to the union provided they were so
engaged for a certain period—one year in Tunisia and Algeria, six months
in Morocco. In Egypt, on the other hand, a worker may not remain a
member of a trade union for more than two years after he ceases to be
employed in the occupation. Furthermore, as already stated, an employer
may in some cases be obliged to join a chamber of industry.
Protection against Acts of Anti-Union Discrimination in Respect of
Employment.
In Egypt, Libya and Algeria this protection is secured by special
legislative provisions which state that those responsible for acts of antiunion discrirnination may be fined or required to pay damages. In Egypt
" any employer who dismisses one of his employees or imposes any
penalty upon him with a view to obliging him to join or not to join or to
1
At the 44th Session of the International Labour Conference (Geneva, June 1960),
the Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations noted
that article 162 did not permit the workers to establish trade unions " of their own
choosing ". For further details see International Labour Conference, 44th Session,
Geneva, 1960: Provisional Record, No. 28, pp. xxin to xxv.
160
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
withdraw from a trade union or because he holds an office in a trade
union " is subject to a fine. In Libya it is provided that an employer
may not—on pain of a fine—require a worker to leave, or to abstain from
joining, a trade union; nor may an employer dismiss a worker or take
action against him for the sole reason that the worker belongs to a trade
union or takes part in trade union activity. In Algeria the employer may
not have regard to trade union membership or engagement in trade
union activities when taking decisions on engagement of workers,
arrangement or distribution of work, vocational training, promotion,
remuneration, grant of social benefits, disciplinary action or dismissal.
In Tunisia it would appear, according to the available information, that
any infringement of a right conferred by legislation, and particularly the
right to belong to a trade union, would be considered abusive and would
give rise, if appropriate, to payment of damages. Furthermore, section 16
of the Decree of 5 November 1949 provides that collective agreements
must contain stipulations on respect for freedom of association. Finally,
in Morocco, under section 7 of the recommendations of the Superior
Collective Agreements Council, the employers have undertaken not to
discriminate as regards employment by reason of trade union membership
or the reverse, and workers may be dismissed only after consultation
of the trade union committee in the undertaking.
Rights and Guarantees Enjoyed by Organisations
The rights to be enjoyed by trade union organisations according to
the international labour Conventions on this subject may be enumerated
as follows : the right to draw up their constitutions and rules ; the right to
elect their representatives in full freedom; the right to organise their
administration and activities and to formulate their programmes; the
right to establish and join federations and confederations ; the right to
affiliate with international organisations. There are also four guarantees :
the organisations must not be liable to be dissolved or suspended by
administrative authority ; they must enjoy adequate protection against
acts of interference by each other; the public authorities must refrain
from any interference which would restrict the rights of the organisations
or impede their lawful exercise; lastly, whereas the organisations must
respect the law of the land, this must not be such as to impair, nor may
it be so applied as to impair, the guarantees for which provision is made.
The information available for the countries concerned is examined
below. Data on the last two guarantees mentioned, which are of a general
character and cannot be handled separately, are given as far as possible
in the paragraphs on the other rights and guarantees.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
161
Right to Draw Up Constitutions and Rules.
In the various countries, it would appear that as a rule there are no
legislative provisions liable to infringe the right of occupational organisations to draw up their constitutions and rules in full freedom. Only in the
case of Egypt and Libya does the legislation enumerate the matters which
must be dealt with in the constitutions and rules. It should be noted,
however, that in Egypt employers' organisations are regulated by a
common set of rules which are incorporated in an order of the Minister
for Industry promulgated after consultation of the Federation of
Industries.
Election of Representatives.
The right to elect the representatives of the organisations in full
freedom is unrestricted in most cases, save only as regards the ineligibility
of minors, persons whose civil rights have been suspended and persons
who have been convicted of penal offences. Nevertheless, in Morocco
and in Algeria foreign nationals cannot be chosen as trade union officers,
and in Tunisia the choice of foreign nationals as trade union officers is
subject to the approval of the competent minister.1 In Egypt the Minister
for Industry appoints one-third of the members of the governing body
of each chamber of industry as well as of the Federation of Industries.
Right to Organise Administration and Activities and to Formulate
Programmes.
In the five countries, lawfully established trade unions have juridical
personality and—under the legislation on freedom of association—may
freely organise their administration and activities and formulate their
programme. However, in Libya the administration of trade unions is
subject to control by the authorities required to register them, since the
audited accounts of each union must be sent to the competent authority
every year.2 Furthermore, once proceedings have been started before a
1
The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has pointed out that provisions prohibiting foreign nationals from holding
office in trade unions or restricting this right raise a rather complex problem; it is
possible, the Committee continues, « that in given circumstances a provision of this
kind may have the effect of preventing certain classes of workers or employers from
freely electing their representatives. » (International Labour Conference, 43rd Session,
Geneva, 1959, Report III (IV), p. 113, para. 59.) In Morocco especially the problem
is particularly acute as regards employers' organisations in that the majority of largescale industries are controlled by French nationals; so much so that existing employers'
organisations, with the exception of the Moroccan Commercial, Industrial and Artisanal Union and the Moroccan Agricultural Union cannot in practice enjoy the full
advantages afforded in law to trade unions.
2
Labour Code of 1957, art. 43.
162
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
conciliation board or an arbitration commission, strikes and lockouts are
prohibited and are subject to fines or—in the case of a public utility
establishment—to imprisonment.1 In Egypt trade unions are prohibited
from " concerning themselves with political questions " 2 and any general
meeting of a " general union " must be preceded by a notification to be
sent by registered letter to the competent administrative authority at
least seven days before the date of the meeting.3 Moreover, if the union
takes a decision or commits an act involving stoppage of work by persons
employed in a public or public-utility service or working to meet a public
need, the competent Minister may apply to a court of law for dissolution
of the union.4 Lastly, the funds of dissolved unions are placed in the
hands of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour for establishment of a
new union. 5 As regards chambers of industry, the Minister for Industry
appoints one or more delegates who must be convened to all governing
body meetings; furthermore, the Minister for Industry can request a
chamber of industry to study any question and to place on the agenda of
meetings of the governing body any subject coming within the competence
ofthat body; finally, the accounts of chambers of industry are submitted
for approval to the Minister for Industry.
In Algeria, although the legislation in force contains no provision
permitting interference by the public authorities in the activity of trade
unions, it cannot, because of the present situation, be said whether acts
of interference may or may not have actually occurred during these last
years.
Right to Establish and Join Federations.
In Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco the right of trade unions to
establish federations freely and to affiliate with them appears to be
unrestricted. In the United Arab Republic not more than one federation
may be established in either region and not more than one general
federation in the whole republic.6 Furthermore, the legislative provisions
regarding the registration of unions 7 seem to assume their affiliation to
the Federation. It should also be remembered that all Egyptian chambers
of industry must be members of the Federation of Industries.
1
Labour Code of 1957, arts. 58 and 60.
Labour Code, art. 174.
3
Ibid., art. 177.
«Ibid., art. 180.
5
Ibid., art. 181.
«Ibid, art. 183.
'Ibid., art. 165.
2
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
163
Right to Affiliate with International Organisations.
There appears to be no restriction on this right in Egypt, Tunisia,
Algeria and Morocco. In Libya only federations or confederations
(but not primary unions) may join international organisations of workers
and then only after obtaining the approval of the competent Minister.1
Suspension and Dissolution of Organisations.
In Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco the legislation on freedom
of association seems to prevent the suspension or dissolution of an
organisation by administrative action ; in case of an unlawful act by a
union, only a judicial authority may declare it dissolved. With regard
to employers' organisations in Egypt, it should be noted that the governing body of any chamber of industry and of the Federation of Industries
may be dissolved by order of the Minister for Industry when the provisions of the law have been infringed. In Libya the administrative
authority may order a union's activity to be entirely or partly suspended
until the court of law issues its judgment on dissolution of the union.2
Protection of Organisations against Acts of Interference by Each Other.
As regards some of the countries, particularly Tunisia and Morocco,
there are reasons for believing that the strength of the central workers'
organisations, which now include a large proportion of employed persons,
is sufficient to protect the member unions effectively against any attempt
at interference by private employers. Under the legislation in force in
Algeria a collective agreement concluded by an organisation which did
not appear sufficiently independent could not be extended to the whole
of the industry or region concerned.3 In Libya there is apparently no
legislative provision protecting workers' organisations against interference on the part of private employers or employers' organisations.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS
In almost all the countries covered by this survey, the authorities
have taken action to promote collective bargaimng. In Morocco, for
instance, the Superior Collective Agreements Council issued general
recommendations in 1958 for the framing of collective agreements by
industries within the framework of the Dahir of 17 April 1957; the
1
2
3
Labour Code of 1957, art. 39.
Ibid., art. 42.
Labour Code, Book I, art. 31.
164
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Council recommends that when an agreement is denounced or revised
the parties shall attempt for a certain period to conclude a fresh agreement and shall not take any extreme action during that time.
Statutory provisions on collective agreements are found in all the
countries.1 It is impossible from the information available to state
definitely to what extent these provisions have been applied in practice
up to the present. It would appear, however, that on the whole the
number of agreements concluded in North African countries is still small.
In Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco legislation on the subject was passed
over 20 years ago. Collective bargaining has progressed in recent years
in Tunisia and Morocco, and new collective agreements have been concluded, even in agriculture.2 In Algeria 21 collective agreements were
concluded between 1950 and 1958 and seven of these were extended on
an industry-wide basis. However, a certain lack of enthusiasm for
collective agreements concerning industries as a whole is evident in
Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. This state of affairs would seem to result
mainly from the fact that very detailed provisions cover in practice the
majority of points which might form the basis of a collective agreement.
In Tunisia and Morocco workers' organisations are reluctant to conclude
collective agreements and prefer to negotiate directly with the Government with which they have close ties. Nevertheless this state of affairs
does not hinder the conclusion of agreements at the plant level when
conditions favour them. In Egypt3 17 agreements covering about
40,000 workers were concluded between 1950 (the date of the first law
on collective agreements) and 1955. However, it would seem that in
certain cases trade unions are not yet sufficiently organised to conclude
collective agreements at the level of the occupation. In Libya it is only
since 1957 that the legislation has included provisions on this subject;
these provisions are still purely theoretical and there are no collective
agreements, except in Cyrenaica where a small number of agreements of
minor importance have been concluded.
1
Egypt—Labour Code, Title II, Chapter III, arts. 89-106. Libya—Labour Code
of 1957, arts. 13 and 14. Tunisia—Decree of 5 November 1949: Collective Agreements.
Algeria—Labour Code, Book I, Title II, Chapter TVbis. Morocco—DahirNo. 1-57667 of 17 April 1957: Collective Agreements
2
Twenty-six agreements concerning agriculture were concluded in Morocco in
1956 and the beginning of 1957: 16 of these relate to specialised undertakings (market
gardening, rice planting, forestry) ; ten are provincial agreements governing the relationships between employers and workers in almost all the farms of Morocco. Twentytwo further collective agreements were concluded between 1 October 1957 and
15 September 1958 after the promulgation of the 1957 Dahir, of which ten concerned
agriculture.
3
For more detailed information see V. HADDAD : " Les conventions collectives
dans le nouveau Code de travail de la R.A.U.", in l'Economie et les finances de la
Syrie et des pays arabes (Damascus, May 1959), No. 17, p. 30.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
165
Definition and Contents of Agreements
In all the countries except Libya, collective agreements are not defined
in a manner entirely corresponding to the provisions of the Collective
Agreements Recommendation, 1951 (No. 91). This states that "the
term ' collective agreements ' means all agreements in writing regarding
working conditions and terms of employment concluded between an
employer, a group of employers or one or more employers' organisations,
on the one hand, and one or more representative workers' organisations
or, in the absence of such organisations, the representatives of the workers
duly elected and authorised by them in accordance with national laws
and regulations, on the other ". In Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco,
it is not laid down that, in the absence of workers' organisations,
collective agreements may be concluded by the representatives of the
workers concerned; this is no doubt due to the necessity for giving
collective agreements a definition different from that of individual contracts; in fact, the disadvantages which may result from inability to
conclude a collective agreement where there is no workers' organisation
do not seem to have serious consequences in the countries in question
(to the extent to which such organisations exist).
In Libya and Morocco there is no legislative provision regarding the
contents of collective agreements.1 In Egypt it is provided that collective
agreements may regulate minimum wages, hours of work, holidays,
apprenticeship, procedures for conciliation and arbitration and for
modification of agreements, separation benefits, and stipulations to
ensure the well-being, tranquillity, safety and health of the workers. It
is also laid down that " any clause in a collective agreement which is
hable to endanger public security, harmful to the economic interests of
the country or contrary to public laws and regulations, shall be null and
void ". In Algeria and Tunisia the relevant legislation enumerates
certain clauses which must be, or should be, contained in collective
agreements; among the compulsory stipulations, mention should be
made of those which concern freedom of association and freedom of
opinion, the wage rates applicable to the various classes of workers in
the occupation, the procedure for classifying workers in this connection,
conditions of engagement and dismissal, the period of notice and the
agreed conciliation procedures which are to be followed for the settlement of disputes arising out of application of the agreement; the list of
non-mandatory clauses is not exclusive.
1
As regards Morocco, however, it should be noted that collective agreements must
contain certain provisions on conciliation procedures in case of collective industrial
disputes.
166
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Validity and Duration
The legislation of the various countries provides that, to be valid,
collective agreements have to be in writing and must be registered with
the competent administrative or judicial authority. In Tunisia, Algeria
and Morocco, it is laid down that a collective agreement may be concluded for a specified period or without such specification; in the former
case there is a statutory maximum of three years in Morocco, five years
in Algeria and Tunisia. In Egypt collective agreements may be concluded
for a specified period or for the period which is necessary to complete a
given project, provided this does not exceed three years.
In Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco a collective agreement concluded
for an unspecified period may always be terminated by one of the parties
provided notice is given to all the other parties and to the authority
with which the agreement was registered; failing stipulation to the contrary, an agreement which is valid for a specified period continues, on
expiry, to have the same effect as an agreement without specified duration. In Egypt, on expiry of the specified period, the agreement is
tacitly renewed unless one of the parties terminates it by so informing
the other party and the administrative authority concerned. In Libya
the period of notice for termination of an agreement is three months. In
all the countries, if one of the parties to an agreement consists of several
persons or organisations, termination of the agreement as regards one of
these does not necessarily involve the others. Lastly, in Morocco, when
a collective agreement expires or is terminated, it nevertheless continues
to have effect until the conclusion of a new collective or works agreement
or individual contract.
Scope
In Algeria collective agreements may be national, regional or local.
An agreement may also be concluded for one or more establishments ;
the object of these " works agreements " is to adapt the stipulations of
collective agreements to the special conditions of the establishment(s)
concerned ; if there is no collective agreement proper, the works agreement may relate only to wages and allowances. In Egypt, if several
trade unions are parties to a collective agreement, they must all represent
occupations which are similar, connected, or take part in production of
the same goods. In Morocco the parties are required to stipulate in the
agreement whether it is to be valid throughout the country, or in a
certain region or locality, or only Tor one or more specified establishments; failing such stipulation, the agreement applies in the area covered
by the labour court or magistrate's court with which it is registered. The
Tunisian legislation makes a distinction between " approved " collective
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
167
agreements and those relating to one or more establishments. The
former are to govern relationships between employers and workers in
the whole of a branch of industry or commerce, and the conclusion of
such an agreement is subject to determination of its territorial and occupational scope by ministerial order; agreements for one or more
establishments may not, in principle, be concluded unless an approved
collective agreement already applies to the establishment(s) in question.
Effect
The legislation generally provides that the actual parties to a collective
agreement, and the persons in whose name they have acted, are bound
thereby—i.e., they must apply it and respect its stipulations as long as
these remain in force. An agreement also binds the organisations which,
though not originally parties, have subsequently accepted it; in Tunisia
this acceptance is valid only with the consent of the original parties. In
all the countries in question, except Libya, it is expressly provided that if
one of the parties fails to carry out a collective agreement the other party
may claim damages.
Provisions to be found in the legislation of all the countries give collective agreements binding force as regards persons employed in the
undertakings covered, although they were not represented by the parties.
In Tunisia and in Algeria it is laid down that the employer shall be bound
by the terms of a collective agreement to which he is a party, even as
regards such of his employees as are not members of the contracting
organisation. In Libya, Morocco and Egypt this rule applies only on
fulfilment of certain conditions : in Libya and Morocco there must be no
stipulation to the contrary in the agreement itself; in Egypt the number of
employees of the undertaking who belong to the signatory organisation
must not be less than half the total number of employees.
The effect of a collective agreement on the individual contracts of the
workers covered by it is differently defined in the various countries. In
Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco there are provisions specifying that the
collective agreement is binding and forms an integral part of the individual contract, but that any clause of the latter which is more favourable
to the workers shall remain valid. In Egypt it is provided that any clause
of an individual contract which is less favourable than a stipulation in
the collective agreement is null and void and must be replaced by the
corresponding provision of the agreement.
Extension
The legislation of the various countries makes it possible to " extend "
a collective agreement, on fulfilment of certain conditions, to persons
168
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
who were not parties to it—i.e., the competent administrative authority is
empowered to render the agreement binding on all employers and workers
falling within the occupational or territorial scope of the agreement itself.
The conditions vary from one country to another: in Tunisia, in order
that a collective agreement may be so extended it must have been concluded by the most representative employers' and workers' organisations
of the branch concerned; in Morocco the agreement must already apply
to at least half the workers in the branch; in Libya the majority of the
employers in an area, industry or trade must already be covered by the
agreement.
In Egypt the law provides that other organisations of employers and
workers or an employer and a workers' organisation may adhere to a
collective agreement, after its registration, without the consent of the
parties originally signatories to it being necessary. The request for
adherence, signed by the two parties, is addressed to the competent
administrative authority. In Libya and Tunisia the procedure for extending the collective agreement cannot be initiated save at the request of one
of the parties; in Algeria and Morocco, on the other hand, the Ministry
of Labour may open the extension procedure on its own initiative. In
order to safeguard the interests of third parties and make it possible for
employers and workers who may be brought within the scope of an
agreement to submit their observations, it is provided in Algeria and in
Morocco that collective agreements which it is proposed to extend must
be published or posted for a certain period. In Tunisia, Algeria and
Morocco it is laid down that an extension order can be made or repealed
only after a joint advisory body has given its opinion with reasons.
Application
In Algeria and in Tunisia collective agreements must contain clauses
on the settlement of disputes arising out of their interpretation. In
Morocco every collective agreement must provide for the establishment
of a joint conciliation board and for the appointment—by each party—
of arbitrators and referees to whom disputes which cannot be settled by
the board within the prescribed periods will be automatically referred;
the periods must be determined by the collective agreement, the maximum
being one week for each stage of the procedure and one month for the
settlement of the whole dispute. In Egypt the legislation simply provides
that the collective agreement shall determine the procedure of conciliation and arbitration. In Morocco supervision of application of a collective agreement may only be entrusted to labour inspection officials at
the joint request of the parties. In Algeria and in Morocco the relevant
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
169
legislation provides for the posting of notices in the establishments falling
within the scope of a collective agreement : the notice must be posted both
at each workplace and in the premises where personnel are engaged; it
must indicate that a collective agreement exists, and a copy must be
available to the personnel.
In order to promote the conclusion or application of collective agreements, joint advisory bodies have been established in Tunisia, Algeria
and Morocco. 1 They include representatives of the authorities and of the
employers' and workers' organisations and are required, not only to give
opinions on questions relating to the conclusion or application of the
agreements, but also to examine their effect on prices, production and the
cost of living or (in Algeria) to study the make up of a model budget with
a view to determining the over-all minimum wage.
SETTLEMENT OF LABOUR DISPUTES
Special Provisions for Individual Disputes
Whereas the legislation of some of the countries provides for a general
disputes settlement scheme, irrespective of whether the dispute is individual or collective, in others there are special provisions for the settlement
of individual disputes. Such is the case in Tunisia 2, Algeria 3 and in
Morocco * : these countries, like France, make a distinction between
individual and collective labour disputes, which are not governed by the
same provisions. The conciliation councils in Tunisia and Algeria and
the labour courts in Morocco are intended to settle disputes between
employer and employee arising out of the contract of service or between
one employed person and another arising out of the employment. Onl
the other hand, they may not deal with claims for damages following
accidents to employed persons, nor with disputes relating to family
allowances. The three laws in question exclude employees of the State
and public corporations from their scope.
These joint bodies consist of equal numbers of workers and employers,
who are elected. In Tunisia 5 and Morocco the president is a magistrate;
1
Entitled respectively the Advisory Collective Agreements Board, the Superior
Collective Agreements Board and the Superior Collective Agreements Council.
2
Act No. 58-117 of 4 November 1958 : amendment of Decree of 19 January 1950
establishing the conciliation boards (conseils de prud'hommes).
3
Act. No. 54-789 of 6 August 1957 : probiviral councils in Algeria (Algerian Labour
Code, Book IV).
• Dahir No. 1-57-127 of 29 April 1957 to establish labour courts.
6
In Tunisia the conciliation offices of the probiviral councils were abolished by the
Act of 4 November 1958.
170
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
in Algeria he is alternately a worker and an employer member of the
conciliation council itself. The procedure includes two stages—conciliation and decision: the conciliation council or labour court may not give
an award until all means of reaching a settlement by conciliation have
been exhausted.
Scope of the Laws and Regulations
In Egypt the provisions on conciliation and arbitration in labour
disputes 1 apply to " every dispute concerning work or conditions of work
arising between one or more employers and all or part of their wageearning and salaried employees ". In Libya the corresponding provisions 2 apply to " any dispute between employers and workers or among
workers that relates to the employment or non-employment or to the terms
and conditions of employment of any persons, whether workers in the
service of the employer with whom the dispute arises or not ". In Algeria 3
and Morocco 4 the conciliation and arbitration procedures relate to the
settlement of all collective labour disputes.
Certain classes of workers are sometimes excluded. This is the case,
in Egypt and in Libya, as regards domestic servants and employees of
public services. In Libya agricultural workers also are excluded, with the
exception of " those employed in agricultural establishments which process their products wholly or in part and those employed in a permanent
capacity to operate or repair mechanical appliances used in agriculture ".
In Algeria and in Morocco there are particular rules for the personnel of
public undertakings which have a special statutory position. In Morocco
the legislation on this subject is not applicable to establishments managed
by Moroccan employers who operate in accordance with guild traditions
and employ Moroccan personnel only.
Effects of Strikes and Lockouts
In most of the countries concerned, lockouts and strikes are not
permissible during conciliation and arbitration or after these procedures
have been set in motion. Such is the case in Egypt, although in that
country a lockout is permissible if the employer has applied to the
1
Labour Code, arts. 188-211.
Labour Code of 1957, arts. 45-63.
3
Act of 11 February 1950 respecting collective agreements and procedures for the
settlement of collective labour disputes, as amended by Act No. 57-833 of 26 July 1957.
4
Dahir of 19 January 1946 respecting conciliation and arbitration in collective
labour disputes, as amended and completed by Dahirs of 23 October 1948 and 11
December 1950. This text has no practical application at present.
2
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
171
/ Minister of Social Affairs and Labour and obtained his approval. In
Libya strikes and lockouts, which are normally permissible provided due
frouce is given to the other party and to the administrative authority, are
expressly prohibited once proceedings have been opened before a conciliation board or arbitration commission or while an arbitration award
is in force, if the matter at issue is or has been the subject of an industrial
dispute. In Morofiaa all collective disputes must go through the conciliali tion and arbitration procedure before any lockout or strike is permissible.
The penalties which may be inflicted for infringement of these provisions
vary from one country to another. In Egypt provision is made for im
prisonment ranging from three months to one year; in Libya the penalty
is usually a fine, with three months' imprisonment if the infringement
affects a public utility establishment ; in Morocco infringement is
punishable by a fine.
Table XV gives recent data on the total number of labour disputes
in three of the countries under consideration.
TABLE XV. N O R T H A F R I C A : LABOUR DISPUTES, 1956-58
Number of disputes
Year
1956
1957
1958
Workers involved
Man-days lost
Egypt
Tunisia
Morocco l
Egypt
Tunisia
4
11
3
252
63
45
1,987
118
220
3,689
5,246
657
14,923 76,486 7,929
5,405 22,818 6,119
1,412 131,840
362
Morocco
1
Egypt
Tunisia
Morocco
l
74,798 404,410
25,160 112,436
1,886 256,992
Source: Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1959, op. cit., pp. 501-502.
1
Not including mining industries.
Conciliation
The legislation in force in Algeria and Morocco expressly states that
all collective labour disputes must go through the conciliation procedure,
which may be opened at the request of either party or by the competent
authority. In Egypt the Act states only that either of the parties may ask
the administrative authority to seek an agreed settlement of the dispute.
In Libya conciliators appointed by the competent authority are empowered to call the parties together " if an industrial dispute occurs
or appears likely to occur ".
In some cases the administrative authority attempts to settle the
dispute by negotiation prior to or instead of the formal conciliation
procedure. In Egypt, if the employer concerned has less than 50 persons
T^JL,
172
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
in his service, the administrative authority makes such an attempt: if it
succeeds in settling the dispute within two weeks, the terms of the agreement are set down in an official report and become enforceable; if not
the dispute is sent to the arbitration commission. In Libya the conciliation officer appointed by the provincial authority is required to " call
the parties together to conduct negotiations " before the dispute is
taken to the conciliation board or arbitration commission; if a settlement cannot be reached in this way the conciliation officer has to report
to that effect to the Director of Labour within ten days.1 In Algeria a
collective dispute must be immediately notified to the administrative
authority (prefect) ; either of the parties may do this ; the administrative
authority, together with the labour inspectors, then attempts to find an
agreed solution; if no settlement can be reached in this way and no conciliation procedure has been provided for either by collective agreement
or by any special agreement between the parties, the dispute must be
brought before a conciliation board within one month. Conciliation
machinery has been established in all the countries.
United Arab Republic
(Egypt).
A conciliation board comprising representatives of the administrative
authority and of the employers and workers is established in each administrative district. If the employer concerned in a dispute has not less than
50 persons in his service, the application for assistance in finding a settlement (which may be addressed to the administrative authority by either
party) must be transmitted to the conciliation board within 24 hours
unless both parties send a written request for the dispute to be referred
directly to the arbitration commission. Examination of the dispute by
the board must be completed within 20 days of receipt of the documents.
If an agreement is reached an official report is drawn up and becomes
enforceable. If the attempt at conciliation is unsuccessful the board
must transmit the dispute within three days to the competent arbitration
commission.
Libya.
It is provided that the appropriate authority in each province shall
appoint a conciliation board composed of a neutral chairman and equal
numbers of persons representing the employers and the workers. The
board considers any dispute which is referred to it by the provincial
1
In practice it has so far not been necessary to go beyond this stage and neither a
conciliation committee nor an arbitration commission has yet been formed. The
Department of Labour exercises a growing influence in the settlement of disputes
based on purely voluntary conciliation procedures.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
173
director of labour, in agreement with the two parties, when it has proved
impossible to settle the dispute informally. Whatever the result of conciliation, the board sends the Director of Labour a report not less than
one month after the dispute has been referred to it.
Tunisia.
Strictly speaking, no formal procedure now exists for conciliation or
for arbitration of disputes in industry and commerce. This gap is, however, filled in practice by the Labour Inspection Services which seek to
settle by conciliation any disputes that may arise. It has not as yet been
found necessary to resort to formal arbitration proceedings. In agriculture, however, a Decree of 29 April 1937, as modified by a Decree of
29 July 1937 providing for conciliation and, if necessary, arbitration in
the case of disputes, remains in force.
Algeria.
There are regional conciliation boards, which include equal numbers
of persons nominated by the most representative employers' and workers'
organisations and nominees of the public authorities. The Divisional
Inspector of Labour (or of Social Legislation in the case of agriculture)
presides over the regional board. Disputes may be submitted to conciliation boards either by one of the parties, or by the administrative
authority or the divisional inspector of labour. The parties are required
to appear in person before the conciliation board, save for very good
reason. If the attempt at conciliation fails, the dispute is submitted either
to arbitration (if both parties so agree) or to mediation. This latter procedure is opened by the chairman of the conciliation board at the written
request of one of the parties or on his own initiative. The mediator is
chosen by agreement between the parties or appointed by the administrative authority from a list drawn up after consulting the most representative employers' and workers' organisations; he has 15 days in which
to submit reasoned proposals to the parties with a view to settlement of
each of the points in dispute. If the attempt at mediation fails, the mediator communicates the text of his proposals to the competent authority
within 48 hours ; in principle they must be published.
Morocco.
The regional and inter-regional conciliation boards are composed of
equal numbers of employers and workers, selected by the competent
administrative authority from a list drawn up after consultation with the
employers' and workers' organisations. These boards are presided over
either by the Director of Labour or his representative (inter-regional
174
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
board) or by the chief of the region or his representative (regional board).
The competent labour inspector is present at the meetings in an advisory
capacity. Disputes are submitted to the boards by one of the parties or
by the administrative authority on its own initiative. The parties are
required to appear in person save for very good reason. The board has
four clear days (counted from receipt of the request for conciliation) in
which to meet and six clear days in which to reach a decision. In case
of agreement an official report is drawn up stating its terms; if the dispute
persists in whole or in part, this also is recorded.
Arbitration
In Algeria,and M o r o c o the conciliation procedure is compulsory;
if on its termination the dispute persists, the arbitration procedure normally follows. This is not always the case in Egypt and Libya. In
the former country, if the employer concerned has not less than 50 persons in his service the documents regarding the dispute may be sent to
the arbitration commission directly by the administrative authority,
without intervention by the conciliation board, if the two parties so
request in writing; the arbitration commission also deals with disputes
which have not been settled either by the conciliation board or informally
(if the employer has less than 50 persons in his service) by the administrative authority.
In Libya it is provided that after examining the report of the conciliation officer the Director of Labour in agreement with the two parties
may refer the dispute to an arbitration commission; but if a dispute has
been unsuccessfully handled by a conciliation board it must be referred to
arbitration.
In Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco collective agreements may (in
Morocco, must) provide for an arbitration procedure and for a list of
arbitrators (in Morocco, of referees also) to be drawn up by agreement
between the parties.
In Algeria, if the attempt at conciliation has failed and there is no
collective agreement providing for arbitration, this is duly placed on
record and the parties may jointly decide to submit the dispute to an
arbitrator, whose award will relate only to the disputed points as
recorded. Moreover, a mediator may always recommend to the parties
that they submit a dispute to arbitration if he finds that it relates to the
interpretation or infringement of a statutory provision or collective
agreement. In Morocco, if the attempt at conciliation has failed or one
of the parties has not come forward to take part in it, the chairman of the
arbitration board calls on the parties to appoint one arbitrator each or a
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
175
joint arbitrator and, if they fail to do so, he makes the necessary appointments within three clear days. The arbitrators are required to give their
award within a maximum of eight days on all the points on which they
are in agreement. If necessary they draw up a report stating the points
which remain in dispute and appoint a referee who gives his award
within five days. If the arbitrators cannot agree on the choice of a
referee, he is appointed by the chairman of the conciliation board. In
Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco awards issued by arbitrators or referees
are subject to appeal before the Superior Court of Arbitration.
In Egypt the arbitration council is composed of judges of the Court
of Appeal and high officials appointed by the ministers concerned; an
employers' and a workers' delegate, selected by the respective parties
and not having a direct interest in the dispute, appear before the council
without the right to vote. The arbitration council must meet within
15 days of receipt of the documents and must give its award within
20 days of its first meeting. The parties must appear in person before
the council (although the employer may be represented); assistance by
barristers is permitted. Awards of the arbitration council are considered
as judgments of the Court of Appeal, either party being entitled to appeal
further to the Court of Cassation.1
In Libya the arbitration commission is composed of three judges of
the Court of Appeal. Its awards are published in the official gazette of
the province and are enforceable. An award is binding on the heirs,
successors and agents of the employer and, if any workers in a trade or
establishment are parties, it is binding on all the workers in such trade
or establishment.
In Algeria the Superior Court of Arbitration is composed of magistrates and councillors of state, who are appointed by decree for a term
of three years. It considers appeals for infringement of statutory provisions or action ultra vires, which must be brought by the parties within
eight clear days from the date of the appeal. The Superior Court must
issue its awards within a maximum of eight clear days from the date
of the appeal. If it rescinds an arbitration award in whole or in part,
it sends the case back to the parties, who appoint a new arbitrator
if they can agree to do so. Should a second award be appealed and
rescinded by the Superior Court, that body then appoints one of its own
officers to undertake a further investigation and itself issues an award,
which is final, within 15 days of the second rescinding order. Orders
and awards by the Superior Court of Arbitration are published in the
official gazette within three months. In Morocco the parties have three
1
Order No. 159 of 25 August 1959 fixed the number, meeting places and
competence of the arbitration councils.
176
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
clear days, counted from notification of the arbitrator's or referee's
award, in which to appeal to the Superior Court of Arbitration on
grounds of incompetence, action ultra vires or infringement of a statutory
provision. The Director of Labour may appeal, for the same reasons,
within eight days; he may also, in the public interest, appeal to the
Superior Court against the substance of an award. In this latter case the
Superior Court, which is normally composed of magistrates and high
officials, will include also at least one employers' and one workers'
representative. The procedure in case of rescission of an arbitration
award by the Superior Court of Arbitration is similar to that followed
in Algeria and there is no possibility of appeal against an award issued
by the Court after the second rescinding order. Decisions of the Superior
Court of Arbitration are published in the official gazette within 15 days.
CONSULTATION AND COLLABORATION AT THE LEVEL
OF THE UNDERTAKING
In most of the North African countries, action of various kinds has
been taken to promote consultation and collaboration between employers
and workers at the level of the undertaking with regard to matters of
common interest that are not covered by collective bargaining or by
other normal procedures for determining conditions of employment.
This consultation and collaboration is intended in particular to enable
employers and workers to discuss problems relating to the operation of
the establishment in a different atmosphere from that surrounding the
examination of claims, and to assist each party in better understanding
the other's point of view.
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
The relevant legislationx provides for the establishment, in every
industrial undertaking employing 50 persons or more, of an advisory
committee of six members, half representing the employer and half
representing the workers. The workers' delegates are chosen from the
employees of the undertaking and are elected annually by direct ballot.
Each committee must draw up its standing orders within a fortnight from
its establishment and must have these approved by the competent administrative authority. It is entitled to give its advice on the following
matters, inter alia: organisation of work, and productivity; improvement
1
Labour Code, arts. 111-113.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
177
of working conditions; accident prevention; the policy followed as
regards vocational training, within the framework of the general
standards laid down for the industry; organisation of relations between
employer and personnel.
Tunisia
The committee which was entrusted with the drafting of the Labour
Code has recently studied the possibility of setting up works councils to
effect co-operation between employers and workers in undertakings as
regards the organisation of work, improvement and expansion of output,
and development of workers' welfare services.1 According to the available information, collaboration at the level of the undertaking appears
to have been introduced in only a few undertakings by the appointment
of workers' delegates either under legislative provisions 8 or on the
basis of agreement between the parties. 3
The role of the workers' delegates is sometimes restricted to mere
transmission of grievances to the employer. More often, however, the
delegates have a general function of representing the workers in dealing
with the employer; this enables them not only to transmit grievances
but also to explain the workers' point of view, particularly on problems
of health and safety, organisation of work and application of collective
agreements. In some cases the employees' delegates must be consulted:
for instance in the Tunis Tramways Company, where the duty rosters or
schedules must be sent to the delegate of the workers concerned as
soon as they are prepared and before they are put into force. In the same
way it is provided that difficulties arising out of the application of the
staff regulations for the railways and other public transport must be
submitted for examination and opinion to a permanent joint committee
of employers' and employees' representatives. Lastly, as regards occupational medicine, it is provided 4 that a works medical officer cannot be
appointed or dismissed until the staff delegate or delegates have been
consulted and the medical labour inspector has given an assenting
opinion.
1
Report transmitted to the I.L.O. by the Tunisian Government, for the period
ending 31 December 1957, on the Co-operation at the Level of the Undertaking
Recommendation, 1952 (No. 94). (International Labour Conference, 43rd Session,
Geneva, 1959, Report III (11), pp. 66-67.)
2
Particularly for workers in the public sector, employees of undertakings holding
concessions for the production, transport and distribution of gas, oil and electricity
and railway and other public transport personnel.
3
Most of the collective agreements concluded hitherto provide for the appointment of workers' delegates.
4
Order of 25 October 1956 relating to industrial medical services in the undertaking.
178
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Algeria
The position of workers' delegates is determined by an Act of 1946.1
They must be appointed in all establishments in industry, commerce,
agriculture and the professions where more than ten persons are employed. They are required " to bring before the employer individual or
collective complaints . . . regarding application of the wage rates and
gradings laid down in the Labour Code and other laws and regulations
respecting protection of the workers, health, safety and social provision;
to transmit to the labour inspector complaints or observations respecting
application of laws and regulations " within the same field. Furthermore,
the delegates are entitled to communicate suggestions to improve the
output and general organisation of the undertaking; these are made to
the works committee or, if there is none, to the employer. They also
arrange, jointly with the employer, for operation of all the welfare
schemes of the establishment. If there is no safety committee the
workers' delegates are responsible for supervising enforcement of the
laws and regulations regarding safety and for proposing appropriate
action in case of serious accident or occupational disease. The number
of delegates varies according to the size of the personnel; they are
elected for a term of one year by secret ballot from lists drawn up,
for each group of personnel, by the most representative trade union
organisations in the establishment. Candidates must be not less than
21 years of age, must be able to read and write and must have worked in
the undertaking for not less than one year without break of service. The
Act also contains provisions aimed at giving workers' delegates appropriate protection in the performance of their duties; for instance, any
proposal to dismiss a delegate must be submitted to the works council
for consent or, if there is none, to the labour inspector. Finally, the
employer is required to allow the workers' delegates the time they
require to perform their duties up to a maximum of 15 hours a month;
he must also see them at least once a month, and at their request in case
of urgency.
An Order of 25 January 1949 requires the establishment of health and
safety committees in the industrial or commercial establishments subject
to the Labour Code provisions regarding health and safety: this rule
applies to establishments habitually employing not less than 500 persons
in commerce or 50 persons in industry. The health and safety committee
includes the employer, the manager responsible for safety questions, a
x
No. 46-730 of 17 April 1946. The provisions" of Ordinance No. 59-81 of
7 January 1959 (protection of members of works committees and workers' delegates)
and of Decree No. 59-99 of the same date (dismissal of members of works committees
and workers' delegates) were extended to Algeria by Decree No. 59-726 of 9 June 1959.
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
179
medical officer and three representatives of the workers, one of whom
must be a supervisor. The workers' representatives are appointed by the
works committee, if any, otherwise they are elected; the term of office is
one year and may be renewed. The health and safety committees make
investigations in case of serious accident or occupational disease, give
an opinion on rules and orders regarding health and safety, and ensure
their application; it is also part of the committees' duties to instruct the
fire-fighting and safety teams and to develop safety-mindedness by all
appropriate means.
Works committees have been established in all undertakings in industry, commerce and the professions where at least 50 persons are
habitually employed.1 It is laid down that the works committee shall cooperate with the management in improving the collective conditions of
work and life of the employees ; it is to undertake, participate in or supervise the operation of all welfare schemes in the undertaking. In an advisory capacity the works committee studies suggestions made by management or personnel with the object of increasing output; it must be consulted on questions regarding the organisation, administration and general
operation of the undertaking; it must be informed of the profits made, and
may make suggestions regarding the use to which they shall be put. At
least once a year the employer is required to give the committee a general
report on the activity of the undertaking; the committee may also make
observations on the financial situation. Each works committee includes
the employer or his representative and a delegation of the employees, the
size of which varies with the number of persons employed in the establishment. The members of the works committees are elected by secret ballot
from lists drawn up by the most representative trade union organisations ;
the term of office is two years and may be renewed. The conditions
regarding eligibility and the protection which members of works committes enjoy in the performance of their duties are similar to those regarding workers' delegates. The works committee holds at least one meeting
a month, convened by the employer, and may hold a second meeting at
the request of the majority of its members. The labour inspector also may
convene the committee if the employer fails to do so and if a request is
made to that effect by half the members; he is also entitled to be informed
of the committee's decisions.
Provision is made for the establishment of committees covering
several undertakings if these have set up joint welfare institutions, or
intend to do so; their powers are the same as those of ordinary works
committees. A Superior Works Committees Board was established by
1
Ordinance of 22 February 1955 as amended by Act of 16 May 1946.
180
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Order of 20 May 1946: this body is required to supervise application of
the relevant statutory provisions and, in general, to examine any measures
likely to ensure the satisfactory operation and action of the works committees.
Morocco
Legislation of 1955 1 defines the position of workers' delegates in all
industrial, commercial and agricultural establishments where more than
50 persons are habitually employed; these provisions resemble those
applying, in Tunisia and Algeria, to the powers of employers' delegates,
their election and eligibility, protection in the performance of their duties,
term of office, etc.
According to available information 2 , recommendations regarding
staff delegates were made at recent discussions between the most representative employers' organisations and the Moroccan Federation of
Labour; these recommendations, "which will be reproduced in all collective agreements at industry level ", supplement the legislation of 1955
and provide, inter alia, for the appointment of workers' delegates in
establishments with more than ten workers.
OTHER FORMS OF CONSULTATION
In the various countries covered by the present survey, representatives
of the employers and workers, together with representatives of the
public authorities, sit on bodies having competence in labour matters,
most of them in a purely advisory capacity.3 This form of co-operation
between the authorities, the employers and the workers has several advantages. It enables an exchange of views between employers' and workers'
representatives to take place, above the level of the undertaking, when
collective bargaining methods are not or cannot be applied ; it facilitates
the task of the authorities ; and it gives the employers, the workers and
their organisations an opportunity to share in determining labour policy
and legislation.
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Legislative provision is made for the establishment of mixed advisory
councils for particular industries ; these comprise representatives of the
1
Dahir of 16 September 1955. This law has not so far been put into operation.
Report transmitted to the I.L.O. by the Moroccan Government, for the period
ending 31 Decmber 1957, on the Co-operation at the Level of the Undertaking
Recommendation, 1952 (No. 94).
3
No mention is made here of conciliation and arbitration boards, etc., with provision for employer and worker association in their establishment and operation; see
the passages on conciliation and arbitration.
2
FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
181
public authorities and of the employers and workers. They are required
to work out a policy for wages and vocational training in the industry
represented, to propose standards for conditions of work and safety, and
in general to protect the common interests of the workers in the industry.
There is also provision for the establishment of mixed committees which
are to make proposals to the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour with
a view to determining minimum wages in each administrative district.
Libya
The Labour Code of 1957 empowers the appropriate authority in
the province " to set up an advisory committee to give advice in matters
relating to wages . . . on condition that the workers and employers have
an equal number of representatives on such committee ".
Tunisia
There are many bodies of mixed composition in which representatives
of the employers and workers take part. Mention should be made of the
committee on labour, the central and local committees on wage revision,
the committees on grading, the committees to supervise dismissals, the
vocational training committee, the industrial safety committee, the local
committees on agricultural labour and the Central Social Benefits Fund.
Algeria
Legislative provision exists for several bodies of this kind. The
Advisory Committee on Labour is required " to give its opinion on
the application of Acts and regulations concerning labour, health and
social provision, to supervise such application, to inquire into the conditions of the workers and into relations between employers and employees ".1 The Advisory Committee on Agricultural Labour is required
" to give its opinion on conditions of work and employment in agriculture, excepting wages ".2 There is also an Advisory Committee on Full
Employment 3 , the chief duties of which are to inform the Government on
the employment situation in Algeria, to evaluate openings for employment, to propose action with a view to eliminating unemployment and
to make proposals regarding the vocational training of young persons.
"Order of 26 July 1943: re-establishment and reorganisation of the Advisory
Committee on Labour.
2
Order of 24 August 1948: establishment of an Advisory Committee on Agricultural Labour in Algeria.
3
Order No. 3270 CC, of 30 April 1955.
182
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
In each department there is an advisory committee on manpower *
which gives opinions on all manpower and vocational training questions.
The superior vocational training committee and the central committee on
accelerated vocational training include representatives of the employers
and the workers. The same applies to various social security bodies,
such as the Algerian technical committee on prevention of industrial
accidents and occupational diseases and the social insurance funds.
Morocco
The joint supervisory committees attached to the employment offices2
have two tasks. They consider complaints regarding the operation of the
employment offices and make recommendations to the authorities on
action to make these offices more efficient. Lastly, the board of the
Assistance Fund (Caisse d'aide sociale) includesfiverepresentatives each
of employers and workers, appointed by the competent authority.
1
Order of 16 March 1957 to establish departmental advisory committees on
manpower.
2
Orders of 20 March 1945 and 16 April 1957.
CHAPTER VI
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
GENERAL
The role played by wages in North African countries is not the
dominant one they play in the very highly industrialised countries, where
anything from 50 to 70 per cent, of the national income may be made
up of money distributed as wages and salaries, a major proportion of
which is immediately spent. Yet in North Africa, where low incomes
leave a small margin for saving after basic minimum needs have been
met, and a large part of total cash incomes is derived from wages and
salaries, most of the total consumer demand is generated by wages and
salaries. They are therefore an important factor affecting the level of
output and employment. Much of the unemployment and underemployment in the region cannot be overcome until sufficient capital is available
to finance the equipment and materials needed to provide jobs for everybody, but the level of wages and salaries does limit the extent of the
market and thus affects the prospects of economic growth. The level of
wages and salaries in urban employment is certainly one of the causes
of the rural exodus and this also affects the employment situation.
Raising wages can contribute to higher productivity in a number of
ways, so that labour costs do not necessarily rise as fast as wage rates.
Thus the ability to compete in export markets need not be impeded by
increases in pay for the workers although the question has to be watched
closely. Other factors can also contribute to higher productivity and
hence to the possibility of paying better wages. Such factors are better
organisation of work, greater use of machinery, and more and better
training of personnel at all levels. These and other economic aspects
of wage policy raise broad questions going beyond the scope of this
survey.
The present chapter is concerned mainly with the social aspects of
wage policy. Compared with other sources of income, wages and
salaries are a factor of growing importance in determining living standards, and for this reason the governments concerned have sought to
place a minimum limit to the level of wages and salaries and to prevent
184
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
abuses in their payment. Collective bargaining has also given an upward
impetus, of varying force, to the levels of wages in different areas.
As the detailed analysis of the machinery for wage determination
will show, machinery for the fixing of minimum wages exists in all the
countries concerned. The extent to which it is used and actually influences
or determines wage rates varies very considerably throughout the different
countries. Collective bargaining, while in principle open to employers
and workers throughout the region, is in practice, except perhaps in
Morocco, very restricted in its operation as regards determination of
wage rates. This point has been discussed in Chapter V.
In Algeria collective bargaining has been of minor importance since
• 1954, though collective agreements arrived at prior to 1954 no doubt
continue largely to influence wage patterns in the industries concerned.
In Tunisia the extent to which minimum wages are fixed by law for
all categories of workers in mining, industry, commerce and agriculture
would seem to limit severely the effective part which could be played
by free collective bargaining on wages issues. There are no collective
agreements of importance in Libya. Indeed, in Tripolitania there seem
to be no collective agreements and only a few of minor importance in
Cyrenaica, so that the wages position rests on the minimum wage plus
the state of the employment market which, however, is favourable to
workers able to offer any degree of skill. In Egypt it would seem that
formal collective agreements concerning wages have so far been few,
except in industries such as the petroleum industry, where trade union
organisation is strong. It also seems that the advantages resulting
therefrom have not necessarily had a favourable effect on general levels
of wages for similar work.
Some attempt has been made in the present chapter to show levels
and trends of wages and where possible to indicate, in the most general
terms, standards of living, but the comparative material available is
limited.
MACHINERY FOR WAGE DETERMINATION
Minimum Wage Legislation and Rates
While legislation on minimum wages exists in all the countries
covered by this survey, as well as machinery for fixing a minimum rate
of wages, it is difficult to determine the precise basis on which these
minimum rates are actually fixed. In Libya and Morocco, in particular,
there seems to be no indication in the legislation as to the criteria to be
used in fixing minimum rates. In Tunisia, while no criteria are specified
in the legislation, the fact that proposals for the wage rates to be fixed
by government order emanate from wage revision committees on
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
185
which both employers and workers are represented, ensures that the
various economic and social considerations involved are at least fully
considered. In Algeria, on the other hand, the guaranteed minimum
wage is framed in terms of a model budget, adapted from a similar
budget used for the same purpose in France, covering 179 articles and
drawn up in consultation with the Algerian Superior Collective Agreements Board. The present budget was adopted in 1957 when the guaranteed wage then in operation was taken as corresponding to the figure 100
in the model budget. The index on this basis had reached 117.62 in
February 1959 when the present guaranteed minimum wage was fixed.
Before 1959, collective agreements fixing wages throughout various
industries sometimes had clauses providing for the automatic adjustment
of rates in terms of this index but all such clauses were rendered null and
void by the terms of article 79 of the 1959 French Finance Law. Existing
provisions relating to adjustment of the guaranteed minimum interoccupational wage by reference to the index remained operative. In
assessing the purchasing power of the guaranteed minimum wage it is
important to bear in mind that the index on which it is based reflects
changes in the cost of living for an unskilled labourer, unmarried and
on the lowest rung of the wages ladder. The more general question of
wages in relation to the cost of living will be examined later.
It is still too early to indicate the manner in which the Egyptian
legislation of 1959, which calls for minimum wages " sufficient for the
essential needs " of the worker, will be interpreted in practice.
Finally it may be noted here that while France has ratified both
the Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26), and
the Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951
(No. 99), in neither case has the Convention been declared applicable to
Algeria; on the other hand both Morocco and Tunisia have ratified
Convention No. 26. The United Arab Republic (Egypt) and Libya have
ratified neither of these Conventions.
Morocco has also ratified the Labour Clauses (Public Contracts)
Convention, 1949 (No. 94). This is applied by a standard set of clauses
and general conditions imposed on contractors carrying out work
at the expense of a public administration, by the legislation relating to
minimum wages and hours of work and to employment. France has
also ratified this Convention but there has been no declaration in respect
of Algeria.
United Arab Republic
(Egypt).
There was until 1959 no minimum wage legislation as such, but
Proclamation No. 99 of 1950 had the effect of instituting a minimum
186
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
wage in industry and commerce indirectly by reason of the provisions
relating to the cost-of-living bonus which is the subject of the proclamation. Article 3 of this proclamation provides that the wage of a worker
who has attained the age of 18 cannot be less than 12.5 piastres a day or
312.5 a month, including the cost-of-living allowance specified. If the
worker is under 18, this wage may be reduced by 0.5 piastre per day or
125 millièmes 1 per month for each year less than 18. His wage, however,
may never be less than 10 piastres a day or 250 a month, including the
cost-of-living allowance. In agriculture the minimum wage, as already
noted, is 18 piastres a day for men and 10 for women and children.
In addition, in the Kina and Aswan areas, employers in industry and
commerce employing at least 50 workers and holders of land covering
more than 200 feddans must provide all employees with a midday meal.
Half the cost of the meal, up to a maximum of 15 millièmes, is payable
by the employee and may be deducted from his wages.
New provisions regarding the fixing of minimum wages appear in
the Labour Code, 1959. Under this Act (Article 156), Wage-Fixing Committees are to be set up in each Mudiriah or Governorate and may also be
set up in important industrial centres. These Committees, each consisting
of three members (one Government, one employer and one worker) will
at least once a year recommend minimum wages for promulgation by
the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour. They may also recommend
additions to the minimum and must see that the wages proposed are
" sufficient for the essential needs " of the worker.
Libya.
The Labour Code of 1957, article 15, makes provision for minimum
wages to be fixed by the competent authority in each province or in
any particular area, either generally or for a particular trade or category
of workers, after consultation with an advisory committee on which
employers and workers~~must be equally represented. In Cyrenaica the
minimum wage had already (August 1957) been fixed under earlier
provincial legislation at 25 piastres a day for an unskilled worker. This
figure is now the minimum both in Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. In the
Fezzan the minimum is 20 piastres a day.
Tunisia.
In Tunisia detailed measures have been taken to fix minimum wages
throughout industry, commerce, the liberal professions, the public
•£E.1 = 100 piastres=1,000 millièmes.
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
187
services, trade unions and other associations of all kinds, and agriculture.
By a Decree of 4 September 1943 as amended, procedures are prescribed
for the revision of wage rates. These provide for the setting up of a
Central Wage Revision Commission and of Local Wage Revision Commissions, all containing representatives of the Government, employers and
workers. The Local Wage Revision Commissions are given the duty of
preparing proposals for the regulation of wages in the areas within their
territorial competence, on the recommendation either of the local
administrative authorities or of an employer or group of employers, or of
the competent employers' or workers' organisation. The proposals for
wage regulation made by these Commissions must contain provisions
fixing: (1) scope; (2) minimum wage rates and, if necessary, maximum
wage rates ; (3) methods of payment for piece-work carried out either
in the workshop or at home; (4) supplementary payments to be made
to the worker; (5) wages of women and young persons under 18 ; (6) wages
of workers of reduced physical capacity. The proposals so made are
given statutory force by government order, subject to any modifications
which may be made on the recommendation of the Central Wage
Revision Commission. This body may also give the local Commissions
directives, approved by the Government, designed to orientate and
co-ordinate their work. Provisions exist not merely for enforcing the
minimum wage rates so prescribed but also for penalising the employer
who pays wages above the fixed maxima. Where work of exceptional
importance is being carried out, which may cause artificial distortion
of the distribution of labour in a particular locality, the minimum wage
rates to be paid may be fixed directly by the Government without
intervention of the Commissions.
In agriculture minimum wage rates for the ordinary labourer aged
not less than 18 and for women and children engaged in agriculture, as
well as minimum rates of bonus for technical skills, for harvesting
work and for length of service are fixed by government order in terms
of the Decree of 30 April 1956. It is expressly stated in this decree that
wages are to be freely negotiated at the time of engagement of the worker,
subject to the minima fixed.
Local agricultural employment committees operating on a tripartite
basis in each caldat under the terms of articles 7 and 8 of the decree
are empowered to fix the rates applicable to piece and task work in
order to ensure that the rates actually paid yield at least the minimum
daily wage, and to estabUsh, where necessary, classifications of workers
for the purposes of the bonus for technical skills referred to above.
The present basic hourly minimum wage (i.e. that of the unskilled
labourer) in industry and commerce is as follows:
188
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Francs
Tunis and suburbs—72 francs an hour plus " attendance "
allowance of 8.50 francs
Bizerta, Sousse, Sfax and their suburbs
Other localities
Mining sector
80.50
72.—
56.40
68.10
In addition, there are a series of allowances for various purposes, e.g.
travelling and removal, etc.
In agriculture the minimum daily rates for the ordinary agricultural
labourer aged not less than 18 are as follows:
Francs
First Zone (cai'dats of Souk el Arba—Souk el Khamis—
Bizerta—Mateur (except Mogods)—Béja (except Nefzas)—Medjez el Bab—Le Kef—Teboursouk—Tunis
—Soliman—Nabeul—Sfax—Sousse)
Second Zone (cai'dats of Ouled Aoun—Djemal—Monastir—Skhira—Djebeniana—Ouled Ayar—Madhia and
Tadjerouine)
Third Zone (all other localities)
350.—
325.—
300.—
The bonuses for technical skill, harvest work and length of service
are added to these rates.
The minimum rates for workers and salaried employees in mining,
industry and commerce are the subject of some 120 statutory orders,
worked out in accordance with the procedures indicated above. A selection of these wage rates appears in table 16.1 It is understood that
they are more or less the effective rates applicable to the categories of
workers indicated, except in the case of certain types of workers in
particular demand, such as those having special skills and supervisory
workers with higher technical training.
Algeria.
A guaranteed minimum wage is fixed for all workers, male or female,
other than apprentices, over 18 years of age and of normal physical
capacity. Special provisions apply to agricultural workers. Under
present arrangements Algeria is divided for this purpose into three
zones. In addition to the minimum wage properly so called, there is
a further special hourly allowance which also varies according to the
zone. The minima in operation as from 1 January 1960 for occupations
other than agriculture are: First Zone, 124.12 francs; Second Zone,
113.78 francs; Third Zone, 103.44 francs.
From the same date the minimum global daily wage in agriculture
was fixed as follows: First Zone, 691 francs; Second Zone, 637; Third
Zone, 588. These minima are normally fixed by the Government after
consultation with the Algerian Superior Collective Agreements Board,
1
See Appendix II.
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
189
on which employers and workers are represented. As early as 1950
it was envisaged that there would be a return to the free fixing of wages
through collective bargaining and French legislation on the subject was
made applicable to Algeria, with appropriate adaptations.
Morocco.
Minimum wage rates have been in operation since 1936.1 They are
fixed for men, women and young workers and, as regards commerce,
industry and the liberal professions, are at present as set out in table 17.2
In agriculture the present minimum is 350 francs a day. These rates
apply to the former French Zone of Morocco and also to Tangier and
the former Spanish Zone.3 Between 1942 and 1948 not only were minimum wage rates fixed but also the wage rates applicable to all categories
of workers. In 1948, however, wage rates became again freely negotiable.
The minimum wage rates quoted in table 17 remain fixed by legislation.
The only other minimum rates in force apply to workers engaged on
public works or construction, whether employed directly or through
contractors, etc. In their case wages are fixed according to the category
in which they are placed—there are 11 categories in all—and according
to the zone in which they are working. Rates are also fixed for task
work. No provision is made, in general, for consultation with employers
and workers before the determination of minimum wage rates by the
Government but in the case of rates applicable to workers in public
works, etc., rates are fixed following the recommendation of regional
commissions which, while largely composed of government officials,
also contain one employer and one worker nominated by the chief
officer of the region or territory. It is to be noted that while in industry,
commerce and the liberal professions, allowances in kind may be taken
into account in calculating the minimum wage, in agriculture any such
allowances are over and above the cash minimum. For persons paid
by the day or month, the maximum covers a day of eight working
hours or a month of 208 hours, except in certain cases where the legislation provides for longer working hours.4 Bonuses for length of service
are payable over and above the minimum wage. These amount to
5 per cent, after two years of service with the same employer and to
10 per cent, after five years.
1
Dahir of 18 June 1936 amended by Dahirs of 1 September 1937, 23 June 1938
and 16 June 1952.
2
See Appendix II.
3
Dahir No. 1-58.074 of 13 February 1958.
4
On this subject see art. 10 of Vizierial Order of 15 March 1937, No. 1277 as
amended; also Moroccan Labour Code. This contains a long list of occupations
exempted from the normal eight-hour working day.
190
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Under a new procedure introduced late in 1959 wages in all sectors
may, irrespective of the original method of fixing them, be raised by
decree on the recommendation of the Minister of Labour and Social
Questions after consultation with the Central Prices and Wages Commission. This is a tripartite body consisting of government, employers'
and workers' representatives. It will meet at six-monthly or shorter
intervals to examine the cost-of-living index figure in Casablanca and
Rabat. If thisfigurehas risen by 5 per cent, in the interval wages will be
raised in the same proportion by decree. The Commission will on request
meet at shorter intervals to negotiate an increase if the cost of living
in the two towns mentioned shows, over two months, an increase of
5 per cent., or if half the items on the index, other than fresh vegetables
and fruit, have shown an increase of at least 5 per cent, over their level
at the date of the previous wages increase. No reduction of wage rates
is provided for.
Protection of Wages
Measures relating to the protection of wages comprise the legal
provisions which exist to ensure the elimination of abuses in connection
with the medium and manner of payment of wages and to enable the
worker freely to dispose of them. Internationally, the standards in this
connection are prescribed chiefly in the Protection of Wages Convention,
1949 (No. 95), and cover such matters as the following: (1) payment of
wages in legal tender; (2) the extent to which, and the conditions under
which partial payment of wages in the form of allowances in kind may
be permitted; (3) payment of wages direct to the worker; (4) prohibition
of limitation of the freedom of the worker to dispose of his wages;
(5) prohibition of coercion to use works stores and control of prices in
such stores; (6) the conditions under which, and the extent to which,
deductions from wages may be allowed; (7) the manner and limits of
assignation of wages and their protection against attachment; (8) priority
of wages on bankruptcy of the employer; (9) payment of wages at regular
intervals and settlement of wages on termination of the contract; (10)
place and time of payment of cash wages; (11) prohibition of payment
of wages in taverns, stores and places of amusement except for those
employed therein; (12) the measures to be taken to inform workers of
their wage conditions, to give particulars of wages at the time of payment and the records to be kept in this connection. A Recommendation
—the Protection of Wages Recommendation, 1949 (No. 85)—adopted
at the same time as the Convention, indicates the detailed measures
which it is desirable to take in connection with the protection of wages.
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
191
Convention No. 95 has been ratified by the United Arab Republic
and its application extended to the Egyptian Region. The Egyptian
legislation covers most of the points enumerated but not points 4 and
5. The Libyan Labour Code of 19571 covers specifically only points 6
and 9 but provision is made for regulations to be made under the Code
requiring employers to keep registers in a manner to be prescribed.
As regards Tunisia, which has also ratified Convention No. 95,
a Decree of 7 February 1940, as amended, together with a Decree of
20 July 1950 and article 1630 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts,
cover the main points of the Convention.2 Though France has ratified
Convention No. 95, it has not been declared applicable to Algeria.
Neveitheless, the provisions of the Convention seem generally to be
covered by the legislation in force.3 It is interesting to note that, reporting
to the I.L.O. on Convention No. 95 in respect of Algeria in 1955, it was
stated on behalf of the French Government that infringements of the laws
regarding protection of wages related mainly to failure to apply the
guaranteed minimum wage rate, to issue pay slips and to keep
pay-books up to date. In that year 11,089 infringements were reported.
In 1957 it was stated that infringements (i.e. failure to pay the minimum
wage) brought to light were probably fewer than those that actually
occur. The report also stated that anonymous complaints had been
made to the effect that some employers, particularly in small towns in
the interior, force their workers, under threat of dismissal, to accept
abnormally low wages. On the other hand there was a widespread
practice in the building and public works industries of showing smaller
sums on payrolls than those actually paid, in order to evade taxation
and social security contributions. There were complaints by unions,
particularly in the baking industry, that the minimum wage was sometimes not attained by workers, who are invariably on task work.
In Morocco protection of the wages of workers in commerce, industry and the liberal professions is the main subject of two Dahirs.4 These
texts are not, however, appUcable to agriculture except as regards
payment of wages in legal tender, provisions as to allowances in kind,
assignment of wages and the priority of wages on bankruptcy of the
employer. In the case of other types of worker they seem generally to
cover the various points of Convention No. 95.
1
Arts. 16, 17 and 65.
Decree of 4 September 1943, as amended by Decrees of 29 June 1944, 19 June
1947, 26 February 1948 and 25 February 1954.
3
See Book I of the Algerian Labour Code (arts. 31-31Zc, 43-51a, 60a-74, 75-78,
104-107) and subsequent amendments.
4
Dahirs of 24 January 1953 and 17 March 1954.
2
192
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
THE LEVELS AND TRENDS OF WAGES
The amount and nature of information available on the levels and
trends of wages in the countries covered by the survey vary considerably.
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Table XVI gives the latest statistics on average weekly wages in the
major divisions of economic activity.
TABLE XVI. EGYPT: AVERAGE 1 WEEKLY WAGES IN THE MAJOR
BRANCHES OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, 1951-56
(Piastres)
Year
Manufacturing
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
172
187
184 2
194
203
205 2
Petroleum
extraction
574
804
733
797
563
696 2
Building
169
177
181
179
175
173 2
Transport
394
351
321
351
328
408 2
Source: Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1958, op. cit.
1
January and July.
* January only.
Average weekly earnings in specified manufacturing industries are
given in table 18.1 Various points in connection with these figures call
for comment. There are wide differences in average rates of wages, not
merely as between one branch of activity and another but also within
the branch itself. These differences are probably largely due to factors
such as the varying size of the establishments in the industries concerned,
their geographical situation and the varied proportions of male, adult,
skilled or salaried persons in their labour force. The number of days
worked a year will also affect yearly totals of earnings, since the figures
normally given are simply the averages of earnings in January and July
of each year. Figures indicative of the number of days worked in various
manufacturing groups are: 113 in sugar crushing and refining plants;
141 in cotton-ginning factories (both seasonal industries); and 275 in
the beverage industry.2 The relatively high wages figures for the petroleum industry are probably accounted for by a combination of factors
—e.g., there is a higher proportion of technicians than in most other
industries, wages are a small proportion of total costs and the wages
1
See Appendix II.
The Development of Manufacturing Industry in Egypt, Israel and Turkey, op.
cit., p. 48.
2
193
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
of petroleum workers in exploration activities are usually comparatively
high. A further point is that wages in Suez and the Canal Zone are
well above the average, those in Cairo and Alexandria just below it,
while those in other areas are considerably lower.
A recent publicationx suggests that the average unskilled worker
earns less than 30 piastres a day and the average skilled worker about
65. In many industries the wage difference between skilled and unskilled
workers is even greater, indicating the premium placed on trained personnel. This is, of course, a feature of wage structures in underdeveloped
countries.8 Men's wages are on the average almost double those of
women, who are usually employed on relatively unskilled jobs and
in such lower-paid industries as textile manufacturing. Children, employed mainly on unskilled work, earn less than women, but female
children tend to earn more than male, since they are often employed in
luxury trades where profits are high and where they can command higher
initial pay than male apprentices in other fields.1 The same publication considers that the most important reasons for the prevailing low
level of wages are (a) the large reserve of unemployed and underemployed
workers which makes job competition keen and reduces the worker's
bargaining power; (b) the weakness of trade unions; (c) the low productivity of manyfirms; and (d) the high rates of return expected on invested
capital. Average weekly wages in mining, manufacturing, construction,
commerce, transport and services, moved as follows during the years
1951 to 1957 3 :
Year
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957 (July)
Piastres
184
190
196
220
224
238
233
The figures for January 1956 covered a total of 312,000 workers. Since
the average weekly hours of work averaged 51 throughout, except for
1951 when they averaged 50 and 1957 when they were 49, the average
hourly wage was: 1951, 3.68; 1952, 3.73: 1953, 3.84; 1954, 4.31; 1955,
4.4; 1956, 4.67; and 1957, 4.75.4
1
2
3
Country Survey Series: Egypt, op. cit., p . 170.
See African Labour Survey, op. cit., Ch. VIII.
Figures based on information in Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1959, op. cit.
194
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Administrative, technical and clerical workers are relatively well paid
—about three times the general average in industry as a whole. In manufacturing industries in 1954 their earnings averaged 637 piastres a week.
Contrasts between the highest and lowest paid employees are suggested
by the following statistics : about 18 per cent, of those engaged in industry
earned (in 1954) less than 100 piastres a week, whereas 19 per cent.
earned more than 400. This higher-paid 19 per cent, received, however,
54 per cent, of the total pay-roll. It is likely that nearly all the latter group
were administrative, technical and clerical employees and that the great
majority of those receiving less than 400 piastres were operatives and
manual labourers. These statistics reflect the relative scarcity of whitecollar employees, the abundance of manual labour and the very low
living standards of the manual labourers.1
The trend of real wage earnings in manufacturing industry over a
period is indicated in table XVII.
TABLE XVII.
Year
1943
1945
1947
1950
1952
1954
1955
EGYPT: TREND OF WAGES 1 IN
INDUSTRIES, 1943-55
Money wages
(piastres)
Real wages •
(piastres)
1.7
2.4
2.6
3.2
3.7
4.3
4.4
0.86
0.96
1.01
1.19
1.25
1.47
1.49
MANUFACTURING
Indices (1950 = 100)
Money wages
Real wages
53
75
80
100
116
134
138
72
81
85
100
105
124
125
Source: The Development of Manufacturing Industry in Egypt, Israel and Turkey, op. cit., p. 120.
Hourly earnings.
• At 1939 prices.
1
It is thought that thefiguresin the above table somewhat overstate the
increase in real wages, since it is likely that the proportion of clerical and
administrative (i.e. higher paid) personnel has risen while, on the
other hand, some recent surveys exclude workers engaged in small
establishments (lower paid workers), who had been covered in earlier
surveys. Also, later surveys included under wages certain payments which
had been excluded earlier.
Similarfiguresfor agriculture would show arisein the money wages of
unskilled male adult workers from 6.3 piastres a day in 1943 to 18
in 1955, and a rise in real wages (1950=100) from 54 to 155, but these
figures have little value since the figures for 1955 are based simply on
1
Human Resources for Egyptian Enterprise, op. cit., pp. 88-89.
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
195
the legal minimum daily wage in agriculture and not on actual wages.
They may, however, serve as indicating a significant trend.
Up-to-date information which would show present levels of living
in Egypt is very limited. It may, however, be noted that the net food
supply per person in calories at the retail level rose from 2,450 calories
per day pre-war to 2,590 calories per day in 1955-56, but that it did not
pass the pre-war level until 1954-55.* Most noticeable changes in the
composition of the food supply are increases in sugar and syrups, fruit
and vegetables, meat and fish, and milk (including butter), while there is
a decrease in pulse and nuts. A notable proportion of the total calorie
intake is derived from cereals (mainly wheat and maize which amounted
to 1,809 calories in 1955-56). A pilot survey conducted among 739
households in rural areas near Cairo in 1955 showed that total consumer
expenditure per household in a three-month period (March-May) was
less than £E.20 in a little over 50 per cent, of the households and less
than £E.30 in 71.5 per cent. The percentage of households at higher
levels of expenditure was as low as 12 for £E.50 or more and only 3 for
£E.100 or more. On an average, 67 per cent, of total expenditure was
on food. However, these figures do not relate particularly to wage
earners since a considerable proportion of the heads of households in
the survey were engaged in agriculture on their own account.2
No minimum subsistence budget is known which would serve as a
guide to indicate the minimum wage required to cover the needs of a
worker with a family to support. In 1942 the Government took steps
to adjust wages to the mounting cost of living under war conditions by
providing that workers in industrial and commercial establishments
should be granted certain rates of allowances on current wages varying
according to the amount of wages earned and family responsibilities.
These allowances were already in operation for public officials. They
were increased in 1943, 1944 and again in 1950.3 In practice, however,
wages increased at a rate much lower than that stipulated in the relevant
cost-of-living orders, but the situation improved as the years passed,
suggesting that in later years there was stricter apphcation of the law
relating to cost-of-living allowances. By article 14 (6) of the Labour
Code 1959 the legislation relating to cost-of-living allowances is abrogated
but remains in operation (article 4) until the decisions of the Wage1
These figures are averages for the whole country, as are other similar calorie
figures in this chapter. They are therefore likely to be subject to considerable variations when applied to various strata of the population having regard to the great
inequality of income distribution and standards of living.
2
See H. M. HUSSEIN: " Pilot Survey of Family Budgets in Egypt ", in International
Labour Review (Geneva, I.L.O.), Vol. LXXVIII, No. 3, Sep. 1958, pp. 284-290.
3
Proclamations Nos. 358 of 1942, 451 of 1943, 548 of 1944 and 99 of 1950.
196
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Fixing Committees set up under article 156 of the Code are put into
effect.
In short, the wages structure which has evolved in Egypt shows fundamentally the effect of overplentiful labour supply, which depresses
wage rates that are already kept down by the low productivity of the
economy. Superimposed on this structure is a system of statutory costof-living allowances, designed to benefit workers according to their
family responsibilities and therefore resulting in widely different figures
of " take home " pay for workers doing the same job. The large proportion of the total wage represented by the cost-of-living allowance has
nearly obliterated any logical wage-rate structure in respect of differing
degrees of skill or variations of output, a situation which has been
further complicated by the custom of granting annual increases more
or less as a matter of right. It is therefore not until the managerial,
technical or clerical levels are reached that the factors of skill and
relative shortage of qualified personnel combine to secure reasonably
satisfactory rates of remuneration for those concerned.
Libya
The information available in regard to wage rates and trends is fragmentary in the extreme. The main elements are derived from an inquiry
in 1952.1 At that time the Government of Tripolitania, the largest employer in the territory, was paying for " managerial, professional, supervisory, secretarial and clerical staff" rates between 4,600 and 11,000
MAL 2 (less 8 per cent, income tax). These rates are equivalent to
£L.9.58 to £L.23.92. The minimum daily wage for unskilled workers
(eight-hour day) was 80 MAL=16.7 piastres (100 piastres=£L.l) and
for skilled workers up to 104 MAL=21.7 piastres (both less 4 per cent.
income tax). Dock labourers' wages were, in piastres, 16.7 a day,
pruners' and grafters' 18.7 to 31.2 and tractor drivers' 25 to 41.7 a day.
In the Fezzan during the same period, government-employed monthlypaid workers' rates varied between 26,500 francs for mechanics and
4,200 francs for messengers. Masons got 250 francs a day. Family
allowances of 200 francs a month were paid in addition. The rate for
construction workers was 150 francs a day. A statutory minimum wage
has now been fixed at 25 piastres for an eight-hour day in Tripolitania
and Cyrenaica and 20 piastres in the Fezzan. There is a special minimum
of 35 piastres a day agreed between the Government and the oil com1
United Nations Technical Assistance Administration : A General
Appraisal of Libya (New York, 1952), Ch. VIII.
2
Military Authority Lire.
Economic
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
197
panies for work in the oil industry. Wage rates for skilled men vary
from 50 to 150 piastres a day with higher rates for skilled men in the
oil industry. In the tobacco factory in Tripolitania (a government
monopoly) piece workers (men) packing tobacco and snuff were earning
80 to 100 piastres a day and women packing cigarettes 60 to 80 piastres
(October 1959). The minimum wage does not apply to agricultural
workers who are, in any case, largely paid in kind.1 Few women are
employed in industry, except to some extent in the urban textile industry
and the manufacture of cigarettes. Women (and children) do, however,
work in agriculture and on household handicrafts. In the latter the
minimum age of employment is said to be 10 years.
The meagre data available enables only a very uncertain picture to
be drawn of the standard of living—not particularly that of wage earners.
On the basis of the data available in 1952, it was estimated that in Tripolitania the daily consumption of cereals—the mainstay of the diet—was
about 300 grammes. This was higher in good seasons and lower in bad
and there were wide variations in the consumption rate between different
income groups. The sugar ration was 27 grammes per person per day
and consumption may in fact have been a little more. Consumption of
olive oil was 10 grammes per head per day and of dates about 40 grammes
per head per day. Meat consumption was estimated at 20 grammes
and milk and milk products 100 grammes per head per day as a maximum.
Other items in the diet were tea, coffee, eggs, vegetables, etc., of un-.
known amounts and, if one includes an estimate of 100 to 200 calories
a day for them, total consumption per person per day reached 1,400
to 1,500 calories, representing between 1,750 and 1,850 calories per
consumption unit (population expressed in terms of the equivalent
of an adult male) per day, as compared with the 3,000 calories which are
generally considered as an adequate diet in Western countries. The
percentage of expenditure on food has been observed in the cities to be
as high as 65 to 80 which " suggests a state of poverty compelling the
utmost economy in food expenditure with consequent undernutrition....
There seems little doubt that the standard of living in general is dangerously close to the minimum of existence; it is precariously balanced and
at each recurring drought it tends to fall below that minimum ".2 There
are, however, indications that the general situation has improved since
1
The I.B.R.D. Mission doubts whether a statutory minimum wage is appropriate
in Libyan conditions, especially if applied to industry and not to agriculture, on the
ground of its inflationary effect and its encouragement of the drift of labour from the
rural areas to the towns. While not suggesting that existing legislation should be
changed, the Mission considers that since most industrial workers already earn above
the minimum, " there is no pressing need for wage regulations, least of all for any
upward revision of the minimum in the oil industry ".
2
A General Economic Appraisal of Libya, op. cit., pp. 31-32.
198
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
1952, due to the financial assistance granted by the United States under
the Libyan-American Agreement of 1954, by the United Kingdom and
other governments, and through the presence of British and American
troops and the money spent by oil companies in the search for petroleum
(now apparently on the verge of success). All these are bound to have had
a favourable effect on employment and, to some extent, on wage levels,
though no doubt they also increased inflationary tendencies. Work on
the improvement of agricultural methods and the development of water
resources may also be tending to increase crop yields with favourable
effects on living standards. Meanwhile, the cost-of-living index figure
for Tripolitania, based on 100 in December 1942, varied for lower-paid
Europeans from 212 in January to 197 in December 1953 and from 190
in January to 192 in December 1954 and for urban Arabs from 193
in January to 175 in December 1953 and 171 in January to 174 in December 1954. In Cyrenaica the index (December 1942=100) was 121 in
January 1954 and 138 in December of the same year.
Prices of typical consumer articles in Tripolitania in August 1955
were as follows:
Article
Barley
Bread (inferior)
Flour (inferior)
Pasta
Sugar
Tea
Fish
Fruit
Meat (inferior)
Olive oil
Milk
Eggs
Piastres
per
,
„
„
„
„
„
kilo
2.5
„
4.7
„
4.3
„
5.8
„
10.8
„
75.0
„
15.5
„
10.7
„ ,,
27.6
per litre 21.5
„ „
4.8
each
1.2
It is however claimed that thesefiguresdo not reflect present inflationary tendencies. For example the price of mutton rose by 9 per cent.,
beef by 10 per cent, and lamb by 46 per cent, between December 1958
and December 1959. Rents paid by some people in the middle and lower
income groups have risen considerably in recent years. On the other
hand those living near the subsistence level in rural areas are little
affected, since they buy little in the market and the prices of the things
they do buy—tea, sugar and cigarettes—have not changed much. Prices
of other staples, such as bread and salt, have also been held down by
controls.
According to the I.B.R.D. Mission, private consumption per head
of population in 1958 was still only about £L.25-30 a year though there
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
199
are indications that consumption levels are considerably higher on
average than they were even five years ago. For example consumption
per head of both cereals and sugar appears to have risen by about
50 per cent, during that time and there has simultaneously been a
marked shift in the Libyan diet from the cheaper foods, such as barley
and dates, towards more expensive items like wheat, bread and pasta.
It is by no means uncommon to see wireless sets in the poorest Libyan
homes and purchases of bicycles, wrist watches, ball-point pens and many
other comparative luxuries have undoubtedly been on the increase.
Moreover, adds the report of the Mission, in assessing living standards
account must be taken of the extensive social services now provided
free or at a minimal charge to large sections of the population. These
services include free medical attention for most of those within reach of
a hospital or dispensary and free schooling, usually including a daily
meal, for about 60 per cent, of the children between the ages of 6 and
12 and for 15 per cent, of those aged 12 and over.1
Tunisia
The hourly rates for adult wage earners in 41 occupations in 1958,
quoted in table 16, give a broad picture of the structure of wages in
the country. It will be noted that in practice hourly rates in the different
areas varied from 56.40 to 72 francs for unskilled labour, from 86 to 90
for semi-skilled and from 100 to 134 for skilled and certain specialised
workers. While the spread may be slightly greater than that typical of
Western countries, it is not unduly so. No detailed information is available on daily or weekly earnings. Normal working hours are limited
by law to 40 per week, except in industries working under the eight-hour
day or 48-hour week régime. In the case of the 40-hour week, overtime
is paid at time-and-a-quarter for the first eight hours and thereafter at
time-and-a-half, while for the 48-hour week overtime pay is at the rate of
time-and-three-quarters but overtime resulting in total working hours
of more than ten a day and 60 a week is prohibited. No information is,
however, available on actual working hours which would enable a
calculation of earnings to be made. Some indication of the trend of
wage rates may be gained from the fact that the minimum wage applicable
in the main urban areas has increased from 60 francs an hour to 72
since October 1951. On the assumption that the number of hours
worked by men on the minimum rate has remained constant over the
years, this means that their earnings have increased by 20 per cent;
1
The Economic Development of Libya, op. cit., p. 32.
200
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
in the interval. Over the same period, the retail price index (1938=100)
in Tunis rose from 2,608 (November 1951) to 3,306 (July 1958) which,
suggests that the real wage of the unskilled worker fell appreciably
during the period. On the other hand, and assuming that rates above
the minimum rose in the same proportion, it is probable that, since
the attainment of independence by Tunisia in 1956 and the resultant
thinning out of skilled workers of foreign nationality, considerable
numbers of Tunisian workers are now occupying jobs calling for more
skill and thus commanding higher wages, a factor which tends to offset
the diminution of the real value of the rates for the jobs concerned.
While little information exists which would indicate the purchasing
power of wage earners 1, it was estimated that in Tunis in 1952 the
amount spent on food per family was equal to or more than the resources
of the family in 27 to 57 per cent, of cases, varying according to category,
and that only about 30 per cent, of the population succeeded in limiting
its expenditure on food to two-thirds of its global resources. The percentages of population groups spending more than nine-tenths of their
resources on food were: French, 27.5; Italian, 46; Moslem, 55; and
Jewish, 41. The figures suggest that these various population elements
lived very near to the minimum level of existence. The percentages of
those who may be said to have been able to live according to normal
standards in the sense that they spent not more than three-fifths of their
total budget on food were French 30, Italians 18, Moslem 7.5 and Jews
41 per cent.2
An inquiry conducted by the Tunisian Statistical Service in September
1955, covering 20,000 persons in the rural area of Enfida, showed that
the average annual income in francs was 41,500 for farmer-proprietors,
41,000 for agricultural labourers and 31,100 for tenant farmers. Figures
given later in respect of Morocco confirm this similarity of earnings
between the agricultural worker and the tenant farmer or khammès.
The fact is that, leaving aside the comparatively few large farmerproprietors, the living conditions of the various elements of the agricultural population, whether owners, tenants, sharecroppers or simply
1
Some information is given in an article entitled " Les niveaux de vie et de la
consommation dans la délégation de la Marsa ", in Bulletin de statistique et d'études
économiques, New Series No. 2, Apr.-June 1958, pp. 67-76. The study, however,
covered only 70 households and was only a sample of a much larger study now being
undertaken. It was thought preferable not to use it at this stage.
2
J. LEPIDI: " Démographie et équilibre économique ", in Bulletin du Service tunisien des statistiques, July 1953, p. 63. For a more detailed discussion of standards of
life in Tunisia see S. E. TLATLI : Tunisie nouvelle, Problèmes et perspectives (Tunis,
Imprimerie Sefan, 1957), Part III, Ch. II. See also Claudine CHAULET : " L'utilisation des données numériques en sociologie rurale tunisienne : la région d'Enfidaville ",
in Les cahiers de Tunisie (Tunis, Institut des hautes études), Nos. 21-22, pp. 43-88.
201
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
wage-paid workers, are not very different one from the other; they are
all partners in the same poverty. This is true of a large part of the
region covered by this survey.
Algeria
Considerable information as to wages and salaries is available as a
result of surveys which were carried out in 1955 and 1956.1 These show
that in 1955 the pyramid of average wages in respect of full-time workers
in occupations other than agriculture was as indicated in table XVIII.
TABLE XVIII. ALGERIA: WAGES IN THE NON-AGRICULTURAL
SECTOR, 1955
Average annual wages (francs)
Under 50,000 . .
50,000 but under 100,000
100,000
200,000
200,000
300,000
300,000
400,000
400,000
500,000
500,000
700,000
700,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,000,000 and over
Total
Wages
Workers (thousands) (millions of francs)
47.3 >
26.4
67.4
68.9
54.1
49.2
51.9
27.8
13.0
3.7
2.6
412.3
919
1,940
10,491
16,770
19,038
21,985
30,458
22,878
15,504
6,270
7,610
153,863
Source: Bulletin de statistique genérale, op. cit.. No. 3, p. 45.
1
It is considered that the number of workers earning less than 50,000 francs has been overestimated,
because many workers returned as having worked full time during the year worked only a part of the
year for the employer making the return.
The average annual earnings over the whole non-agricultural sector
on the basis of table XVIII amount therefore to 373,000 francs in 1955
(as against 357,000 francs in 1954). Table 19 2 shows the statistics furnished by the 1955 survey, regrouped to indicate average annual earnings
in each of 24 different sectors of activity, including agriculture and
associated occupations. Thus regrouped, the average earnings in 1955 fall
to 338,000 francs. In both cases it is important to note that the figures
include not merely wage earners but also salaried workers and that
commerce, the administration and the Army are also included. While
the total amount paid out in wages and salaries by employers participating
in the survey was greater in 1956 than in 1955, it is not possible to give
1
See: " Les salaires, traitements et pensions payés en Algérie au cours des années
1955 et 1956 ", in Bulletin de statistique générale, 1958, No. 3.
2
See Appendix II.
202
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
an average earningsfigurefor 1956, since the number of workers involved
is not known. Figures for full-time workers and amounts paid out in
salaries are available for most sectors of activity for 1957, though not for
agriculture. These figures have been inserted in brackets in table 19 of
Appendix II and enable some comparisons to be made. In regard to
agriculture it may be added that it is unlikely that the figures included in
the table are representative of annual earnings of agricultural workers
as a whole, since a large proportion of them are employed only seasonally.
Some indication of the trend of earnings between 1955 and 1957 is
obtainable from inquiries made at six-monthly intervals since 1955 into
employment, wages and hours of work and which are reproduced from
time to time in official publications. Table XIX shows the index of wages
by occupational category.
TABLE XIX. ALGERIA : INDEX OF WAGES BY OCCUPATIONAL
CATEGORY, 1956 AND 1957
(1955 = 100)
Occupational
category
Unskilled workers . .
Specialised labourers
Semi-skilled workers
Skilled workers
grade 2
Skilled workers
Skilled workers
special rates . . .
Average for
1956
May 1957
November
1957
Average for
1957
100.53
103.56
102.35
102.13
104.79
105.41
107.33
109.50
107.59
104.73
107.15
106.50
103.73
105.63
111.07
108.35
105.16
108.66
112.03
110.35
101.30
105.67
110.81
108.24
Source: Bulletin de statistique générale, op. cit., 1958, No. 2, p. 47.
It is to be noted that the minimum guaranteed interoccupational
wage in 1955 was 95.5, 87.5 or 79.5 francs an hour according to the
classification of the commune in which the enterprise was situated and
that in November 1957 thesefigureshad risen to 102, 93.5 or 84.9 francs
an hour respectively. The wage rates for unskilled workers remained
at or near the guaranteed minimum. The indices in table XIX are weighted
to take account of the proportion of workers in each sector and in each
occupational category. They include workers in the main sectors of
industry but not supervisory, technical and administrative personnel.
Over the same period the general index of wages (1955=100) rose in
November 1957 to 108.70 and to 106.41 for 1957 as a whole. It will
also be noted that the general tendency was for wages to rise to a slightly
greater extent in the more skilled categories than in the less skilled.
Apart from the expansion of industry in the interval, this was probably
203
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
due mainly to the fact that many of the most highly skilled workers were
from metropolitan France, to which they returned after the onset of the
emergency. Employers were therefore forced to pay higher wages
because of the scarcity value of such workers. Meanwhile the supply
of less skilled workers remained ample and thus employers were able
to restrain the upward trend of their wages.
Further information as regards wage rates prevalent in November
1958 is given in table 20. 1 These rates have been related to the average
weekly hours of work in each sector of industry or commerce, ascertained
at that time in respect of Algiers, in order to show weekly earnings on
the basis of the average number of hours worked per week. Figures
of monthly salaries of certain classes of employees in 1958 are given
in table 21.*
Some indication of the trend of real wages may be obtained by
examining the relationships between the index of wages by occupational
category, as given in table XIX, and the consumer price indices given
in table XX. Unfortunately, the index of wages by occupational
category covers too short a period for any real judgment to be made.
The consumer price indices in table XX have been placed in juxtaposition with the minimum hourly wage rates for commerce and industry
in Algiers during the same period.
Some information in regard to food resources and standard of living
is given in the report made to the Economic Council in 1955 already
referred to in Chapter III.
TABLE XX. ALGERIA: CONSUMER PRICE INDICES AND MINIMUM
HOURLY WAGE RATES, ALGIERS, 1953-59
Consumer price
index
1953
1954
100
101
1955
1956
1957
1958
101
104
106
116.5
1959 Jan
June
Dec
125.8
125.8
133.2
Source: Bulletin de statistique générale, op. cit.
1
See Appendix II.
Date of order
fixing the
minimum guaranteed
wage
Minimum hourly
wage rate for
commerce and
industry (francs)
Oct. 1951
4 Mar. 1954
22 Oct. 1954
14 Apr. 1955
71
86
91
95.50
2
24
22
30
5
Oct.
Jan.
Apr.
Aug.
Feb.
—
1957
1958
1958
1958
1959
102
106.95
111.35
114.25
120
28 Dec. 1959
124.12
—
204
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Morocco
The information in regard to the levels and trends of wages is fragmentary and is set out in table 22.1 The minimum wage rates at present
in operation have been given in table 17.1
Later figures, relating to March 1958, are available as a result of a
special inquiry made at that time.2 Table 23 1 sets out the average
monthly earnings in francs of various categories of workers by branch
of activity duringthat month and which were as follows : manual workers,
22,000; office employees, 50,000; technical and supervisory staffs,
78,000; managerial staff, 147,000.
It will be seen from table 22 that there are wide differences in average
rates of earnings as between one branch of activity and another. These
differences are no doubt due, as elsewhere, to factors such as the size and
geographical situation of the majority of the establishments concerned
(i.e. whether they lie in Minimum Wage Zone I, II, III or IV) and the
varied proportions of male, female, adult and skilled workers in their
labour force. For example it would be natural to expect a higher proportion of females and of unskilled and semi-skilled workers in the food and
beverage industries and in textiles and clothing than in the metal industries and this is reflected in the average rates of earnings. Moreover it is
likely that there were many workers of French nationality, particularly in
the skilled trades, who have left the country since the declaration of independence in 1956. To the extent that these skilled workers and technicians have been replaced by Moroccans, the average earnings of Moroccans, though not necessarily the general average rates of earnings in
the branches of activity concerned, may have tended to rise independently
of any rise in the minimum wage rates. Information is not available
which would enable any reliable estimate of the trend in real wages to
be made. Some indication, however, of the way in which wages and
prices in Casablanca have evolved since 1948 is given in an official
publication.3 This suggests a fairly close consilience between average
wages and the cost of-living indexfigurecalculated according to modern
criteria, together with some improvement in the purchasing power of
average wages if the index calculated according to former criteria is
taken as a guide. Thefiguresare, however, available only up to October
1957. The same source also indicates that over the period in question the
1
See Appendix II.
" La situation de l'industrie au Maroc au premier trimestre 1958 (ex-zone sud) ",
in Bulletin mensuel de statistique (Service Central des Statistiques, Rabat), Quarterly
Supplement No. 4, Oct. 1958, p. 12.
3
Le Maroc au travail, op. cit., pp. 33-44.
2
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
205
minimum wage rate consistently lagged behind the cost-of-living figures
taken on either basis until the end of 1955, when it caught up momentarily with the cost-of-living index (modern formula), passing the index
(old formula). It may be explained here that the main differences between
the two formulas lie in the different weights given to food (47 modern
and 66 old) and accommodation (28 modern and 10 old). This might
suggest that the old formula is likely to be more applicable in the case of
the lowest-paid workers who normally consume a greater proportion of
their income on food. The average wage used in the calculations was
the arithmetic mean of the average wages of skilled workers in the
following sectors of activity—construction, metal industries, wood, food,
clothing, commerce and offices.
Some information as regards food consumption of Moroccan families
in Rabat is contained in the results of an inquiry in 1954.1 These showed
an average intake of 2,466 calories per person per day. Of these 203
calories were of animal and 2,263 of vegetable origin. Generally, there
was high consumption of cereals, very low consumption of milk, eggs
and fish, low consumption of fruits and vegetables, relatively high consumption of meat, especially in childless families. Tea and sugar figured
importantly in the diet, Moroccans being fond of sweet green tea.
Broadly speaking, the inquiry, which covered the shanty-town of Cité
Yacoub el Mansour, dealt with people of modest means—mainly
unskilled workers—and showed how the standard of living falls as the
family grows. " Food consumption is sufficient in calorific value but is
badly balanced. The calorie intake is, in particular, very high for childless families; it becomes less and less as the family grows."
It should be noted that the inquiry in question was made in a small
urban area and that therefore the conclusions to be drawn from it are
not necessarily valid throughout the country, particularly in rural areas.
Another interesting study of a different nature was also carried out in
1954, at Doum douar, a bidonville near Rabat.2 In the douar the
2,683 persons normally following an occupation were distributed as
shown in table XXI.
1
" Enquête sur l'alimentation et les dépenses des familles marocaines ", in Bulletin
économique et sociale du Maroc, Vol. XXII, No. 78, Sep. 1958, pp. 225-237. A further
inquiry, the results of which arrived too late for inclusion in this summary, has
just been published; see Une enquête sur les niveaux de vie, les consommations et les
dépenses des familles marocaines, 1955 (Ministère de l'Economie nationale, Division
de la Coordination économique et du plan, Rabat, Aug. 1959).
2
" Physionomie du douar Doum ", in Bulletin économique et social du Maroc,
Vol. XX, No. 69, June 1956, pp. 101-122.
206
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
TABLE XXI. MOROCCO: DISTRIBUTION BY OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY
OF THE POPULATION OF DOUM DOUAR, 1954
Occupation
No. of persons
Wage and salary earners
Officials
Disabled persons and beggars
Total . . .
Percentage
397
147
56
217
1,376
191
269
30
2,683
14.80
5.48
2.08
8.09
51.29
7.12
10.02
1.12
100.00
Source: Bulletin économique et social du Maroc, Vol. XX, No. 69, June 1956, p. 111.
The distribution in table XXI suggests that Doum is a typical
Moroccan small community. The family income per month (covering
1,912 persons) in the douar was as follows:
From
„
„
„
„
„
„
„
Over
0 to 5,000 francs 140 = 7.32 per cent. )
5,000 „ 9,999 ,, 447 = 23.38 „ „
10,000 „ 14,999 i » 753 = 39.38 „ „ )
15,000 „ 19,999
20,000 „ 24,999
25,000 „ 29,999
30,000 „ 34,999
35,000 „ 39,999
40,000 „ 49,999
50,000 francs
„ 301 = 15.74 „
»» 146 = 7.64 „
»» 48 = 2.51 „
»» 43 = 2.25 „
»» 12 = 0.63 „
8 = 0.41 „
„
14 = 0.73 „
„
„
„
„
„
„
„
1
/
)
I
70.08
per
cent.
29.8
per
cent.
/
These figures show that the average monthly income per household
was 12,700 francs approximately. Unemployed persons were not
taken into account. For various reasons it is probable that the figures
for the lowest categories were rather overestimated and those in the
higher categories underestimated but that the general picture remains
close to the truth. While the figures have no particular relationship to
wage rates as such, they do show the average household income of a
typical small community containing a high proportion of persons dependent on earnings and they suggest the standard of hving capable of
being enjoyed by such a community.
As regards the average agricultural labourer, some estimates of income
for the 1954-55 season result from an inquiry conducted by agricultural
inspectors at that time.1 The minimum daily wage for an adult male in
agriculture was raised from 182 to 230 francs per day in cash (plus any
1
" La question du khammessat ", in Bulletin économique et social du Maroc,
Vol. XX, No. 72, Apr. 1957, pp. 515-564.
207
WAGES AND WAGE POLICY
perquisites) in September 1954. In a typical cereal growing area (Abda)
it was estimated that an agricultural labourer would earn as follows:
Francs
From
From
From
From
November to end of April: 120 days at 150 francs . . . .
May to 10 July: 60 days at 300 francs
May to 10 July: harvesting on task work (additional). . .
10 July to 15 August: 20 days at 100 francs
18,000
18,000
7,000
2,000
Total . . .
45,000
In other words, for 200 days of work spread over nine-and-a-half
months he would earn 45,000 francs in cash and be fed for 200 days.
Another example based on an area where there are olives and vines as
well as general agriculture (Meknès) results in an estimated 44,500 francs
earned in 145 days spread over seven months, as shown in the following
table:
Tillage, etc. (one-and-a-half months) . .
Stripping of olives (one month) . . . .
Pruning of vines (one-and-a-half months)
Harvesting (two months)
Wine harvest (one month)
30 day;
20 „
30 „
45 „
20 „
250 francs = 7,500 francs
250 „
= 5,000 „
300 „
= 9,000 „
400 „
= 18,000 „
250 „
= 5,000 „
Total . . .
44,500
It may be reckoned therefore that the day labourer in agriculture
earned in 1954-55, for a season of 150 to 200 days, around 55,000 to
60,000 francs, including the value of food provided. The khammès was
estimated as earning about 45,000 to 50,000 francs for 200 to 300 days'
work. It is interesting to compare these figures with the needs, at that
time, of a khammès, married with two children, as estimated by the rural
taxation service and given in the same report. The details are as follows
and there is no reason to assume that the needs of an agricultural labourer
would differ very much from the figures given:
Needs
Food and incidental household expenses (per week)
Hard wheat (16 kg. at 33 francs)
Sugar (1 kg)
Tea (60 gr.)
Meat (750 gr. at 200 francs per kg.)
Oil (1/2 litre at 200 francs per litre)
Spices, vegetables, etc
Soap (250 gr.)
Grinding charges
Charcoal
Lighting
Annual amount (in francs)
528
125
50
150
100
100
40
30
30
15
1,168x52 = 60,736
208
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Needs
Annual amount (in francs)
Carried forward
60,736
Clothing
Self
12,200
Wife
5,600
Children
5^000 . . . 22,800
Housing and furniture
Household utensils
2,500
Two mats
1,000
Maintenance and depreciation
2,000
5 500
Various
Taxes
880
Festivities (1 sheep, 1 litre oil, tea and loaf sugar) 5,000
5 ggn
Total annual minimum . . . 94,916
This figure may be rounded off at 100,000 francs which would
constitute a bare minimum. A more realistic figure would be 120,000
francs. Thesefigurestherefore show that an agricultural worker, whether
wage earner or khammès, was, in 1954-55, earning less than half of what
was considered a reasonable minimum.
CONCLUSIONS
The foregoing details of wages and other elements useful in trying to
assess levels of living are of a very disparate character. Nevertheless, the
general picture which emerges is fairly clear. It shows that while minimum
wage legislation, which is fairly widespread, has no doubt prevented wage
rates for the large mass of more or less unskilled wage earners from
falling to catastrophically low levels, yet large sectors of the population,
among which must be included the majority of wage earners, are living
at levels which are very near to the minimum level of existence. Statistically at least, many seem condemned to exist in conditions which do not
even attain that level. It is true, however, that wages do not always
constitute the only revenue accruing to workers' households. In some
of the countries concerned family allowances and other benefits make an
appreciable extra contribution to the household budget. Both in urban
and in rural areas there are various sources of extra revenue. In the
country wives work either in the fields or at artisanal occupations.
Children from an early age herd livestock and as they grow older gradually increase the range of their activities. The men pick up occasional
odd jobs during the slack season. In the towns women may weave
carpets or make other types of textiles or engage in other spare-time
occupations. Yet the essentials of the picture remain and are confirmed
by the preponderating place occupied by food in the family budget in a
large proportion of cases.
CHAPTER VII
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
The object of the present chapter is to give an account of current law
and practice in the various countries under consideration as regards
conditions of work, with the exception of wages but including occupational safety and health.
Generally speaking it can be said that in three of the countries
various aspects of conditions of work, even if they have not entirely
followed French legislation, have at least been profoundly influenced by
it. In the Algerian departments the metropolitan legislation is being
applied to an increasing extent without modification. In Tunisia and
Morocco, notwithstanding the fact that notable progress has been made
in recent years, the essential parts of the very detailed regulations which
were worked out under the French Protectorate remain in force since the
accession of these countries to independence. In Egypt and Libya the
regulations governing conditions of work are far from being as detailed
as those which exist in the other three countries. However, considerable
progress has been made during the last few years. Thus Labour Codes
were promulgated in Libya in 1957 and in Egypt in 1959. It is true that in
Egypt and more especially in Libya there is still much to be done as
regards application of these basic texts but it may be claimed that the
essential job has already been done by reason of the fact that the fundamental principles which will determine working conditions have been
embodied in legislation.
INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTS OF EMPLOYMENT
The legislations all contain provisions relating to the hiring of services
and to individual contracts of employment. The principle of free consent
by the parties is usually recognised, and in all cases provision is made for
the annulment of contracts of employment.
Form and Validity of Contracts
In Morocco the law x provides that " the contract is deemed to be
concluded when the parties have consented thereto " and that " consent
1
Code of Obligations and Contracts: Dahir of 12 August 1913 as amended and
supplemented by the Dahirs of 8 April 1938, 26 September 1938, 18 December 1947
and 6 July 1954.
210
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
given in error, obtained by fraud or extorted by violence is voidable ".
The law also provides that services can only be hired for a stipulated time
or for a particular task, otherwise the contract is null and void; any
agreement to hire the services of any person irrevocably for his whole life
or for such a long period that it would be binding on the person until his
death is invalid. The same principles are expressly enunciated in the
legislation of Algeria and Tunisia.
In practice contracts are usually concluded for an indefinite period of
time. In Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt afixed-termcontract may
be extended by tacit agreement, in which case it becomes a contract for an
indefinite period. Various means have been devised to restrict the
duration offixed-termcontracts, which must normally continue until the
end of the period agreed upon by the parties. In Egypt, for instance, the
law, which stipulates that contracts must be in writing, does not prohibit
the conclusion of a long-term contract (e.g. for the lifetime of the worker
or the employer), but stipulates that after five years' service the worker
may, on giving six months' notice, resign from his post without being
required to pay any compensation. In Morocco, when a fixed-term
contract is concluded, the parties may provide for the possibility of its
renewal, but the new period of validity may not be longer than the
original period and in any case may not exceed one year. In Algeria no
worker, other than a foreman or other person in charge of other workers,
may be engaged for more than one year. In Morocco, where model
regulations have been drawn up governing the relations between workers
and employers \ a distinction is made between temporary employees,
who are recruited for seasonal, temporary or fixed-term employment,
and established employees, who are recruited for indefinite periods. The
law also states that unless the contract, which must be in writing, contains
an express stipulation to the contrary, any employee who works for more
than 12 months without a break in the undertaking is automatically
considered as forming part of the established staff.
Notice
The law in all the countries under consideration provides that a
contract of employment of unspecified duration may cease at any time at
the will of either party subject to due notice being given, as established by
local custom or asfixedin the contract. In Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia
the period of notice stipulated in an individual contract of employment
1
Dahir of 23 October 1948 concerning model regulations governing the relations
between employees in commerce, industry and the liberal professions and their
employers; and Order of the Resident of 23 October 1948 to bring the model regulations into force.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
211
may not be less than that established by custom or fixed by collective
agreements. In Algeria collective agreements may stipulate periods of
notice different from those established by custom. In Morocco the law
gives precedence in this field to custom and contains a list of the periods
of notice usually applicable 1 with a view to making employer-employee
relationships more stable and encouraging the development or the more
general recognition of customary rules. These periods vary from two
to six months for managerial and supervisory staff in general, including
foremen, and from one week to one month for salaried employees and
workers. In Tunisia and Algeria 2 the periods of notice are usually similar
to those in Morocco. In Egypt the period of notice is normally 30 days
for workers paid by the month and 15 days for other workers. In Libya
the period of notice is in all cases one pay period. However, a week's
notice is required in the case of a worker paid by the task, the piece, the
hour or the day or a worker who has been employed uninterruptedly by
the same employer for at least four weeks; two weeks' notice is required
if the worker has been employed continuously by the same employer and
has been entitled to a week's notice for a year or more.
In Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia the law (and in Algeria, collective
agreements or custom) allows a worker time off without loss of pay to
look for another job during the period of notice. For instance, in
Morocco wage earners other than those paid by the task or by the hour
may take two hours off per day up to a maximum of eight per week or
30 per month. 3 There are no similar statutory provisions in Egypt, but
by established custom workers are usually allowed between one and
two hours off every day to look for a new job.
The normal periods of notice do not always apply when the engagement is for a trial period; moreover, the definition of the latter varies
from country to country. In Egypt, for example, the law provides that no
worker may be engaged on probation for more than three months or
more than once by the same employer. In Morocco, except where
established custom differs or where the parties agree otherwise, the first
fortnight of employment in the case of manual workers, domestic
servants, assistants in shops and stores, waiters in cafés and restaurants,
etc., and the first eight days of employment in the case of unskilled
agricultural workers (the first month in the case of specialist agricultural
workers), are considered as trial periods ; during this period either of the
1
Dahir of 30 July 1951 and Vizierial Order of 13 August 1951.
Act No. 58-158 of 19 February 1958 fixed at one month the length of notice of
termination to be given to an employee of more than six months' service in the undertaking.
3
In Morocco agricultural workers are legally entitled to be absent for two days
a week to look for another job.
2
212
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
parties may, if so desired, withdraw from the contract and no payment is
due other than that for the work actually done. No notice is required to
terminate the relationship in the case of a worker paid by the hour, but in
the case of workers paid by the week one day's notice must be given and
in other cases two days. The model regulations governing the relations
between employers and employees in all commercial and industrial
undertakings and in the liberal professions, allow exceptions to the
restrictions on the length of trial periods, which are defined as the first
12 days of actual employment for manual workers, the first month for
salaried employees and the first three months for foremen, supervisory
staff, engineers and managers.
Failure to Give Due Notice.
The law in the various countries lays down penalties for failure to
give due notice.
In Libya a worker dismissed without notice and without good reason
is entitled to compensation corresponding to the statutory period of
notice and a sum equal to two weeks' wages multiplied by the number
of years he has been working in the undertaking up to a maximum of 18
months' wages.
In Egypt the party who breaks the contract without giving the
statutory notice must pay the other party damages equivalent to the
wages the worker would have received during the period of notice not
actually given. The law specifies the cases in which an employer may
terminate the contract without notice and without becoming liable to
pay compensation or damages ; these include cases where the contract is
for a trial period, cases of misconduct on the part of the worker which
have caused serious prejudice to the employer, absence without good
cause for more than 20 days in any one year or for more than ten days in
succession and the disclosure of industrial or trade secrets by the worker.
In addition the law specifies the cases in which a worker may leave the
service of his employer before the expiry of the contract or without
notice ; for instance where the worker has been deliberately misled over
the conditions of work or has been physically assaulted.
In Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco failure to give due notice renders the
person at fault hable to damages additional to those which may be due
on the grounds that one of the parties has withdrawn from the contract
without good cause. There is a statutory provision which makes an
employer engaging a worker who has wrongfully broken the contract
of employment jointly liable for the injury caused to the previous' employer if it can be shown that he has enticed a worker from his employment, if he knew that the worker was already bound by the contract of
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
213
employment or if he has continued to employ a worker after learning that
the latter was still bound to another employer by a contract of employment. The law also provides that the closing down of the undertaking
does not free the employer from his obligation to give due notice except
in cases oí force majeure.
In Libya, when a worker changes his employer, both the old and the
new employer are jointly and severally responsible for the fulfilment of
the obligations arising from the contract during a period of six months
beginning on the date of the transfer; after that period the entire responsibility passes to the new employer unless he and the former employer
agree otherwise. A similar provision is to be found in Egyptian legislation,
which provides that workers' contracts of service remain in force except
where the undertaking concerned is wound up, declared bankrupt or
permanently closed down with the permission of the authorities and
that the new employer is jointly hable with the previous employer in the
fulfilment of the obligations which subsisted before the change took
place.
Fines
In Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia employers are, in principle, forbidden to punish infringements of the rules of employment by inflicting
fines. However, breaches of discipline and infringements of the rules
relating to the health and safety of the workers may be punished in this
manner with the special permission of the competent labour authorities,
but the latter must first consult the employers' and workers' organisations. The amount of such fines must be specified in the rules of employment ; no worker may normally be fined more than one-quarter of his
daily earnings in any one day, and the proceeds of the fines must be paid
into a staff assistance fund. In addition, all fines inflicted must be recorded in a special register, which must be available at any time for
examination by the factory inspectors.
The regulations in Egypt give much more scope for the imposition of
fines, which are considered as a normal instrument for the maintenance of
discipline, and form part of the powers of the employer as head of the
undertaking. Thus the model disciplinary rules drawn up by the Egyptian
Federation of Industries 1 provide for the imposition of fines for a wide
l a n g e Oi urcaciica ui uiöuijjiiiic, ini/iuuiiig l a i i u i t lu Cuiiiunu tu w u i i a u g
hours. In addition the fine for a single offence may be as much as five
days' pay; on the other hand not more than five days' pay may be
1
See Répertoire du droit du travail (Alexandria, Edition du Journal du commerce
et de la marine, 1955), pp. 136 to 138.
214
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
deducted from the wages of an employee in any one month. Whenever
the fine to be imposed exceeds three days' pay an investigation must take
place and a report must be drawn up and kept on the premises. Regulations exist requiring undertakings employing more than 15 workers to
display a list of the fines which can be imposed and providing that the
amount of the funds must be used for welfare activities for the benefit of
the workers.1
In Libya there is no statutory provision stating the circumstances in
which an employer can fine a worker. The law does, however, provide
that a fine can only be imposed in accordance with the terms of a notice
posted at the place of work and specifying what acts are punishable by
fines and the amounts of such fines. In no case may the amount of the
fines inflicted exceed 5 per cent, of the total earnings of the worker
during the month in which the offence was committed. The law
also provides that a worker must be given a hearing before he is fined,
that an employer must keep a register offinesand that the proceeds must
be used for the benefit of the workers in agreement with their representatives in the undertakings.
ENGAGEMENT AND DISMISSAL
Egypt is the only country with statutory provisions regulating the
profession of recruiting agent. The engagement of an unemployed person
is prohibited unless he holds a registration certificate issued by an employment office. The law also states that an employer must notify the employment office of every new or vacant post within seven days; in addition it
empowers the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour to require employers
in certain industries to engage workers in the chronological order in which
they registered at the employment offices. In localities where the provisions relating to the placing of unemployed persons do not apply, an
employer may instruct a recruiting agent to find workers for him. Where
this occurs the contract between the employer and the recruiting agent
must be drawn up in writing and must indicate, inter alia, the nature of
the work to be done, the rates of wages to be paid and the approximate
time the work will take. A recruiting agent is defined as " any person who
undertakes to supply a gang of workers to an employer without super1
Order No. 149 of 25 August 1959 concerning the use to be made of the amount
of fines deducted from the wages of workers. The Labour Code of the United Arab
Republic states that ministerial orders are to be issued containing model disciplinary
regulations for the guidance of employers when preparing their own regulations.
Order No. 147 of 25 August 1959 lays down the sanctions and provisions relating to
the discipline of workers in application of article 66 of the Labour Code.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
215
vising the work or the workers " ; he must have a permit from the authorities competent to deal with labour matters. 1
In Algeria a 1945 ordinance 2 provides that in certain industrial and
commercial undertakings, fixed by regulation after consulting the trade
unions concerned, the heads of such undertakings must notify the public
employment offices of their manpower requirements before engaging any
employees and of the dismissals they may have to make when reducing
staff. The law also provides for the possibility, in certain cases, of subjecting the hiring or discharge of staff to the prior authorisation of the
employment service. Under an Order dated 23 December 1946 all industrial and commercial undertakings and members of the liberal professions are required to notify the public manpower services whenever they
engage or discharge an employee. These provisions do not apply to
domestic servants or to persons employed in agriculture or forestry or
when the contract of employment is probationary in character or when
its duration does not exceed 12 days. In Morocco the law 3 provides that
all employees in industry, commerce or the Uberai professions must be
engaged through or with the agreement of the public employment offices
or the local supervisory authorities. Employers are required to notify the
local employment office within three days whenever a worker leaves or is
dismissed. The model regulations governing relations between employers
and employees 4 specify the cases in which dismissals may take place.
These are : a reduction of the number of posts in the branch of employment concerned; the incapacity of the employee; and breaches of discipline. The model regulations also state that, when workers are being
dismissed on account of reductions in staff, the first to be dismissed must
be the temporary workers, followed by the established staff, on a " first
in, last out " basis. In Egypt and Libya the law restricts similarly the
right of the employer to dismiss employees; in these countries every
worker is entitled to appeal to the Director of Labour for a stay of dismissal within one week of being dismissed. If the matter cannot be
settled amicably it is referred to the competent judge.
When a worker is dismissed for reasons other than serious misconduct
his employer frequently has to pay him an indemnity. For instance
1
Article 22 of the Labour Code, and Order No. 137 of 25 August 1959 relating
to permits for labour recruiting agents.
2
Ordinance No. 45-1030 of 24 May 1945 regarding placing of workers and supervision of employment made applicable to Algeria by Decree No. 46-1351 of 6 June
1946.
3
Dahir of 7 May 1940 concerning the engagement of employees and the termination of their contracts of employment, as amended by the Dahirs of 12 February 1944
and 8 February 1945. Order of 3 July 1959 to apply the Dahir of 7 May 1940.
4
In April 1960 the Dahir concerning model regulations governing relations
between employers and employees was in process of modification.
216
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
employees in mining undertakings in Tunisia receive indemnities on
dismissal equivalent to four days' pay if they have been working in the
undertaking for not less than one and not more than two years, and an
extra four days' pay for every year of service in excess of two ; if the
employee has been in the service of the undertaking for more than ten
years the amount of the indemnity, calculated in the manner described, is
increased by 20 per cent.; it may not, however, exceed 60 days' pay. In
Egypt employees covered by the relevant legislation are entitled on dismissal to a service benefit in the following cases : on the expiry of a fixedterm contract; when a contract for an indefinite period is broken by the
employer or by the mutual consent of the parties; and when a contract for
an indefinite period is broken by the employee because he has to perform
his military service or because of misconduct by the employer. The
amount due is half a month's pay for each of the first five years of
service and one month's pay for every year in excess of five. If the
worker resigns, giving notice to his employer, after more than two but
less than five years' service, the indemnity is reduced by two-thirds; if he
has worked for the employer for more than five but less than ten years it
is reduced by one-third.
In Libya the service benefit is calculated on the basis of two weeks'
pay for every year of employment if the period of employment does not
exceed 15 years and one month's pay for every year of employment in
excess of 15. Such benefits are not payable to workers covered by a social
insurance scheme which pays pensions.
HOURS OF WORK
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
The Labour Code of 1959 1 provides that actual working hours may
not exceed eight per day or 48 per week. The daily working hours must be
divided up by breaks, amounting in all to at least one hour 2 , in such a
way that workers do not have to work more than five hours without a
break. The employer must put up a notice showing hours of work and
rest periods; these must be so arranged that the workers are not required
to spend more than 11 hours a day at the workplace (or eight hours per
1
Article 123 of the Code states that the provisions relating to maximum hours of
work are not applicable to the local representatives of the employer, workers engaged
in preparatory and complementary work which has to be done before work begins or
after it stops, or watchmen and cleaners. The maximum hours of work of persons in
these categories are to be fixed by ministerial order.
2
Half an hour in mines and quarries. Order No. 61 of 1960 fixed the processes in
which work may be carried on without a break.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
217
day in mines and quarries).1 The Code does not apply to employees of
the Government or of public institutions or to domestic servants.
The Code provides that certain standing exceptions to the eight-hour
day rule may be authorised by ministerial order; the maximum hours of
work for certain categories of workers engaged on work which is not continuous or in industries or processes where the work is not continuous
may be increased to nine per day, while for work which is dangerous or
deleterious to health they may be reduced to seven per day.2
The eight-hour maximum may also be set aside as a temporary and
exceptional measure in certain special circumstances such as the preparation of the annual inventory, public festivals, to prevent an accident or
repair the damage caused thereby, to avoid the otherwise certain loss of
perishable goods or to cope with exceptionally heavy pressures of work ;
however, working hours may not exceed ten per day even if such circumstances are invoked.3 The competent administrative authority must
be notified and the worker must be paid at least time-and-a-quarter for
every hour of overtime worked during the day and at least time-and-ahalf for every hour worked during the night. Overtime in mines and
quarries must be paid for at time-and-a-half or double time according to
whether the work is done before or after sunset.
There are more favourable provisions governing hours of work for
women and children; they are not, however, applicable to agricultural
workers nor to persons working in home workshops in which only members of the family are employed. In particular young persons under
15 years of age may not be kept actually at work for more than six hours
a day or for more than four hours without a break. It is also forbidden
to employ young persons under 15 years of age between 7 p.m. and
6 a.m. or to require them to work overtime. The employment of women
between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. is forbidden with the exception of certain
women workers employed in particular kinds of establishments such as
hotels, restaurants, places of entertainment, river transport and seasonal
industries processing perishable goods.4
During the last few years a considerable increase in the number of
hours worked and a decrease in the number of workers employed part1
2
Exceptions to this rule are permitted in the case of work of a non-continuous
See Orders Nos. 59 and 60 of 1960.
Order No. 144 of 25 August 1959 lays down the public holidays and other
special circumstances in which the provisions of the Labour Code relating to hours
of work and weekly rest may be waived (articles 114, 115, 117, 118 and 119 of the
Code).
4
Order No. 63 of 1960 fixing the cases, work and circumstances in which women
may be employed between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m.
3
218
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
time have been observed. In February 1959 it was estimated that 721,000
workers were employed for 40 hours per week and 2,680,000 for 48 hours
per week or more. The number of persons employed part-time in 1957
and at the beginning of 1959 is shown in the following table:
Persons employed
part-time
1957
1959
Weekly hours
of work
6
12
18
24
240,000
310,000
298,000
779,000
100,000
160,000
200,000
466,000
Libya
The Labour Code of 1957 came into force in the Kingdom of Libya on
17 March 1958. This Code deals, inter alia, with hours of work, weekly
rest and holidays with pay. It applies to all persons employed under
written or oral contracts of employment except members of the family
employed in a family undertaking, persons employed in pastoral occupations or other forms of agriculture who are not employed in agricultural
establishments processing their products wholly or in part, nor engaged
in a permanent capacity in the operation or repair of mechanical appliances used in agriculture, domestic servants, persons employed in shipping
and sea-fishing operations (who are covered by separate legislation) and
civil servants (who are covered by the legislation governing the civil
service). The Code also stipulates that regulations may be issued rendering the provisions dealing with hours of work and weekly rest inapplicable
to workers in supervisory, managerial, confidential or special posts or to
establishments in urgent circumstances or emergencies.
Hours of work may not exceed eight per day or 48 per week. There
are special provisions restricting employment of women and children; in
no circumstances may a person under 16 years of age be employed for
more than five hours per day or 30 per week, while women may not be
employed for more than 48 hours per week, including overtime.
Where the daily hours of work exceed six the worker must be given
one or more rest periods totalling not less than one hour and so arranged
that the working day, including rest periods, does not exceed 12 hours.
Finally the employer may require the workers to work overtime in excess
of the maximum limits prescribed by law provided that the overtime so
worked does not exceed three hours per day or 12 per week. Such
overtime must be recorded by the employer in a register and must be
paid for at the rate of time-and-a-half. These provisions are proving
difficult to apply in certain industries, such as the petroleum industry,
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
219
especially as regards exploration work, and some further measures
towards greater elasticity are envisaged.
In principle the employment of women and children at night (defined
as the period between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.) is forbidden. However,
exceptions are allowed for certain specified operations habitually performed by women.
Tunisia
The Decree of 4 August 1936 restricts hours of work in industrial,
commercial, handicraft and co-operative establishments to 40 per week.
The decree states that the methods of enforcing this regulation in each
occupation, industry or occupational category are to be laid down in
orders issued after consultation with an advisory committee, either ex
ofiicio or at the request of the employers' and workers' organisations concerned. Another Decree, dated 11 December 1936, states that the hours
of actual work of persons employed in the establishments covered by the
Decree of 4 August 1936 must not exceed eight per day.
These restrictions may be set aside by orders issued under conditions
laid down in the Decree of 4 February 1937, which states that such
orders are to be issued after agreement has been reached with the most
representative employers' and workers' organisations or, in the event of
failure to agree, on the recommendation of an advisory committee. It
also provides that daily hours of work may be calculated on the basis of
the 48-hour week provided that working hours on any one day do not
exceed nine. In certain establishments where the work is intermittent in
character the permitted weekly maximum is 64 hours. These maxima
may be waived in special cases to deal with exceptional pressure of work
or particularly urgent work provided that working hours do not exceed
ten per day and that the number of hours of overtime so worked do not
exceed 100 per year and are compensated for by the granting of an
equivalent period of rest during the year. Standing exceptions are
allowed for certain categories of workers engaged in preparatory or
complementary work which has to be performed outside normal working
hours. Finally an order may be issued without prior consultation increasing working hours to above the permitted maximum of eight in
establishments performing work connected with national safety and
defence or work for a public service. The provisions relating to the
posting up of working hours and the procedure for changing them are
similar to those applicable in Algeria and Morocco.
While there are no regulations restricting hours of work in industry,
commerce and the liberal professions during the month of Ramadan,
220
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
hours of work were until 1960, often changed in practice, and the working day consisted of six or seven hours' work without a break. In March
1960 a draft law was in preparation with a view to suppressing the
reduction of working hours during Ramadan.
In agriculture working hours are also restricted by law ; the maximum
permitted is 2,700 hours per year spread over 300 days of actual work 1 ;
daily hours vary according to the season and the region concerned, but
the average working day consists of nine hours. In March 1959, for
instance, daily hours of work in agriculture were fixed at nine in the
regions of Sousse, Sfax and Medenine and at eight hours in all others.
The law requires working hours to be reduced to seven per day during
the month of Ramadan.
The scope of the Decrees of 11 December 1936 and 4 February 1937,
which deal with hours of work in industrial and commercial establishments, was extended to cover certain agricultural undertakings, irrespective of whether or not they were co-operative in character, by a Decree
dated 14 March 1957. The following types of undertakings are covered:
mutual agricultural supply and credit co-operatives; salt works; silos
(with the exception of those used exclusively by a single firm or estate) ;
all establishments processing agricultural produce, such as oil works,
distilleries, dairies, etc. (with the exception of those using exclusively
traditional techniques) ; rural engineering and undertakings breaking up
ground and harvesting; threshing, collecting, transporting or storing
agricultural produce. In addition there is a legislative provision covering
all branches of activity which states that any working day exceeding
seven consecutive hours must be interrupted by one or more rest periods
—the total duration of which may not be less than one hour—in such
a way that the employees are not kept at work for more than six consecutive hours without a break of at least half an hour.
The question of overtime is dealt with in the Decree of 25 July 1946.
Briefly it provides that, except where standing exceptions have been
authorised or where lost time is being made up, hours of work in excess
of the statutory maximum in industries to which the regulations concerning the 40-hour week are applicable must be paid for at time-and-aquarter for the first eight hours so worked in any one week and at timeand-a-half for every additional hour. Overtime in branches of industry
in which the 48-hour week is worked must be paid for at time-and-threequarters for every hour worked in excess of 48 in any one week. In no
case may hours of work (including overtime) exceed ten per day or 60 per
week. Moreover, overtime worked during one week may not be offset by
1
Decree of 30 April 1956 to regulate the general conditions of remuneration and
employment of agricultural workers.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
221
a reduction of normal working hours in the same week or the following
week except with the prior consent of the labour inspector.
The Decree of 25 July 1946 also states that hours of work lost as the
result of a general stoppage not caused by a strike or a lockout may be
made up during the 12 months following, provided that the permission
of the labour inspectorate is first obtained and that hours of work are
not increased to more than ten per day. The hours worked to make up
lost time are paid for at the normal rates, no overtime pay being due.
This is also the case when hours of work are extended in virtue of an
exception to the regulations.
In agriculture 1 hours of work in excess of the statutory maximum,
worked at the request of the employer and for the needs of the farm, must
be paid for at time-and-a-quarter.
The employment of children under 18 years of age and women in
non-agricultural work between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. (in agriculture between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m.) is prohibited. Such persons must be allowed at
least 12 consecutive hours' rest at night, the corresponding period for
adult men being ten hours. Exceptions to these regulations may be
authorised by orders issued after the Labour Safety Committee has been
consulted.2
Algeria
The regulations governing hours of work in metropolitan France
have been extended to Algeria.3 One clause in the Act of 21 June 1936
to introduce a 40-hour week in industrial and commercial establishments
and to fix hours of work in underground mines specifically states that
the Act is to apply to Algeria. Thus hours of work in all non-agricultural
occupations are uniformly fixed at 40 per week. However, in underground mines a worker may not spend more than 38 hours and 40
minutes per week actually in the mines. Maximum hours of work in
agriculture are 2,400 per year, spread over 300 working days.4 The
maximum hours fixed by law were laid down in the general interest and
are binding on the workers just as much as on the employers ; the parties
may not depart from the regulations by mutual agreement. The numerous instruments adopted to apply the Act of 21 June 1936 to the different
1
The Decree of 14 March 1957 extended the provisions of the Decree of 25 July
1946 concerning overtime LG cover certain agncìiltural undertakings.
2
Legislative Decree No. 60-10 of 14 March 1960.
3
Book II of the French Labour and Social Insurance Code has been made applicable to Algeria by various legislative instruments, as have the amendments to that
Book adopted since it was so extended.
4
Decree No. 57-200 of 18 February 1957 extended the scope of articles 992 to
1000 of the metropolitan Rural Code (relating to hours of work and weekly rest in
agriculture), to Algeria, with certain modifications.
222
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
branches of non-agricultural employment have also been made applicable
to Algeria. All these instruments require employers to allocate hours of
work in one of the following ways : (a) limitation of hours of actual
work to eight per day on five working days with a rest day on Saturday
or Monday; (b) limitation of hours of actual work to six hours and 40
minutes per working day in each week; (c) distribution of the 40 hours
of actual work unequally over six working days, subject to a maximum
daily limit of eight, in order to permit of a half-day's rest in each week.
As a general rule the work timetable, dated and signed by the head of
the undertaking, must be displayed at the place of work where all the
workers in the undertaking can see it. Duplicate copies of the timetable
and of the amendments which may be made thereto from time to time
must be forwarded in advance to the labour inspector.
In agriculture the working year of 300 working days is divided into
periods and the statutory working hours (2,400 per year) are spread over
those periods in such a way as to allow for the requirements of each
region and each type of cultivation; a daily average is, however, maintained throughout each period.
Numerous exceptions are allowed to the regulationsfixingmaximum
working hours. In agriculture the Prefects may issue orders allowing the
maximum working hours of 2,400 a year to be exceeded " where the
requirements of production and the conditions under which agriculture
and stock-raising are carried out locally make this essential ". In
industries in which there are shortages of skilled labour and to which the
provisions of the 40-hour week apply, the statutory maximum hours
may, to cope with exceptional pressure of work, be exceeded by 75 per
year (subject to a maximum of three per week) over and above the
increases permitted under the various decrees issued to apply the Act of
21 June 1936. The statutory maximum may be exceeded to make up for
working hours lost on account of off-seasons or regular seasonal declines
in the volume of work in industries and branches of commerce covered
by the 40-Hour Week Act. The same applies to the making up of hours of
work lost as a result of an exceptional or non-seasonal decline in activity.
The industries and branches of commerce which may take advantage of
this last provision are designated by orders. The maximum number of
hours lost which can be made up in this manner is specified in the same
way; the number may not exceed 100 per year and may not be made up
at a rate of more than one per day. The regulations also state that
working hours lost as a result of a general stoppage not caused by a
strike or lockout may be made up in the same way, provided that the
total hours worked while the time lost is being made up—with certain
exceptions—do not exceed nine per day or 48 per week.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
223
The French Act respecting remuneration for overtime work 1 has
been made applicable to Algeria. This Act states that the increase in
wages for hours in excess of the normal working period of 40 per week,
up to a maximum of 48, shall not be less than 25 per cent, of the hourly
wage, while the increase for hours worked in excess of 48 may not be
less than 50 per cent, of the wage. The same Act states that overtime
may be worked to increase production and places an upper limit of 20
hours per week on the amount of overtime which may be so worked.
Persons may not be employed on overtime work without the permission
of the labour inspector, who must first consult the trade union organisations. The inspector may prohibit the working of overtime where unemployment exists, with a view to facilitating the engagement of
unemployed workers. In agriculture overtime may only be worked
when there is a shortage of labour and urgent work has to be done; it
must be paid for at time-and-a-quarter.
Special provisions have been enacted regulating the hours of work of
women and children in industrial and commercial undertakings. Juveniles under 18 years of age and women may not be kept actually at work
in such establishments for more than ten hours per day, and the working
day must be interrupted by one or more rest periods, of not less than one
hour in length. In addition such persons may not be employed on shift
work and must be allowed at least 11 consecutive hours' rest every night.2
The provisions 3 regulating night work include a clause stating that
" children under the age of 18 years (whether wage-earning employees or
apprentices) and women shall not be employed in any night work in
works, factories, mines, open workings at quarries, yards, workshops and
dependencies thereof whatever their nature, whether public or private,
secular or religious, even when these establishments are carried on for
purposes of vocational instruction or are of a charitable nature". The
employment of juveniles under 18 years of age at night in road and rail
transport undertakings and on loading and unloading work is similarly
prohibited. In addition to these specific cases the employment of
apprentices under 16 years of age on any type of night work whatsoever is
prohibited. In certain other cases—for instance, in the case of work
involving highly perishable goods, or in order to avert an impending accident or to repair the damage caused by an accident or in the event of
unemployment occurring as a result of a stoppage of work on account of
an accident or a case of force majeure—these regulations may be tem1
Act No. 46-283 of 25 February 1946, made applicable to Algeria by the Act of
18 May 1946.
2
These provisions have in practice lost their importance due to the generalisation
of the 40-hour week.
3
Act of 30 June 1928, made applicable to Algeria by the Decree of 23 October 1933.
224
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
porarily set aside under conditions laid down by an order or by regulations issued by the public authorities. A standing exception exists in the
case of underground work in mines, open workings and quarries ; boys
may be employed in such places between 4 a.m. and 10 p.m. and, in
certain mines specifically designated in regulations issued by the public
authorities, between 4 a.m. and midnight. Night work is defined as all
work performed between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Morocco1
The Dahir of 18 June 1936, as amended and supplemented 2 regulates
hours of work in Morocco for wage-earning and salaried employees
working in industrial and commercial establishments, for employers in
the liberal professions, notaries, brokers, commission and insurance
agents and in companies established under civil law, trade union organisations, associations and other bodies of all kinds. Under the terms of this
instrument hours of actual work may not exceed eight per day or 48 per
week or an equivalent maximum based on a period of time other than a
week.
An Order of 15 March 1937, amended and supplemented by later
orders, lays down the general conditions governing the application of
the Dahir of 18 June 1936. In addition there are orders, issued after consulting tripartite committees, regulating the distribution of hours of work
in each occupation, industry or occupational category, the permanent or
temporary exceptions which may be authorised and the measures to be
taken for the enforcement of the regulations governing hours of work and
rest periods. Employers can generally choose between the following
methods of distributing hours of work : (a) the restriction of hours
actually worked to a maximum of eight for every working day of the
week; (b) the distribution of the 48 hours of actual work done during the
week unequally over the six working days with a maximum of nine hours
on any one day or over five days with a maximum often hours on any one
day.
In agriculture the law stipulates that hours of work may not exceed
2,700 per year; these hours are to be distributed over the different
periods of the year according to local requirements and the type of crop
cultivated but subject to the proviso that the working day shall not
exceed ten hours in length.3
1
Unless otherwise indicated the following description only concerns the former
French Zone.
2
Dahirs of 8 June 1937, 2 June 1939, 3 September 1945 and 16 October 1947.
3
Dahir No. 1-57-182 of 9 April 1958 to regulate the conditions of employment and
remuneration of wage earners in agriculture.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
225
The provisions relating to the posting up and amendment of work
timetables are similar to those in force in Algeria.
A number of exceptions to the regulations fixing maximum hours of
work are authorised. Permanent exceptions are allowed for preparatory
or complementary work which must necessarily be done outside the
hours laid down for the general work of the undertaking and for certain
classes of employees whose work is essentially intermittent. 1
As a rule, permanent exceptions apply only to male workers over
16 years of age. Temporary exceptions are allowed to enable undertakings to cope with exceptional pressure of work, national emergencies
or actual or impending accidents. Time lost as a result of collective stoppages of work caused by off-seasons or an expected decline in the volume
of work occurring regularly at particular times of the year may be made
up during the 12 months following, provided that the prior permission of
the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is obtained. The overtime
authorised for this reason must not bring working hours up to more than
ten per day or 56 per week; however, general hours of work may be
increased to 60 per week for not more than three months in any one year.
Compensatory time off must normally be given at the latest within a
fortnight, whether the extension in working hours is temporary or
permanent; the employer must display, and keep up to date, a notice in
the undertaking where the employees can see it showing, inter alia, the
names of all persons entitled to compensatory time off, the amounts due
and the dates on which it is to be taken.
In principle the organisation of work on a continuous or shift basis is
forbidden, but the regulations provide that permission to organise
work in this way may be granted for technical reasons. If work is organised on a shift basis no shift may be required to work for more than eight
hours and the shift must be worked without interruption except for a
break of not more than one hour for rest.
Hours worked in excess of the statutory weekly maximum (where
necessary taking into account the existence of a permanent exception)
must be paid for at a higher rate irrespective of the method of payment of
the worker. The increase is fixed at 25 per cent, of the hourly rate if the
overtime is worked between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. and 50 per cent, of that
rate for overtime worked between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. These peicentages
are doubled if the overtime is worked on the weekly rest day even if the
worker is given compensatory time off. Hours worked in excess of the
statutory maximum, under permanent exceptions, are generally paid for
at normal rates, in addition to the wage paid for normal working hours.
1
Vizierial Order of 15 March 1937 as supplemented and amended, art. 10.
226
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
However, no additional pay of this kind is due if, on account of the intermittent nature of the work (for instance, the work of porters, guards,
night watchmen, etc.), the additional hours authorised are hours of
attendance and not hours actually worked. The same applies to compensatory leave granted to a worker for overtime worked under a standing exception.
It has already been stated that, in general, the various instruments
adopted to implement the Dahir of 18 June 1936 apply only to male
workers of over 16 years of age; in mines the minimum age is 18. In
addition there are special provisions governing the hours of work of
women and children in establishments which do not come within the
scope of the legislation respecting the 48-hour week; in such establishments children under 16 years of age and women may not engage in
actual work for more than ten hours a day, and the period of work must
be interrupted by one or more breaks with a total duration of at least an
hour. These breaks must be so arranged that the workers concerned are
not kept at work for more than six consecutive hours without a break of
at least half an hour; however, in the case of women, if the hours actually
worked do not exceed seven per day they may be worked without a break.
The employment of juveniles under 16 and of women at night—
between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.—on any type of work is forbidden.1 Such
persons must be given a nightly rest of at least 11 consecutive hours.
A number of exceptions to these regulations are allowed. In certain
cases temporary or permanent exceptions may be allowed in certain
types of commercial and industrial undertakings designated by Vizierial
Order of 8 March 1948, subject to the proviso that no children under 16,
or women, employed during the period between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. or
any part of that period, may actually work for more than eight hours in
any period of 24 hours. This maximum is fixed at ten hours for foodpreserving factories and places of entertainment and at 12 in cafés, beer
houses, hotels, restaurants and similar establishments. However, the
employment of children under 16 years of age to serve customers in places
of entertainment, cafés, hotels, etc., is prohibited between 9 p.m. and
7 a.m. Other temporary exceptions, up to a maximum of 15 nights per
year, may be authorised by the competent labour inspector. An employer
may also set aside the regulation up to the same maximum in order to
make up for time lost as a result of a stoppage of work caused by a nonrecurring accidental interruption of work or case of force majeure,
provided that he gives advance notice to the labour inspector. Finally,
1
The Dahir of 9 April 1958, which applies to agricultural workers, defines night
work as work done during the period beginning two hours after sunset and ending
two hours before sunrise.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
227
exceptions may be allowed for a single night to deal with urgent work
which must be performed immediately to prevent an impending accident
or to repair the damage caused by an accident which has occurred.
WEEKLY REST AND PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
The law provides in general terms that weekly rest shall be granted to
workers. It states that commercial establishments in seats of local government must close for one whole day every week and that wherever the
regulations concerning weekly closing are not applicable the employer
must allow each worker at least 24 consecutive hours' rest every week,
and must display a notice showing the day on which each worker is
entitled to his weekly rest. The scope of the provisions concerning
weekly rest is the same as that of the regulations governing hours of
work. Exceptions may be authorised in the same circumstances, but the
law states that if work is done on a rest day and the worker is paid for
that day his pay must be doubled. Workers in mines and quarries are
entitled to one day off every week on half pay; if they work on a weekly
rest day or an official holiday they must receive their normal wage and a
50 per cent, bonus. One statutory provision which does not apply to
agricultural workers states that young persons may not be employed on
rest days.
On certain public holidays (up to seven in number, to be designated
by ministerial order) employees must be given the day off with full pay. 1
An employer may require the employees to work on these public
holidays if circumstances make it essential, but if he does, he must pay
them at double the normal rate. However, workers in certain establishments such as restaurants, cafés, hotels, theatres, cinemas, etc., may be
employed on official holidays at the ordinary rate of pay, but must be
compensated by time off in lieu.2 The Labour Department has expressed
the opinion that when the legislature decided to grant workers the day
off on public holidays its intention was to give the workers an opportunity to take part in the festivities. Consequently if a public holiday
falls on the weekly rest day the employee is not entitled to a day off in
lieu thereof.
1
In the calendar of official festivals and holidays drawn up in 1959 seven annual
holidays are designated; on those days all ministries and government departments are
to be closed. Order No. 142 of 25 August 1959 lays down seven public holidays a year
for which the worker is entitled to receive full pay.
2
Order No. 143 of 25 August 1959.
228
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Libya
Subject to the restrictions on the scope of the relevant Act, every
worker is entitled to one day off (Friday wherever possible) with pay
every week. The Act states that a worker who is required to work on his
weekly rest day must either be given a compensatory day off during the
next three days or receive double pay for every hour of work done during
the rest day. These provisions have also proved too restrictive in particular cases. For example both employers and workers in oil exploration in remote areas favour some arrangement whereby maximum hours
can be worked over a given period, say one month, without provision of
weekly rest which would be granted at the end of the period in the form
of the necessary number of days to be taken at the workers' homes.
Tunisia
The regulations governing weekly rest 1 provide that it must be of at
least 24 consecutive hours duration and must be granted on Friday,
Saturday or Sunday. Every undertaking is required to inform the labour
inspectorate which day has been chosen as the weekly rest day. The
regulations are applicable to industrial and commercial establishments
and to the agricultural undertakings covered by the Decree of 14 March
1957. However, there are special provisions covering employees in water
and rail transport undertakings.
Exceptions similar to those allowed in Algeria and Morocco are
authorised in the case of work on national defence (in which case the
weekly rest may be suspended 15 times per year), in industries processing
perishable goods and in undertakings dealing with exceptional pressure
of work (also up to 15 times per year) and in cases of work which must be
performed immediately.
As in Algeria and Morocco weekly rest may be granted in a particular
manner to certain categories of employees such as persons engaged in
maintenance work, watchmen and persons working in food shops. As
in Morocco weekly rest days in mining undertakings or on work sites at
a considerable distance from towns may be accumulated and taken
together once a month.
As in Morocco the regulations provide that special arrangements
may be made for the granting of weekly rest in a particular occupation or
group of occupations, and in a particular region, town or district. However, in Morocco it is specified that these arrangements may be laid down
by orders issued on the request of at least two-thirds of the employers and
1
Decree of 20 April 1921 concerning weekly rest, supplemented by the Decree of
22 May 1937 and amended by the Decrees of 27 September 1939 and 3 August 1950.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
229
workers concerned, whereas in Tunisia such orders can only be issued
on the request of the majority of the undertakings concerned or of the
most representative employers' and workers' organisations in that
ocupation in the district in question and after consultation with the local
authorities and the Chamber of Commerce.
Certain days are designated in the regulations as public holidays
during which work must stop, but for which pay is due in certain circumstances. These days are 20 March (Independence Day), 1 May (Labour
Day), 1 June (Victory Day) and 25 July (Republic Day). On these four
days all work must cease except in undertakings and services the nature
of whose activity makes an interruption of work impossible. An employee
whose work cannot be interrupted on one of these four days is entitled to
receive from his employer, over and above the wage due for the work
done, an allowance equal to that wage, regardless of whether he is paid
by the hour, the day, the job, the piece, the week or the month. In
addition to these statutory holidays there are certain other holidays,
corresponding to religious, civic or patriotic festivals, on which no
payment may be demanded and no bill dishonoured. These practices
have their foundation, not in labour legislation, but in commercial law
and banking custom; thus, the fact that these days are holidays has
only an indirect effect on questions of employment, for instance, where
there are clauses in collective agreements providing for the cessation of
work on certain statutory festivals. Consequently an employer who
requires his employees to work on the day of a festival which is not
designated as a compulsory holiday either by law or under a collective
agreement has to pay only normal wages.
Algeria
The provisions of Title 1, Chapter IV, of Book II of the French
Metropolitan Labour Code, which deals with weekly rest and public
holidays, have been extended to Algeria.
In agriculture the weekly rest must be taken on Sunday or on another
day to be determined by orders issued by the Prefects after consulting the
joint agricultural labour committees. However, persons tending animals
or looking after herds may be allowed to work in rotation on Sundays or
i n e uay i i A c u l O i t n c WGGJVA^ X^AL. ± I I t^iwi>pLiuuai u i w u m a i a D C c a WOijv \ju
the weekly rest day may be authorised provided that a compensatory day
off is allowed during the same calendar month. Such compensatory days
off may be accumulated and taken at the same time as annual holidays.
The regulations governing industrial and commercial establishments.
stipulate that no worker may be employed on more than six days per
230
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
week; that he must be allowed a weekly rest of at least 24 hours without
interruption ; and that the rest day must be Sunday.
Certain exceptions to these three rules may be authorised in special
circumstances. For instance work on the weekly rest day may be
temporarily allowed for the purpose of performing tasks which must be
carried out immediately in connection with the saving of life or property,
in order to avert impending accidents or to repair damage caused by
accidents in an undertaking (but children under 18 years of age and
women may not be required to work on the rest day in such cases'), in
industries processing perishable goods, in industries having to cope with
exceptional pressure of work (in the last two cases the weekly rest may
not be withheld more than twice a month or six times a year and the
work done must be paid for at overtime rates). In addition the responsible minister may temporarily authorise the withholding of the weekly
rest in state-owned undertakings and undertakings engaged in national
defence work for the State.
As a general rule the weekly rest may be withheld from certain
groups of employees provided that they are given compensatory time off.
This is the case, for instance, with certain skilled workers employed in
factories where furnaces or machinery are in constant operation, watchmen and caretakers, persons employed in maintenance work which must
be done on the general rest day and is essential to avoid delay in the
normal resumption of work; this exception, however, does not apply to
children under 18 or to women.
A number of exceptions to the Sunday rest rule are also allowed.
However, under no circumstances may apprentices be required to do
any work connected with their occupation on Sundays or recognised
statutory feast days. Relaxation of the rule is allowed in certain branches
of the economy, such as water and rail transport, because of the nature
of the work involved. In certain other branches of activity the regulations
specifically authorise the granting of weekly rest on a rotational basis ;
these occupations include work in hotels, restaurants and public houses,
factories producing food for immediate consumption, hospitals, charitable institutions and asylums, inland transport undertakings other than
railways, lighting, water and power distribution undertakings, industries
using materials liable to very rapid deterioration and industries in which
any interruption of work would involve the loss or depreciation
of the product being manufactured. Finally, the weekly rest day of
some or all of the employees in an undertaking may be transferred
to a day other than Sunday, or it may be granted in rotation, if it is
established that a complete stoppage on Sundays would be prejudicial
to the public or would hinder the normal running of the establishment.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
231
In such cases the entire staff may be given their weekly rest either on a
day other than Sunday or between midday on Sunday and midday on
Monday; alternatively, they may be given Sunday afternoon off and a
full day of compensatory time off in rotation every other week; or
weekly rest may be granted to some or all of the employees on a rotational
basis. To obtain permission to grant weekly rest in this way the employer
must apply to the competent prefectoral authorities; the latter issue
orders explaining the reasons for allowing the exception after consulting
the organisations concerned, and in particular the employers' and
workers' occupational organisations. Permission can only be given for
a limited time.
Certain days other than Sundays have been designated as holidays.
These include 1 January, 1 May, 14 July and 11 November and also
certain Christian festivals (Christmas Day, Ascension Day, Assumption
Day, All-Hallows Day, Easter Monday and Whit Monday) and certain
Mohammedan festivals (Ashura, Mulud, Aid el Kebir and Aid el
Seghir). The regulations specifically provide that children under 18
years of age and women may not be employed on statutory feast days,
even to tidy up the premises. However, in factories where operations are
carried on continuously, male children and adult women may be employed on any day of the week provided that they are allowed at least one
rest day each week.
Morocco
The legislation on weekly rest 1 applies to all persons in the service of
an employer carrying on a commercial or industrial occupation or a
profession, or of a trade union, mutual benefit society or association of
any kind, irrespective of the occupational category to which the persons
concerned belong. It does not, however, apply to railway employees,
whose rest periods are regulated by their own staff rules, or to seamen,
whose rest periods are fixed by the regulations governing the organisation of work on board sea-going ships.
The normal methods of granting weekly rest are as follows : firstly,
no salaried employee, workman or apprentice may be required to work
more than six days a week; secondly, the weekly rest period may be not
less than 24 consecutive hours; thirdly, it must be allowed on Friday,
Saturday, Sunday or the market day; and lastly, it must be granted to
all the employees of an establishment on the same day.2
1
Dahir of 21 July 1947 concerning weekly rest and public holidays.
The Dahir of 9 April 1958, which applies to agricultural workers, contains
similar provisions.
2
232
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Exceptions to these rules, similar to the exceptions allowed under the
corresponding legislation in Algeria, are permitted. For instance the
weekly rest may be withheld under the same conditions as in Algeria:
when work in connection with national defence is involved ; in industries
processing perishable goods; and in industries having to cope with
exceptional pressure of work. The weekly rest may also be withheld in
the case of urgent work which must be performed immediately, but
children under 16 and women under 21 may not be required to work on
these grounds.
The weekly rest periods of certain types of employees, such as skilled
workers employed in continuous manufacturing or operations in factories
where furnaces or machinery are in constant operation, are fixed by
special methods as set forth in the Vizierial Order of 25 July 1947. The
same applies to certain skilled workers performing maintenance operations during the general rest period and to watchmen and caretakers.
The weekly rest periods for the latter may be reduced to 12 consecutive
hours; if this is done they must be granted a compensatory annual
rest period of two weeks, which has to be taken immediately before
or immediately after the annual holiday with pay. The regulations also
state that the rest period of one full day per week may be replaced by
two half-day periods in certain retail food shops, in the case of persons
delivering newspapers and magazines and in the case of stereotypers and
rotary press operators engaged exclusively in printing daily newspapers.
None of these exceptions, however, apply to boys under 16 or to women
under 21 years of age. In mining undertakings and on work sites situated
at considerable distances from permanent communities weekly rest
days may, by agreement between the employers and the workers, be
accumulated and taken once a month, or even once every three months,
provided that the permission of the Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs isfirstobtained and that half a day's rest is allowed each week.
Certain types of establishment mentioned in the regulations (the list
is very similar to that found in the corresponding regulations in Algeria)
are specifically authorised to grant weekly rest to all or parts of their
staff on a rotation basis. In addition the Minister of Labour and Social
Affairs has issued a number of orders within the framework of the general
regulations laying down special methods of fixing weekly rest periods in
particular administrative divisions, towns and neighbourhoods where at
least two-thirds of the employers and workers concerned have submitted
a request to that effect.
Up to March 1960 two of the orders which were to be issued to
establish the list of public holidays had in fact been promulgated.
These orders fix 1 May and 18 November (Sovereign's Day) as paid
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
233
holidays. In practice there are a number of days (nine of them " French ",
13 " Moslem " and 14 " Jewish ") which are treated as holidays, but only
for the purposes of the application of the Commercial Code and the
Code of Civil Procedure; thus workers are not necessarily given holidays
on those days, but if taken they are unpaid with the right to make them
up later.
HOLIDAYS WITH PAY
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
The law states that every worker is entitled to annual holidays with
pay. It does not, however, cover workers employed casually, members
of the employer's family who are in fact dependent on him or domestic
servants. There are special regulations covering the officials and employees of the State.
A worker becomes entitled to holidays with pay after one year's
service under a contract of employment. The length of the holiday is
14 days per year of employment, irrespective of the occupational category
to which the employee belongs; if he has been working for the same
employer for ten years without a break the holiday is increased to 21 days.
There are not any more favourable provisions for women and children.
The Labour Code of 1959 specifically states that the employee may
not relinquish his leave. It also states that the employer may withhold
the wage or salary due to the employee for the period of his leave if it
is proved that during such leave the worker entered the service of another
employer. In practice, until recent years employers and workers often
treated holidays as a right which could be relinquished; moreover, the
existing body of case law on the subject is somewhat contradictory, as
sometimes the right to an annual leave has been treated as a matter of
public policy, whereas on other occasions it has been considered merely
as a private benefit which the worker could expressly or tacitly waive.
The holiday may be divided up " if the exigencies of the service so
require " provided that the duration of the first period of leave taken is
at least six days. This provision is not, however, applicable to young
persons. The Act stipulates that a worker leaving his employer during
the year is entitled to be paid for the days of leave for which he has
qualified.
There are no statutory provisions governing the periods during which
leave must be taken or specifying how the leave roster is to be displayed
or how the persons concerned are to be informed when they are to take
their holidays. The employer may, if the worker so requests in writing,
carry leave beyond the first six days over to the next year.
234
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
As was mentioned earlier, full pay is due to the worker during his
holiday. The term " full pay " apparently covers the basic wage and all
wage supplements.
Libya
All workers covered by the Labour Act are entitled to annual holidays
with pay. The length of the holiday is normally calculated on the basis
of one day for every month of employment with the same employer, and
an additional day for every six months of such employment within the
year.
As a general rule a worker does not qualify for a holiday until after
one full year of employment. However, if either the employer or the
worker terminates the contract of employment and due notice has been
given the employer must pay the worker for the days of leave for which
he has qualified but not received. For the purposes of calculating the
holiday, weekly rest days are counted but not other statutory feast days.
The Act provides that the worker shall be paid, in respect of each
day of annual leave, a wage equal to his average normal daily wage
during the week preceding the commencement of the holiday; if he is
paid by the task or the piece his average daily wage is calculated on the
basis of his earnings during the two weeks preceding his holidays.
The Act contains no provisions prohibiting the relinquishment of
holidays by the worker, specifying the period during which holidays must
be taken, indicating the manner of posting up the holiday roster and
informing the employees of the order in which they are to take their leave,
or allowing the accumulation of holidays over a period of years.
Tunisia
The Decree of 25 July 1946, concerning annual holidays with pay in
industry, commerce and the liberal professions, states that any worker
who has been employed by the same employer for a period corresponding
to at least one month's actual work during the year shall be entitled to a
paid holiday at the expense of his employer. The holiday entitlement is
calculated on the basis of one day per month of employment ; 24 working
days are deemed to constitute a month's employment. At first the basic
annual holiday is 15 days, 12 of them working days ; an extra day is added
for every five years' service with the same employer, with the proviso
that the length of the annual holiday shall not thereby exceed 18
working days. The regulations í lay down more favourable conditions
1
Decree of 20 January 1949 to establish additional holidays for young workers in
commerce, industry and the liberal professions, as amended by the Decree of 4 June
1951.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
235
for young workers; a worker under 18 years of age is entitled to two
working days' holiday for every month of employment provided that the
total duration of his holiday does not exceed 30 days (including 24 working days), while workers between 18 and 21 years of age are allowed oneand-a-half working days' holiday for every month of employment with
a maximum of 22 days (including 18 working days).
The regulations specifically stipulate that a worker may not give up
his leave, that holidays of six working days or less may not be divided
up and that holidays may be accumulated over a period of two years.
They also provide that leave with pay must be granted between 1 June
and 31 October or during the month of Ramadan.
The holiday allowance payable is equivalent to the amount which the
worker would have earned, including subsidiary allowances and benefits
in kind, if he had remained at work during that period ; it usually consists of one twenty-fourth of the total remuneration received by the
worker during the period taken into consideration for the purposes of
calculating the holidays due to him.
Agricultural workers are allowed holidays with pay under much the
same conditions as industrial workers. 1 However, their situation is
different in some respects. For instance, to become entitled to a holiday
with pay an agricultural worker must work in the service of the employer
for six months without a break. A 15-day holiday must be taken within
12 months of the date on which the worker became entitled to it, while a
shorter holiday must be taken within six months. In addition, up to
half of the total holiday may be split up. Finally, young workers in
agriculture are not entitled to longer holidays than adults.
Leave in Respect of Births at Home.
Under regulations issued on 27 May 1948 the head of a family must
be granted three days' holiday with pay every time a child is born in his
home; the leave must be taken during the period from one week
before the birth to one week after it. This holiday exists only in industry,
commerce and the liberal professions; it is not given to agricultural
workers.
Algeria
The general regulations governing holidays with pay are contained
in article 54 ( / t o « ) of Chapter 4ter of Book II, Title 1, of the Labour
1
Decree of 9 March 1944 amended by the Decree of 25 February 1954. It should,
however, be remembered that the Decree of 14 March 1957 extended the scope of the
Decree of 25 July 1946 to cover certain agricultural undertakings.
236
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Code. The statutory provisions previously in force, based for the most
part on the Acts of 20 June 1936 and 31 July 1942 and the regulations
issued to govern their application, were recently amended by Act No. 56332 of 27 March 1956.
The regulations in force lay down the principle that every worker is
entitled to an annual holiday with pay at the expense of his employer.
To calculate the length of the holiday due, periods of four weeks' or
24 days' employment are counted as one month of actual work.
The length of the annual holiday is usually calculated on the basis
of one-and-a-half working days for every month worked; the total
amount of leave may not exceed 18 working days. The duration is
increased by two working days after 20 years' service whether continuous
or not in the same undertaking (after 25 years' service, four days; after
30 years' service, six days), but the total duration of leave allowed may
not exceed 24 working days.
More favourable provisions apply to young workers and apprentices
under 18 years of age. The duration of the holiday due to such persons is
calculated on the basis of two working days per month of actual employment up to a maximum of 24 working days. In addition young workers
and apprentices may, irrespective of the length of their period of service
in the undertaking, obtain on request 24 extra working days' holiday a
year if they are under 18 and 18 extra days if they are between 18 and 21 ;
however, holiday allowances are not due for any holiday taken in addition to that which they have actually earned through their employment.
One provision of the Act stipulates that women under 21 are to receive
two extra days of paid holiday for every dependent child.
As holidays are considered a matter of public policy, the worker is
required to take his leave, and no employer may knowingly take into
his service a worker who is on paid holiday ; workers and employers who
fail to comply with these rules are liable for damages. A paid holiday of
less than 12 days in duration may not be divided. A holiday of more than
12 days in duration may, with the consent of the worker, be divided into
two or more parts by the employer provided that one part of the holiday
lasts for at least 12 consecutive working days. Except in agriculture, in
respect of which there are special regulations, the period during which
holidays with pay are to be taken is established by collective agreement,
but must in all cases be within the period from 1 May to 31 October each
year. In the absence of collective agreements the employer decides during
what period holidays are to be taken, making due allowance for local
custom and after consulting the staff representatives and the works committee. Under orders applicable to all branches of activity, including
agriculture, the holiday roster must be prepared and displayed by the
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
237
employer, who must then notify all those concerned. The roster may not
subsequently be altered without the permission of the labour inspector.
The allowance paid in respect of the holiday may not be less than the
amount which the employee would have earned during the holiday period
if he had remained at work; in addition, when the amount of the allowance is computed, due account must be taken of the subsidiary allowances
and benefits in kind which the employee will be deprived of during his
holiday. If the contract of employment is terminated before the employee has been able to take all the holiday to which he was entitled he
must be compensated, provided that the termination of the contract was
not due to serious misconduct on his part.
In addition to the general provisions described so far, there are certain
special provisions for individual branches of activity such as agriculture, home work, domestic service and professions, industries and
trading establishments in which the employees are not normally in the
service of the same employer continuously. The following are examples
of these special provisions. In agriculture1 the minimum value of the
subsidiary allowances and benefits in kind to be allowed for in the calculation of the holiday entitlement is specified in orders issued by the Prefects
after consulting the competent joint committees. The periods during
which the principal operations are performed and which may not exceed
five consecutive months are also fixed by orders. During such periods
employees are not entitled to absent themselves from work on paid
holiday for more than 24 hours. Another order, dealing with annual
holidays with pay for homeworkers 2, allows the person who provides
the work to discharge his obligations under the regulations by paying
homeworkers an allowance of 6 per cent, of their gross earnings in
addition to the pay due to them.
Leave for Educational Purposes.
An Act of 23 July 1957, which is applicable to Algeria, stipulates that
workers and apprentices wishing to attend training courses or sessions
devoted exclusively to workers' education or the training of trade
unionists may, on request, be granted 12 days' leave without pay every
year. Such leave may not be deducted from their annual holidays with
pay, and it is considered as a period of actual service for the purposes of
calculating the length of holidays with pay, the right to social insurance
and family benefits and the seniority rights of the employees concerned
in the undertaking. The courses may be organised by specialised institu1
2
Act No. 56-332 of 27 March 1956, art. 8.
Order of 23 August 1956.
238
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
tions or by centres attached to workers' unions recognised as representative at the national level.
The employer may not normally refuse a request for leave of this kind
unless he considers, after consulting the works committee or the staff
representatives, as appropriate, that the absence of the applicant might
have harmful effects on production and the functioning of the establishment. The number of persons in any establishment who can be granted
leave of this kind must not exceed a limit fixed by an order issued by the
competent authorities.
The regulations also state specifically that workers in the Algerian
departments may attend courses or sessions organised in metropolitan
France as well as in Algeria.
Morocco
The legislation 1 governing holidays with pay is similar only in certain
respects to that in force in Algeria. For instance holidays can be accumulated over two or three consecutive years and, except in agriculture,
the statutory holiday period covers the entire year.
A worker becomes entitled to a holiday with pay when he has
completed six months' continuous service with the same employer or in
the same undertaking. For the purposes of calculating the holidays due,
26 days of actual work are counted as one month's employment. The
length of the holiday is usually calculated on the basis of a minimum of
15 days (including 12 working days) after 12 consecutive months' service.
The holiday is increased by one working day for every five years' service
(whether continuous or not) with the same employer or in the same
undertaking. There are more favourable provisions covering young
workers and apprentices, who are allowed twice the normal holiday if
they are under 18 years of age (under 15 in agriculture) and one-and-ahalf times the normal holiday if they are between 18 and 21 years (between 15 and 18 in agriculture). In addition, young workers in the first
group are allowed two additional working days' holiday for every five
years of service, while those in the second group are allowed a day-and-ahalf.
A worker may not relinquish his leave, even if he receives compensatory payment, except in special cases, such as for the performance of
national defence work or for the provisioning of the country in general,
and then only with the permission of the labour department. An em1
Dahir of 9 January 1946 concerning annual holidays with pay as amended by the
Dahirs of 16 October 1946 and 12 February 1952. Agricultural workers are covered
by Chapter V of the Dahir of 9 April 1958. See also Dahir of 26 December 1959
regarding annual holidays with pay.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
239
ployer is not allowed knowingly to give employment to a worker who is
on paid holiday; similarly workers are not allowed to take up gainful
employment during their paid holidays. Persons committing breaches of
these regulations are liable to prosecution as well as for damages. The
holiday may be divided, with the consent of the worker, provided that
one of the parts shall be of not less than six working days falling between
two weekly rest days. In certain cases two and more periods of annual
holidays with pay may be accumulated to form a single continuous
period up to the amount of the total holiday for three consecutive years.
As has already been mentioned, the statutory holiday period extends
throughout the year, except in agriculture. The holiday roster is prepared
by the employer after consulting all concerned and must be displayed
and communicated to each employee concerned at least 45 days before his
departure. In agriculture the periods during which holidays can be
taken are fixed for each province by order of the Minister of Labour and
Social Affairs after consultation of the Joint Commission on Agricultural
Work.
The allowance payable is equivalent to the remuneration which the
employee would have earned if he had remained at work. To this amount
must be added, where applicable, the average earnings from overtime
work during the 12 months preceding the employee's departure on
holiday; family allowances are not taken into account. The allowance is
to be calculated on the average daily earnings during the 24 days of
actual employment immediately preceding his departure on holiday. In
the case of workers paid by the job, according to the work performed or
by the piece, the average earnings are calculated over the last 26 days of
actual employment, while the average earnings of a homeworker or an
employee paid on a commission or percentage basis are calculated over
the previous 12 months. Finally, if the contract of employment is terminated, either by the employer or by the employee, compensation is due for
holidays not taken, provided that the contract was not terminated on
account of serious misconduct by the employee.
There are special provisions covering certain occupations, such as
those of commercial and industrial travellers, journalists, seamen serving
on vessels other than those equipped for sea fishing, caretakers on residential premises and unpaid managers of branches of retail commercial
ers' co-operative societies.
Leave in Respect of Births at Home.
An employee who is the head of a family must be granted three days'
paid leave, in addition to his annual holiday with pay, when a child is
born in his home. The remuneration due for these three days' leave is
240
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
equivalent to the wages and allowances which the employee would
have received if he had remained at work.1
WORK BOOKS AND CERTIFICATES OF SERVICE
In most of the countries covered by this survey there are regulations
requiring the employer to give every worker he engages an identity
booklet or a work book. In Morocco, for instance, the employer must give
to every wage earner he engages for one day or longer a work card or a
letter of appointment which has the standing of a contract; in addition
any employer in industry, commerce or a liberal profession must give his
workers, within 15 days of engaging them, the identity card issued for
the use of Moroccan workers and salaried employees.2 These provisions
do not apply to agricultural workers.
In Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia the regulations stipulate
that any person may, on the expiry of his contract of employment,
require his employer to give him a certificate of service giving details of
the length of his employment and the nature of the job or jobs done by
him but not including any comment which might be favourable or
unfavourable to him.
TRANSPORT OF WORKERS
Egypt is apparently the only country to have enacted statutory
provisions requiring the employer to pay the travelling expenses of the
worker from his original place of residence to the place of work except
where the contract is broken without good cause. The regulations state
that the employer must repatriate the worker within seven days on
expiry of the contract unless the worker refuses in writing to be repatriated within that period.
Another statutory provision stipulates that the employer must provide
transport facilities when employing workers in areas not served by the
ordinary public transport system.
In Tunisia provision is made in regulations relating to wages in
several industries for special payments for work away from the worker's
normal area or for transport.
1
Dahir of 22 October 1946 to grant additional leave to heads of families who are
wage earners, officials or employees of public services on the occasion of the birth of
children in their homes, supplemented by the Dahir of 2 October 1950. Agricultural
workers are covered by Chapter V of the Dahir of 9 April 1958.
2
Dahir of 14 February 1925, as amended by the Dahir of 9 March 1938.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
241
HOUSING, FOOD AND MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS
In recent years several governments have tried to associate the workers
with action to improve workers' housing through the building of special
estates. For instance in Tunisia a decree was promulgated on 30 March
1957 to establish workers' building co-operatives, aided financially by
the State, to enable the workers to acquire their own homes.
The Egyptian Labour Code of 1959 repeats the statutory provisions
previously in force under which the employer was required to provide
board and lodging for workers employed by him at a considerable distance from any permanent community. The Code states that in such regions
(which have been designated by Order of 25 August 1959) the employer
must provide suitable board and lodging, for which he may not charge
more than one-third of the cost; in practice this provision applies to all
workplaces ten miles or more from the nearest community. Other regulations (Order No. 146 of 25 August 1959) have been issued specifying
the kinds and amounts of food the workers are to be given. In addition,
under Proclamation No. 469 of 1944, which is apparently still in force,
certain workers and salaried employees, " in view of the fact that the
health of a large number of workers is in danger owing to undernourishment ", must be given meals. The proclamation states that in all industrial and commercial establishments employing more than 50 workers
and in agricultural undertakings more than 200 feddans in area, a meal
must be served at midday on every working day to any worker who wants
one ; the worker is required to pay only half the cost of the meal. The
statutory provisions applicable to workers in mines and quarries stipulate
that the employer must provide his workers with suitable accommodation
and with three meals a day under conditions to be prescribed in an order
to be issued by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and that the
worker is not allowed to give up a meal in exchange for a bonus of any kind.
In Libya, while no express legal provisions exist, the oil companies
operating in remote areas have undertaken, in agreement with the
Government, to provide both food and accommodation for their workers.
This is over and above a minimum wage which is itself higher than the
normal minimum. Other employers provide food and accommodation
as the needs of the situation demand.
me regulations m lorce in /-vigena, x unisia anu ivxorocco ±ay uown
the standards of hygiene to which the sleeping premises for employees
in industrial and commercial establishments must conform. The main
provisions regulate the amount of air space (not less than 12 cubic metres
per person), ventilation, height of the rooms (not less than 2.60 metres),
flooring, paintwork, bedding, wash basins and supplies of drinking
242
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
water; in addition every family must have a separate room, and employees are not allowed to sleep in workshops, store houses or other
premises used for industrial or commercial purposes. In Morocco in
any permanent work site situated more than six miles away from the
nearest supply centre and at which more than 100 workers are employed,
the employer may, if the work is to last for more than three months,
be required to supply his employees with board and lodging under conditions to be laid down in an order which, so far as is known, has still not
been promulgated. In Tunisia a recent law * stipulates that on 1 May
each year employers in industry, commerce and the liberal professions
must provide their permanent staff with two sets of working clothes,
one pair of shoes and a head covering of a type normally worn in the
occupation, the cost involved to be shared equally by the employer
and the worker.
The Labour Code in Libya does not contain any provisions specifically
requiring workers to undergo medical examination at the time of engagement or periodically; it does, however, state that " regulations shall be
enacted to safeguard the health, welfare and safety of the workers ".
Up to October 1960 these regulations had not been promulgated.
In Egypt, only in industries or processes (such as mining and quarrying) which are liable to give rise to occupational diseases are all workers
required to undergo medical examination at the time of engagement. In
undertakings of these types workers must also undergo medical examination during employment, at intervals varying from once a month to
once a year according to the nature of the work being done and the
degree of risk of occupational disease.2 All workers employed in mines
and quarries who are dismissed before the end of their trial periods must
undergo medical examinations to ensure that they have not contracted
any occupational diseases.
In Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia all workers, whatever their activity,
must undergo medical examination before they are engaged or, at the
latest, at the end of the trial period following the engagement; the
examination must include a lung X-ray. In addition every worker must
undergo a medical examination at least once a year, and once every three
months in the case of a worker under 18 years of age. In Algeria a
worker must undergo a medical examination on resuming work after
having been absent on account of occupational disease, after an absence
of over three weeks due to illness of any nature and in the event of
repeated absence from work.
1
Law No. 59-128 of 7 October 1959.
See Order of 27 January 1951 concerning regular medical examinations of
workers exposed to occupational diseases.
2
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
243
EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
General
Mention has already been made of the special measures taken in the
different countries to regulate certain aspects of the work of women and
children, particularly with regard to hours of work, night work, rest and
holidays. In a description of general conditions of employment, mention
should also be made of other measures taken expressly for the protection
of young workers and women—for example, the measures relating to the
minimum age of admission to employment, the machinery to ascertain
that children are physically fit for work, the prohibition of the carrying or
pushing of certain loads, the rest periods and holidays to which women
are entitled during pregnancy and childbirth and the prohibition of the
performance of certain types of work on the grounds that they are
dangerous to health or morals.
Before studying these different types of measures it is of interest to
outline the main features of the employment of women and children in
the different countries covered by this study.
Employment of Women.
The employment of women is still very restricted in many sectors. In
agriculture, however, considerable numbers are employed, most of them
assisting the other members of the family but not receiving any wages.
This situation is partly due to a traditional reluctance to allow women to
take up gainful activity; but this attitude seems to be weakening as the
old social structure breaks down, and in recent years more and more
women have been entering the employment market. In most of the
countries under review the emancipation of Moslem women, which in
many cases began only a few years ago, has already made great strides.
An interesting example of the progress made in this field is to be
found in Morocco. First of all the number of girls registered in schools
has increased sharply. It was not until 1935 that girls were allowed to
attend secondary schools on the same footing as boys. Four Moslem
girls matriculated in 1945. It has been estimated that between 1945 and
1955, 52 Moslem girls obtained primary school certificates (500 Moslem
boys obtained the certificate during the same period). When Morocco
became an independent country there was a rush to obtain admittance to
the schools; most of the new entrants were girls. During the school year
1956-57 one-fifth of all the children in primary schools were girls and
there were 1,000 girls in secondary schools; these figures were double
those for the previous year. In addition certain recent reforms in
244
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Moslem law will probably facilitate the emancipation of women considerably. In December 1957 a reform committee decided to fix the minimum
marriageable age for girls at 15 years and to restrict polygamy, which,
although frequent among the middle classes, had become rare among the
poorer classes. A sociological study carried out in Casablanca in 1957 1
revealed in that year that out of 1,000 working-class families only 2 per
cent, were polygamous while among the wealthier middle classes the
proportion was 21 per cent. The same study showed that nearly all the
women in the poorer classes had jobs, the percentage distribution by
branch of activity being as follows: domestic servants in European
households (20,000 in Casablanca), 30; factory workers, 20; workers in
traditional woollen goods industries, 13; employees in small jobs, 4;
workers doing small jobs on a casual basis, 4; seamstresses, 7; primary
schoolteachers, instructors and nurses, 1 ; seasonal workers dependent
on demand, 20.
It was also estimated that in Casablanca in 1957 the mother was the
breadwinner in one out of every four households and that the lower the
working-class stratum investigated, the greater was the proportion of
households in which the breadwinner was a woman without a husband
(rising as high as 42 per cent, in the poorest groups).
The emancipation of women seems to have made very little headway
in rural areas, where most families are still organised on a traditional
patriarchal basis. However, in 1957 there were about 5,000 women in
Morocco belonging to clubs, centres and social groups, in which they
were encouraged to take part in civic and social affairs and to bring new
ideas into family life. It should also be mentioned that from 1953 women
played a considerable part in the struggle for independence and that since
1956 Moroccan women workers have been allowed to join trade unions.
It seems probable that in most of the countries covered by this study
women will inevitably play a greater part in economic and social life in
the years to come as the fetters of tradition weaken or are broken. It is
therefore not unreasonable to expect that the employment market
situation, at least in the towns, will undergo rapid and radical changes as
women in increasing numbers enter industry and other branches of
activity such as commerce and the liberal professions.
Employment of Children and Young Persons.
Children and young persons are, as a general rule, employed in fairly
large numbers—a normal situation in countries with relatively unmechanised economies and in which many children never go to school at
1
Investigations by Anne-Marie BARON and H. PIROT described in Faits et idées
(Rabat), No. 1.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
245
all. Table XXII gives an idea of the percentage of young workers in the
economically active population in the various countries.
TABLE XXII. NORTH AFRICA: PERCENTAGE OF YOUNG WORKERS
IN THE ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE POPULATION
Boys
Country
Algeria:
Europeans . .
Non-Europeans
Egypt1
Libya 3
Morocco3 . . .
Tunisia 4 . . . .
Girls
Year
Under 15
15 to 19
Under 15
15 to 19
1954
1954
1947
0.3
2.9
10.1
4.8
12.2
13.1
0.5
4.4
19.6
9.2
15.8
14.8
1952
1956
7.7
2.0
9.1
12.0
2.8
3.1
9.6
15.8
Source: Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1959, op. cit., table 3, p. 12.
1
Not including nomads (55,073 persons).
* In 1936, 8.4 per cent, of the economically active
population consisted of workers under 15 years of age.
* Not including the non-indigenous population.
* Provisional figures based on a sample analysis of the 1956 census.
In countries such as Egypt and Libya, where children (juveniles under
15 years of age) are employed in particularly large numbers, the child
labour force seems to be shrinking, probably owing to the fact that
stricter regulations covering the minimum age of admission to employment were recently enacted and to the steady increase in the educational
facilities available. For instance the number of children in employment
between the ages of 6 and 11 years in Egypt, which was estimated at
281,000 in 1957, had fallen to 221,000 by February 1959.
Age of Admission to Employment
The regulations in the countries concerned generally fix a minimum
age of admission to employment either in all types of activity or in
particular branches. The fact that in most of these countries there are no
regulations covering the minimum age of admission to employment in
certain sectors (such as agriculture and domestic service) has encouraged
the unsupervised employment of extremely young children (between 6
and 10 years of age).
The minimum age of admission to employment has been fixed in
principle at 13 years in Algeria and 12 in Egypt, Libya and Morocco. In
Tunisia the labour inspector has always the right to insist on children
under 12 being discharged if the work on which they are engaged is too
heavy for them. In Egypt the regulations do not apply to agricultural
workers nor to persons in workshops where only members of the
246
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
employer's family are concerned. In Libya the legislation does not apply
to domestic servants, agricultural workers or members of the same family
employed in the family undertaking. In Morocco 1 domestic servants are
not covered. In Tunisia 2 and Algeria 3 all young workers are covered.
Exceptions to the minimum age limit are sometimes allowed. In
Algeria children holding primary school-leaving certificates may be
employed from the age of 12 years. In Morocco the legislation applicable to agricultural workers states that the inspector of social legislation
in agriculture may authorise exceptions to the minimum of 12 years.
In Egypt, prior to the entry into force of the Labour Code, the employment of children between 9 and 12 years of age was authorised, subject to production of a certificate of physical fitness, in certain industries
such as spinning, weaving and knitting and for certain jobs of a nature to
prepare them to take up a trade or occupation.4 The labour administration had laid down general rules governing the employment of children
between 9 and 12 years of age in spinning, weaving and knitting establishments. These regulations included special hygiene and safety measures,
the prohibition of piecework and the requirement that the children must
work for a certain period as apprentices under a foreman and that on
completion of their apprenticeship they must be given a certificate stating
that they can work without supervision. The new Act does not authorise
any exceptions to the rule fixing the minimum employable age at 12 years;
it states that the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour may issue orders
specifying the industries in which the employment of juveniles under
15 or 17 years of age (as appropriated, is prohibited.5 In Morocco,
Tunisia and Algeria the competent authorities may allow exceptions to
the minimum age regulations for children employed as actors in certain
specified plays. On the other hand the minimum age of employment in
1
Dahir of 2 July 1947 to regulate employment, as amended and supplemented by
the Dahirs of 21 September 1949, 5 August 1950, 10 August 1952 and 27 April 1953.
Agricultural workers are covered by Chapter II of the Dahir of 9 April 1958.
2
Decree of 6 April 1950 relating to hygiene and safety and the employment of
women and children in commercial and industrial establishments and the liberal
professions, modified by Legislative Decree No. 60-10 of 14 March 1960 and Decree
of 18 February 1954 relating to the employment of women and children in agriculture.
3
Act of 30 June 1928, made applicable to Algeria by a Decree dated 23 October
1933.
4
The types of work concerned were specified in an Order of 25 December 1933.
The following industries are mentioned: shoemaking and saddlery; bookbinding;
carpentry (where machinery is not used); the making of wicker furniture; basket
making; the plaiting of mats; broom making; tent making; the making of carpets and
kilims; rope making and the making of trimmings; hand sewing and embroidery;
invisible mending; ironing; the packing of confectionery; decorating work in the
pottery works; and the making of cardboard boxes.
6
Orders Nos. 154 and 155 of 25 August 1959 set out the industries in which work
of young persons under 15 (11 industries) and under 17 (24 industries) is forbidden.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
247
theatres and itinerant trades is 16 years if the work involves feats of
acrobatics or strength. The age of a young worker cannot always be
established by the production of a birth certificate; where no certificate
can be produced the age of a young worker is usually estimated by an
official doctor. In Egypt the law states that young persons under 15 years
of age may not be employed in certain industries 1 unless they hold a
workers' card certifying their physical fitness.
Physical Fitness for Employment
Certificates of physical fitness for employment are required, but in
different circumstances, in each of the countries concerned. In Algeria
all juveniles under 18 years of age are required to produce certificates.
In Morocco the labour inspectorate officials may at any time order the
examination by an approved doctor of any child between 12 and 16 years
of age in employment to ascertain whether the work is too heavy; if this
proves to be the case the officials may, subject to the agreement of the
doctor and, if the parents so wish, after the child has been examined by
another doctor, order the child's dismissal. Similar provisions are in
force in Tunisia and Algeria. In Libya all persons under 16 years of age
must produce certificates of physical fitness for employment. In Egypt
certificates are only required for children under 15 years of age employed
in certain specified industries.2
Dangerous Processes
The legislation of all the countries concerned contains provisions
forbidding the employment of women and young persons in certain processes which are inherently dangerous or excessively arduous or unsuitable on moral grounds. In Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia there are
regulations specifying the processes in which the employment of women
and young persons is prohibited and laying down special conditions of
employment in unhealthy or dangerous establishments. For instance in
Morocco 3 and Tunisia 4 women and young persons under the age of
1
Order No. 156 of 25 August 1959 fixes the industries in which it is forbidden to
employ persons under 15 who do not hold a certificate of physical fitness.
2
Article 10 of Act No. 48 of 22 June 1933, regulating the employment of children
and young persons in industry (which was abrogated in 1959) contained a list of
20 industries in which young persons under the age of 15 years could not be employed
except on production of certificates of physical fitness. Under the terms of the Labour
Code, 1959, the list of the industries or processes in which young persons under the
age of 15 years may not be employed unless they hold certificates of physical fitness
for employment is to be promulgated by ministerial order.
3
Dahir of 6 September 1957 concerning dangerous processes in which employment
of women and young persons is forbidden.
4
Decree of 6 April 1950.
248
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
18 years (16 in Morocco) may not be employed on the greasing, cleaning,
inspection or repair of running machinery or on premises containing
hand-operated machinery; in addition special permission is required for
the employment of women in places selling alcoholic drinks, while the
employment of young persons on machines used in the timber industry,
to operate steam valves or in certain processes in the glassware industry,
such as glass blowing, is prohibited. Special regulations have been issued
prohibiting the employment of women underground in mines and quarries. In Morocco the regulations governing the employment of young
persons in mines x contain a complete list of the types of work in underground tunnels in which employment of young persons between 12 and 16
years of age is allowed; these include sorting, the loading of ore, the
shunting and hauling of trucks, looking after and opening and closing
ventilation doors, the manipulation of hand-operated fans and other
minor jobs which are not beyond the strength of young persons. There
are similar provisions in force in Algeria and Tunisia.
In Egypt the Labour Code, 1959 provides that the arduous processes
in which the employment of young persons under 17 years of age and
women is prohibited will be designated by ministerial order. The legislation in force 2 on the employment of young persons in industry contained
a list of the operations in which the employment of young persons under
17 years of age was prohibited. Some 20 operations were mentioned,
including underground work in mines and quarries, the extraction of
stones, the manufacture and handling of explosives, oxy-acetylene
welding, the manufacture of alcohol and alcoholic drinks, etc.
In Libya the 1957 Labour Code states that regulations are to be
issued listing the dangerous processes in which women and young persons
may not be employed. Up to October 1960 this list had not been
promulgated.
Transport of Loads
The regulations in all the countries concerned except Libya contain
restrictions on the loads which may be carried, hauled or pushed by
women and young persons. The regulations always specify the maximum
weights which may be transported by women, irrespective of age.
1
2
Order of 18 January 1927.
Act No. 48 of 22 June 1933, abrogated by the Labour Code, 1959.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
249
The maximum weights which may legally be carried or transported by
wheelbarrow, two-wheeled cart or truck running on rails in Algeria \
Egypt * and Morocco 3, are shown in table 24.4
Employment of Women Before and After Confinement
In Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia every pregnant woman 5 is entitled
to stop work for 12 consecutive weeks during the period preceding and
following her confinement ; if she becomes ill as a result of pregnancy or
confinement the period is increased to 15 weeks. The legislature considered
that the protection of pregnant women was a matter of public policy
and has therefore provided that an employer who terminates the contract
of employment of one of his women workers on grounds of pregnancy,
either during the statutory period of maternity leave or at any other time
during the pregnancy, shall be liable to prosecution and will be required
to pay damages to the woman. The regulations provide that manifestly
pregnant women may leave their employment without having to give
notice. Women may not be employed for four weeks after confinement
in Tunisia and six weeks in Morocco.
Egyptian legislation contains similar provisions, which do not,
however, apply to women workers in agriculture or in workshops in
which only members of the employer's family are working. The Act
states that a pregnant woman is entitled to 50 days' holiday (including
the period preceding and following her confinement) on production
of a medical certificate. An employer may not give employment to a
woman during the 40 days following the date of her confinement nor
may he dismiss a woman who absents herself from her work during the
50-day period, which may be increased to a maximum of six months if
she becomes ill as the result of pregnancy or childbirth. During her
maternity leave the woman is entitled to an allowance equivalent to
70 per cent, of her wages if she has been working for the same employer
for at least seven months without interruption.
In all the countries concerned except Libya two half-hour rest
periods are granted to allow women to nurse their children; in Algeria,
1
Decree of 28 December 1909, extended to Algeria by a Decree of 20 July 1911.
Order of 20 April 1950. In application of the 1959 Labour Code the provisions
in this Order relating to children under 12 years of age are to be abrogated. Order
No. 154 of 25 August 1959fixesthe maximum weights to be carried, drawn or pushed
by persons from 12 to 15 years of age. The figures are those in table 24.
3
Vizierial Order of 30 September 1950.
4
See Appendix II.
5
In Egypt women workers in agriculture are not covered by the legislation, the
scope of which is the same as that concerning the minimum age of admission to
employment.
2
250
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Morocco and Tunisia these breaks are allowed during one year following
the date of the birth of the child and in Egypt during 18 months. For
purposes of the payment of wages these breaks are usually counted as
hours worked. In all undertakings employing 50 or more women over
15 years of age in Tunisia and Morocco (or 100 or more women over
15 years of age in Algeria) special rooms must be set aside for mothers
to nurse their children.1 In Egypt every establishment employing 100
women or more must have a nursery.
Other Provisions
Certain other measures have been taken to strengthen the statutory
restrictions on the employment of women and children. For instance
in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco employers are required to
provide seats for women employed in shops or premises in which women
handle goods or offer them to the public. In Morocco and Tunisia there
are regulations providing that notices approved by the labour inspectorate
and showing the conditions under which young persons may be employed must be visible at all times in workrooms in orphanages and
charitable institutions. In Egypt the regulations governing the employment of young persons and women must be posted up at all workplaces;
in addition the names of all persons recruiting juveniles or supervising
their work must be reported in advance to the authorities. Finally the
legislation of the various countries requires employers to keep up-to-date
lists of the young persons employed by them.
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH
General
In the countries under consideration industrial hygiene and safety do
not so far seem to have been considered as specially important aspects of
the problem of the protection and welfare of workers. This is probably
due to the fact that everywhere in this region the process of industrialisation is still only just beginning, although it has made rapid strides in some
centres.
As has been stated in Chapter III, the overwhelming majority of the
economically active population of North Africa is employed in agriculture,
and the number of workers employed in the manufacturing industry is
relatively small by comparison both with the agricultural labour force and
the total labour force. It can be seen from table 12 that the industrial
1
In Algeria there are very detailed regulations governing the standards to be
adhered to in the provision of nursing rooms.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
251
labour force comprises only 6 per cent, of the total labour force in
Tunisia and Morocco, 10 per cent, in Egypt and 2 per cent, of the indigenous and 17 per cent, of the European population in Algeria. The
labour force in the building trades represents 4.3 per cent, of the total
labour force in Morocco, 2 per cent, in Tunisia and 1.5 per cent, in Egypt.
Similarly the number of workers employed in mining and quarrying
in these countries is very small.
In the more advanced sectors of the economy the accident frequency
rate is nevertheless very high, mainly because little has been done to organise accident prevention and because of the lack of efficient protective devices. In Egypt, in particular, according to information given by the Labour
Department, the accident frequency rate in 1954 was about 20 per cent.
Egyptian employers do not seem always to attach to the problems of
industrial safety in their establishments the importance they deserve;
they are said generally to attribute most of the accidents that occur to
negligence on the part of the workers, saying that it is really up to the
worker to look after himself and take the necessary precautions. 1 It is
true that in the countries covered by this study the losses caused
by industrial accidents are relatively small compared with those
which can be ascribed to the fact that large numbers of workers
are in chronically poor health. This is a situation which is encountered
in other regions with underdeveloped economies ; low standards of living
and undernourishment give rise to a high rate of sickness of all kinds, the
diseases most frequently encountered being endemic in character.
Consequently the North African worker is particularly vulnerable to the
hazards inherent in modern industrial techniques. It follows that the
improvement of the general health of these populations is an essential
task, and one which has considerable bearing on the problems of industrial health and safety. Moreover, under present circumstances there
will inevitably be a considerable degree of interdependence between
industrial medicine and the ordinary public health services. Nevertheless,
the gradual modernisation of the economy makes it more and more
essential to give special attention to the specific problem of workers'
health. The need for specialised machinery for medical protection
increases in proportion to the growth of occupational risks, particularly
in undertakings where the workers are not only in contact with machines
which might cause them injury but are exposed to risk of poisoning owing
to the presence of harmful substances.
Consequently, in addition to general measures for the protection of
health, and in particular those relating to the cleaning, ventilation and
1
See Human Resources for Egyptian Enterprise; op. cit., p. 87.
252
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
lighting of workplaces, special preventive action is needed on the part of
industrial medical services. It is also clear that before any improvement
in industrial safety and health standards can be achieved, an intensive
campaign of an educational and informative nature, directed at both
employers and workers, will be needed ; for, although large numbers of
accidents are caused by negligence and the failure of the workers to
adapt themselves to modern techniques, the employers are often indifferent to the whole problem, as many of them have not yet fully
realised the need to take effective steps to ensure that their workers are
protected against accidents and occupational diseases.
A number of laws and regulations concerning both safety and health
at workplaces and industrial medical services have been promulgated in
all the countries under consideration except Libya. The existing legislation is decribed below in as much detail as possible. On the other hand
the information available is too scanty to allow of a proper analysis of the
steps taken to enforce the existing legislation in the different countries.
Legislation in Force
Article 108 of the new Labour Code of the United Arab Republic
states that " every employer shall take the necessary precautions to
protect workers, during the performance of their work, against impairment of their health and all dangers inherent in their work and the
machinery used ". If an employer refuses to comply with the regulations
in force the competent administrative authorities may " order part or all
of the establishment to be closed down or one or more machines to be
stopped until the causes of danger have been removed ". The worker, for
his part, is required " to make use of the means of protection, to take
good care of the equipment in his possession and to comply with the
rules laid down to preserve his health and to protect him against accident".
A new order 1 applying the provisions of article 108 of the Labour
Code contains very detailed provisions specifying the measures to be
taken in order to provide adequate safety and health protection in places
of work. The subjects include space, lighting, ventilation, temperature,
humidity, the general layout of workplaces and protection against dangerous substances, noise and dangerous machine parts. It also lays down
the special protective measures which employers must take in building,
demolition and excavation work, mining and quarrying, the maintenance
and operation of hoisting apparatus and the protection of workers
against falls, falling objects and the various dangers inherent in compressed gases and electricity, fire prevention, etc.
1
Order No. 152 of 25 August 1959.
4
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
253
Order No. 68 of 1959 specified protective measures against industrial
accidents.
The legislation 1 of the United Arab Republic also provides for
periodic medical examination of workers exposed to occupational disease.
Order No. 426 of 1957 also contains instructions relating to general standards of hygiene and cleanliness in industrial, commercial and other
establishments of an unpleasant, unhealthy or dangerous character,
and provides that workers employed in " dirty " industries must be
vaccinated against typhoid and paratyphoid.
In Morocco and Tunisia there are extremely detailed regulations,
based to a considerable extent on French legislation, relating to the health
and safety of workers. The general provisions concerning the health and
safety of workers, contained in Book II (articles 65 and 70Ì of the French
Labour Code, are in force in the departments of Algeria. In addition
most of the regulations issued in metropolitan France concerning the
enforcement of the provisions of the Code and the special measures
concerning particular occupations and methods of work are also in force
in Algeria. On 2 August 1957 an order was promulgated laying down the
main lines along which industrial medical services in undertakings in
Algeria were to be organised and to operate. This order provides,
inter alia, that heads of undertakings must accept the recommendations
of factory doctors on problems relating to hygiene in workshops and the
protection of workers against dangerous dusts and fumes.
In Morocco the Code of Obligations and Contracts contains provisions defining the responsibility of the employer in matters pertaining
to industrial health and safety. In particular it states that every employer
must, during the period of validity of a contract of employment, provide
premises which comply with the requisite standards of cleanliness and
safety and ensure that the machines and objects used in the performance
of the work do not at any time constitute a danger of any sort to the
lives or health of the workers. The Dahir of 2 July 1947 to regulate
employment prescribes certain general hygiene and safety standards,
relating in particular to the cleanliness of the premises, the safety of
machines and the performance of work dangerous to health. A Vizierial
Order of 4 November 1952 to prescribe general standards of protection
and health applicable in all establishments in which a commercial,
industrial or liberal trade or occupation is carried on, lays down the
general measures for the protection of the persons and the health of
persons employed in all industrial and commercial establishments and in
the liberal professions. These measures relate, firstly, to general hygiene,
1
Order N o . 66 dated 13 April 1959.
254
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
including the cleaning and disinfection of workplaces ; the draining away
of waste and wash water; the provision of toilets; the ventilation, heating
and lighting of workplaces; the removal of dusts, gases, vapours and
fumes; provision of cloakrooms, showers and wash basins. Then come
other provisions dealing more specifically with accident prevention
(hoisting apparatus, the guarding, siting and use of different kinds of
machines, the starting, stopping, cleaning and greasing of machines) and
fire prevention. In addition there are nearly 60 orders containing
special provisions applicable to particular occupations or methods of
work and governing the use of certain dangerous substances. A Dahir of
8 July 1957 1 provides for the establishment of industrial medical services
in undertakings ; its provisions are similar to the corresponding provisions
in force in Algeria and Tunisia. In conclusion mention should be made
of the establishment of an industrial medical centre, concerned mainly
with diseases of occupational origin, and an industrial hygiene laboratory
under the auspices of the Institute of Hygiene in Casablanca.
In Tunisia a decree was issued on 6 April 1950 containing a number
of provisions relating to health and safety in employment; their intention is to ensure that workplaces are not injurious to health and that
persons operating machines or working with dangerous substances are
properly protected. These provisions were extended, by a Decree dated
14 March 1957, to certain undertakings which had previously been
covered by the regulations governing agricultural workers. In addition
the industrial medical services established by the Decree of 26 October
1956 are responsible for protecting workers against such dangers to
their health as may arise in the course of their work.
In Libya the 1957 Labour Code provides that " regulations shall be
issued to safeguard the health, welfare and safety of the workers ". Up
to October 1960 these regulations had not been promulgated.
Enforcement of Legislation
The enforcement of the legislation on industrial hygiene and safety in
the countries covered by this study is in the hands of the labour inspectors ; the safety of the workers in mines is usually the responsibility of
the technical mining inspectors. In the Algerian departments the
organisation and functioning of the labour inspection services are based
on the legislation in force in metropolitan France, which has been made
applicable to Algeria; the laws and regulations in force in Morocco and
Tunisia are to a considerable extent based on this same legislation.
1
See also the Decree of 8 February 1958 to apply this Dahir.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
255
In Egypt, as will be described in Chapter XI of this survey, the Inspection Department of the Directorate-General of Labour of the Ministry
of Social Affairs and Labour includes sections which deal specifically with
questions of industrial safety and hygiene ; in 1958, apart from the labour
inspectors, nine engineers, two chemists and nine doctors were specifically
engaged in industrial safety and health. The information available on the
practical steps taken by the labour inspectors to see that the regulations
are applied is in general extremely limited. In this connection it may be
mentioned that in Tunisia the labour inspectors may if necessary call on
the assistance of experts, while there is a medical inspector of labour
whose specific responsibility is the enforcement of hygiene and safety
standards in undertakings. 1 In Morocco industrial medical officers, who
numbered 108 as at 1 January 1960, include among their duties the
enforcement of legislation respecting industrial hygiene and protection
of the health of the workers.
Institutions Responsible for the Prevention of Industrial Accidents
and Occupational Diseases
In all the countries covered by this study except Libya there are a
number of bodies concerned with the prevention of accidents and occur
pational diseases. In Egypt, according to the statutory provisions in force,
in every undertaking employing more than 100 workers, one worker or
salaried employee must be made responsible for safety and an accident
prevention committee must be established; the committee must consist
of the employer or his representative, the employee responsible for
safety, the heads of the main departments and three workers or salaried
employees selected by the workers. The committee must meet at least
once a month to investigate the causes of accidents which have occurred
and to devise methods of preventing similar accidents from occurring in
the future.
In Algeria, under an order dated 25 January 1949, health and safety
committees must be set up in all industrial undertakings employing 50 or
more workers and in all other undertakings employing 500 or more
workers. Each committee is required to send to the Government Delegate-General through the intermediary of the labour inspector, an annual
report of its activity together with the statistics of the accidents which
have occurred in the undertaking. By an Order of 25 February 1954 a
technical committee for the prevention of industrial accidents and occupational diseases was established; it consists of the Director of Labour
1
Report to the I.L.O. from the Tunisian Government on the application of the
Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), for the period ending 31 December 1955.
256
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
and Social Security, eight other representatives of the authorities, 12 persons with special qualifications in the field of health and safety, four
representatives of employers and four representatives of workers. The
tasks assigned to the committee are : " to undertake studies and research
with a view to improving the safety and health of workers and to preventing industrial accidents and occupational diseases ; to aim at developing
safety-mindedness at work; to collect, compile and publish all information concerning occupational hygiene and safety and the prevention of
accidents and occupational diseases."
In addition an " occupational organisation for the prevention of
accidents in the building and public works industries ", consisting of a
committee with its headquarters in Algiers and committees in each
department, was set up under an Order dated 2 September 1954. These
committees perform the same tasks as the hygiene and safety committees
established under the Decree of 25 January 1949, but in building and
public works establishments and sites. Finally it should be mentioned
that there is a Safety and Prevention Institute in Algeria, founded in 1944
by the General Confederation of Employers in co-operation with insurance companies. Its duties are to co-ordinate studies on prevention of
industrial accidents, to disseminate information on preventive measures
and to encourage employers and workers to apply them. The various
methods adopted by the Institute include instruction on industrial safety.
In Morocco hygiene and safety committees of the same type as those
in Algeria are operating in certain undertakings. In Tunisia a Decree
of 6 April 1950 provided for the setting up of an Industrial Safety Committee consisting of representatives of the Minister of Public Health
and the Director of Public Works, of employers and of workers in equal
numbers. In point of fact this committee was never constituted; a
Legislative Decree of 14 March 1960 made alternative provisions for
consultation by the public authorities with the employers' and workers'
organisations concerned. In addition consideration has been given to
the possibility of establishing safety and accident prevention committees
in undertakings and a national committee for the prevention of industrial
accidents and occupational diseases; the latter would be responsible for
making a careful study of the problems of industrial safety and hygiene
as they affect Tunisia.1
CONCLUSIONS
The indications given as to the formal legislative provisions which
exist in the various North African countries dealing with the main
1
Progrès social (published by the Tunisian Secretariat of State for Public Health
and Social Affairs), No. 1, Oct. 1958.
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF WORK
257
aspects of conditions of work enable the clear conclusion to be drawn
that the provisions are on the whole adequate and satisfactory. In most
countries, notably in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the laws are supplemented by a mass of implementing orders specifying to the last detail
the obligations of employers. In Egypt, since the entry into force of the
1959 Labour Code, many implementing orders have been promulgated.
In Libya, on the other hand, details of the methods of application of
general principles enumerated in the Labour Codes are often lacking.
But this can be largely explained by lack of staff in general and particularly of persons with the necessary experience and technical skills needed
for the purpose.
The shortage of skilled staff in Labour Departments is widespread. In
Libya, Morocco and Tunisia this is partly accounted for by the exodus
of expatriate staff following independence but more generally by the
increased importance accorded in recent years to labour legislation and to
the skill and training needed by those who are called upon to enforce it.
Everywhere, however, efforts are being made to fill the gaps.
Due account must therefore be taken of these facts in assessing the
present situation in the region concerned as regards actual conditions of
work. The legislative tools are there. They often need more precise
direction and use. Nevertheless, it may be recorded as an impression
from observations throughout the area, that conditions are generally
fairly satisfactory in the larger and better organised enterprises. By this
is meant that on such things as hours of work and the surroundings in
which work is done, the standards are reasonable though they could be
improved by more attention to detail on the part of supervisors, for
example in the matter of hygiene and safety, and by education of workers
in these matters.
The difficulty, however, is that there are comparatively few enterprises
organised on modern lines. The great mass of industrial activities are in
the hands of people working for their own account, with members of
their families, or with one or two employees. Sometimes these activities
relate to the production of handicrafts and are carried out on traditional
lines. Sometimes they are simply modern activities carried out on a small
scale. But, irrespective of the nature of those activities, their number
and limited extent, together with the fact that they are often family
concerns, render the enforcement of prescribed standards as regards hours
of work, wages and conditions of work, and especially those relating to
hygiene and safety, particularly difficult. In view of the size of the staffs
which the authorities at present have at their disposal for inspection
purposes, it is in practice often impossible to secure continuous observation of these standards with the required degree of thoroughness. More-
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
over, the even more important job of educating both employers and
workers on how to improve their working conditions must of necessity
be largely left aside in favour of the more formal controls to ensure that
the main provisions of the law are enforced.
In these matters much work by medical and public health services, as
well as by labour inspection services, remains to be done and it must be
recognised that as long as the returns from the carrying on of these traditional and small-scale undertakings remain as exiguous as they generally
are in present circumstances, the radical improvements in workplaces and
equipment which would be necessary to bring them into line with modern
conceptions as to the environment in which work should be carried out
cannot be expected with any certainty.
CHAPTER VIII
SOCIAL SECURITY
GENERAL
In both origin and development, the social security schemes of the
North African countries resemble each other fairly closely due to the
influences affecting these countries and the adjustments which have had
to be made to their common cultural pattern. Towards the end of the
inter-war period all these countries were still in the early stages of their
schemes for employment injury compensation, based on employers'
liability which had been introduced in Algeria in 1919, Tunisia in 1921,
Morocco in 1927, Cyrenaica and Tripolitania when they were Italian
colonies, and Egypt in 1936. Marked divergences in the direction and
pace of their development have, however, appeared since the Second
World War. These divergences were mainly political in origin; thus in
Algeria (1941) and the French protectorates of Morocco (1942) and
Tunisia (1944), family allowance schemes were introduced under the
influence of French policy, and as a result these countries took a course
which was not followed by Egypt and Libya.
After the Second World War the rate of development quickened but
the divergences persisted. Algeria, because of the requirements of French
policy, made a number of major advances which, on the introduction of
the social insurance scheme approved by the Algerian Assembly
in 1949, paved the way for a comprehensive social security system, while
the United Arab Republic extended in 1959 the novel retirement and
provident scheme which Egypt had launched in 1955; Libya also introduced a comprehensive scheme in 1959, which originated in a resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1950.
Differences, though presumably only temporary, still exist, therefore,
in the stage of development reached by social security schemes' in North
Africa. An obvious example is the cover provided by the statutory
schemes now in force. The self-employed, with the exception of farmers
and artisans, are covered only in Algeria, where it was decided in 1957
to establish an old-age insurance and death benefit scheme on their
behalf; share fishermen, who are in a special category, have also been
260
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
drawing family allowances since 1953. Wage earners in agriculture are,
in all these countries (with the exception of Libya), entitled to compensation in respect of accidents and occupational diseases but are covered by
social insurance only in Algeria. Wage earners in non-agricultural
occupations in Algeria have complete protection comprising social
insurance, occupational injury and disease compensation, family allowances and unemployment benefit; in Libya they have extensive cover
including social insurance and compensation for occupational injury;
in Egypt they have fairly extensive cover entitling them to disablement
and survivors' benefit, old-age pensions and compensation for occupational injuries and diseases; in Morocco and Tunisia there is still only
a limited type of protection consisting of unemployment and occupational
injury and disease benefit, and family allowances. These remarks are,
however, subject to the qualification that pensions insurance and social
insurance in Egypt and Libya respectively apply only to a limited area,
whereas in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia the whole territory is included.
The statistics in tables 25 to 32 x give details of the total population, the
active population by occupation and the number of insured persons in
each country and thus indicate the extent of the differences in coverage
between the existing schemes.
The points of resemblance are to be found mainly in administrative and
financial organisation. The running of the schemes is usually in the
hands of independent bodies subject to government supervision and
administered by boards composed of workers' and employers' representatives. This is the general rule in Algeria in the case of schemes catering
for wage earners, where boards of management are chosen by election ;
schemes catering for the self-employed are administered in the early
stages by representatives of the occupations concerned who are appointed,
not elected. The boards of the Tunisian Central Social Benefit Fund, the
Egyptian Agency and the Libyan National Institute, include, in addition
to the workers' and employers' representatives, delegates from the
Ministries which bearfinalresponsibility. The Moroccan Social Aid Fund
is administered by a board of approved members.
The schemes for wage earners are usually financed by contributions
based on earnings and levied on both employers and workers for the
purpose of social insurance, but only on employers where employment
injury compensation and family allowances are concerned. The system
of double contributions is general throughout the Libyan scheme,
whereas in Egypt it is used only to finance old-age insurance. In Algeria
the methods adopted show greater divergences because of the variety of
1
See Appendix II.
SOCIAL SECURITY
261
occupations covered. The revenue of the scheme for wage earners in
agriculture is derived in part from taxes on property-income and farming
profits; the self-employed are required to pay a flat-rate contribution.
In all the countries except Egypt there is a ceiling on the income subject
to contributions.
The benefits for each contingency differ little in nature from one
country to another, but the same is not true of their level. The progressive alignment of the Algerian with the French domestic schemes
has had a significant effect, particularly in the Algerian scheme for
agricultural wage earners, due to the difference in living standards
between metropolitan France and Algeria.
The cost of social security in the North African countries varies
because of a number of special factors, of which coverage and the rate
of benefit are the most important. The statistics in Appendix II contain
an estimate of the income and expenditure under the heading of social
security in each country during the latest years for which such information is available.
The review of the social security legislation in force in the countries
of North Africa follows a standard pattern and deals only with general
or special statutory schemes; any schemes catering only for public
employees are not considered.
Algeria
The Algerian social security scheme, which has been introduced by
stages, now covers all contingencies usually included under this heading
and—at least in some branches—most occupations.
At the end of the First World War an Act was passed (25 September
1919) extending to the Algerian departments the French Workmen's
Compensation Act of 9 April 1898 which was supplemented by the
Occupational Diseases Act of 25 October 1919. The Act o 15 December
1922, which extended the Act of 9 April 1898 to agriculture, was applied
to Algeria from the date it became law, together with subsequent
amendments designed to extend cover to all wage earners without
exception. Following the repeal of the metropolitan Act of 9 April 1898
by the Act of 30 October 1946, substantial improvements were made in
the scheme for Algeria. These related mainly to compulsory membership,
treatment as employment injuries of injuries suffered on the way to and
from work, extension of cover and, above all, compensation for victims
of accidents, which was brought into line with the standards set in article
90 of the French Act of 30 October 1946. All the enactments increasing
and adjusting pension rates for metropolitan France have also applied to
Algeria.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
During the Second World War two orders were issued by the
Governor-General, on 6 May and 10 June 1941, establishing a family
allowances scheme with effect from 1 September 1941 for wage earners
in industry, commerce and the Uberai professions. This scheme was
extended as from 1 November 1945 to wage earners employed by nontrading corporations, trade unions and associations, and law officials.
It was extended as from 1 July 1953 to share fishermen and as from
1 October 1954 to employers of domestic staff.
The third stage involved the introduction of a social insurance scheme
covering sickness, maternity, disability and death; it followed decisions
taken by the Algerian Assembly on 30 May 1949 and implemented by
orders of the Governor-General dated 10 June and 10 September 1949.
These orders dealt respectively with industry and commerce, the public
sector and agriculture. However, the sickness insurance scheme did not
cover agriculture, and insurance covering surgical care only was provided
for regular agricultural workers. Subsequent decisions by the Algerian
Assembly enlarged the number of contingencies by adding protracted
sickness in 1952 and old age in 1953, but for workers in non-agricultural
occupations only. The Algerian Assembly voted in favour of an unemployment benefit scheme in 1954. An allowance for aged wage
earners was granted in 1950, and a Decree of 24 November 1956
extended the operations of the National Solidarity Fund (established in
metropolitan France by the Act of 30 June 1956) to Algeria and authorised an old-age insurance scheme for the self-employed, details of which
were given in the Order dated 30 December 1957. Finally it was decided
in 1957 to set up a comprehensive social insurance scheme for agriculture.
This scheme has been extended to khammès and share fruit producers.
The scale of the manpower movements between Algeria and metropolitan France also made it essential to co-ordinate the Algerian and
metropolitan social security schemes so as to make it possible for an
individual to transfer from one to the other. The co-ordination arrangements were mainly concerned with defining the legislation applicable,
ensuring the maintenance of the workers' rights and safeguarding families
living in one territory while their breadwinners were in the other.
WAGE EARNERS IN NON-AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS
General Scheme
The general scheme for this type of worker comprises all branches of
social security—social insurance, employment injuries and occupational
diseases, family allowances and unemployment benefit.
SOCIAL SECURITY
263
Social Insurance
Scope.
Insurance is compulsory for all wage earners and for all persons
working in any capacity and in any place for one or more employers
(irrespective of the level and nature of their remuneration and the form,
nature or validity of their contracts), for public servants who are not
affiliated to a special social security scheme, and for homeworkers.
The social insurance scheme covers sickness, maternity, disability, old
age and death.
Administration.
All contingencies other than old age are covered by interoccupational
or occupational social insurance funds and social funds. There are two
interoccupational social insurance funds: the Interoccupational Commercial Social Insurance Fund for the Algiers Area; the Interoccupational Social Insurance Fund for the Oran Area. There are also various
occupational or interoccupational social funds: the Interoccupational
Commercial Social Fund for the Constantine Area; the Building, Public
Works and Allied Industries' Social Fund for the Constantine Area; the
Industrial Social Fund for the Constantine Area; the Building, Public
Works and Allied Industries' Social Fund for the Algiers Area; the
Metal-Working and Allied Industries' Social Fund for the Algiers
Area; the Shipping, Petroleum, Banking and Allied Industries' Social
Fund for the Algiers Area; the Building, Public Works and Allied Industries' Social Fund for the Oran Area; and the Industrial Social Fund
for the Oran Area.
A Social Security Co-ordination Fund equalises social insurance
charges, shares out the funds available for health and welfare work and
handles administrative and financial matters of joint concern.
Old age is covered by the Algerian Old-Age Insurance Fund in conjunction with the social insurance and social funds. These funds handle
old-age contributions and applications for pensions, together with
allowances for aged wage earners, while the Algerian Old-Age Insurance
Fund is responsible for the collection and payment of the pensions and
allowances. It is the only fund of its kind, and covers the whole of
Algeria.
These bodies are administered by elected boards composed of equal
numbers of workers' and employers' representatives. Administrative
supervision is exercised by the General Directorate of Social Welfare of
the General Delegation of the French Government in Algeria, assisted by
a staff of senior administrators and social security inspectors.
264
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Finance.
The scheme is financed by employers' and workers' contributions,
based on workers' earnings. The assessable income may not be less than
the guaranteed minimum wage of the workers concerned, nor may it be
higher than 660,000 francs a year. The rate of contribution is 9 per cent.,
of which 5 per cent, is borne by the employer and 4 per cent, by the
worker.
Benefits.
Sickness.
Cover in the event of sickness extends to the insured person and the
members of the family, i.e. to the spouse (unless separated de jure or
defacto or divorced, excluding a spouse on the commercial register or in a
liberal profession), as well as to any dependent children as defined in
the family allowance regulations.
In order to be, or to become, entitled to sickness benefit in cash and
in kind during the first six months of interruption of work an insured
person must have worked for 120 hours, 36 shifts or 18 days during the
three months preceding the date of the treatment for which he applies to
be reimbursed, or of the accident. If he is away from work continuously
for more than six full months he must, in order to remain entitled'to
benefit thereafter, have been admitted to the scheme not less than 12
months before the cessation of work or the accident, and must have
worked for 480 hours during those 12 months, including 120 hours during
the three months preceding the cessation of work caused by the sickness
or accident. Expenses relating to thermal and climatic " cures " are
not covered by sickness benefits but are charged to the Social Fund.
Benefits in kind cover medical and surgical care, hospital treatment,
medicines and analyses, dental care and prostheses, appliances and
spectacles. The cost of medical and surgical treatment, pharmaceutical
products and hospital care is refunded in accordance with prescribed
percentages of the scheduled charges. However, in the case of major
operations or when the insured person has been certified as suffering from
a protracted disease requiring regular treatment including hospital care,
or when his condition entails particularly expensive therapeutic treatment,
his contribution is lowered or waived altogether.
An insured person who is prevented by physical disability from continuing or resuming his work is entitled, with effect from the eighth day
of disability and for a maximum period of three years, to daily compensation in respect of each day (whether a working day or not) equal to half
the basic daily wage, provided it does not exceed one-sixtieth of the
maximum monthly wage assessable for social insurance purposes.
SOCIAL SECURITY
265
Maternity.
Cover under the maternity scheme is extended to women contributors
and to the families of male contributors on condition that they were
admitted to the scheme not less than ten months before the presumed date
of confinement and that the insured person worked for 120 hours,
36 shifts or 18 days during the three months preceding the first medical
certification of pregnancy. Maternity benefits are paid only if the delivery
has been carried out by a doctor or a certificated midwife and on due
certification of pregnancy by a doctor.
Benefit comprises a grant to cover the medical and pharmaceutical
expenses connected with pregnancy, confinement and lying-in, together
with payment of hospital expenses up to a maximum of 80 per cent, and
for a period not exceeding eight days. A member of the scheme also
draws a daily allowance for a maximum of eight weeks equal to half the
basic daily wage, provided it does not exceed one-sixtieth of the maximum
monthly wage assessable for social insurance purposes.
Disability.
An insured person under the age of 60 whose working and earning
capacity has been reduced by at least two-thirds is entitled to a disability
pension on condition that he was admitted to membership not less than
12 months before the cessation of work or accident which was followed by
disability or on medical certification of a state of disability caused by
premature physical exhaustion. A further condition is that he worked
for 480 hours during the 12 months preceding the cessation of work,
accident or certification of disability; 120 hours must have been worked
during the three months immediately preceding such cessation.
If the disabled person is still capable of gainful employment the
annual pension is equal to 30 per cent, of the average wage over the last
ten years of full insurance, or if this is inapplicable, over the years of
insurance since admission to the scheme.
If the disabled person is quite incapable of working the pension is
equal to 40 per cent., and if in addition he is forced to rely upon a third
person to perform the ordinary acts of daily life, the pension calculated
on the basis of 40 per cent, of the average annual wage is increased by
40 per cent. This increase may not be less than an annual minimum sum
fixed by law. The basic wage may not exceed the total maximum wage
assessable for social insurance purposes. The disability pension may not
be lower than the allowance for aged wage earners, but it is not payable
if earning capacity is proved to be more than 50 per cent, of normal
capacity.
266
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
The recipient of a disability pension retains his right to benefits in
kind in the event of sickness or maternity involving himself or the members of his family, and he can also apply for benefit in kind for the treatment of the illness causing the disability; there is no time limit to this
entitlement. On decease a death grant is payable. The disability
pension is replaced at the age of 60 by an old-age pension of an equal
amount to which is added, if appropriate, a benefit in respect of
wife and dependants. This new benefit operates from the day following
the disabled person's sixtieth birthday.
Old-Age Insurance.
The old-age insurance scheme proper must be distinguished from the
interim scheme of allowances for aged wage earners and the special
assistance arrangements for old people.
An insured person aged 60 who has been in wage-earning employment
in a non-agricultural occupation for at least ten years since 31 March 1938,
and has worked for not less than 180 days in each of these years, is
entitled to an old-age pension.
The level of the annual pension is governed partly by the average
annual earnings over his last ten years of wage-earning employment or of
insurance cover before reaching the age of 60, or the age at which
application is made for the pension to be fixed (whichever is the higher),
and partly by the number of years he was in wage-earning employment
or covered by insurance. The pension is calculated at the rate of one-andone-third per cent, of the basic wage, multiplied by the number of years
of wage-earning employment or insurance. The basic wage may not be
less than two-thirds of the guaranteed minimum wage and the pension
may not exceed 40 per cent, of the maximum income assessable for social
insurance purposes. The basic wage rates used in calculating pensions are
adjusted annually, as are the pensions which have already been fixed.
The pension is increased by 10 per cent, whenever the recipient or his
spouse has assumed full and permanent responsibility for not less than
three children for a minimum period of nine years before their sixteenth
birthday. It is increased by half (up to a maximum of 5,000 francs a year)
whenever the spouse dependent on the recipient is not in receipt of any
benefit under the social security legislation. It is increased by a sum
equal to half the allowance for aged wage earners when the dependent
spouse reaches the age of 60.
An insured person is refunded his own contributions to the old-age
insurance scheme after reaching the age of 60 if he has not worked
sufficiently long to qualify for a pension.
SOCIAL SECURITY
267
The recipient of an old-age pension retains his right to benefit in kind
in the event of sickness involving either himself or his family.
Allowance for Aged Wage Earners.
This allowance is payable to aged wage earners of French nationality
aged 65 and over (60 in cases of disability equal to two-thirds or more)
who are in needy circumstances, on condition that they have held, for a
period exceeding 15 years, one or more wage-earning jobs in industry or
commerce in Algeria since reaching the age of 50 (45 in cases of disability). Total income from all sources including the allowances may not
exceed 194,000 francs a year or, if the recipient is married, 244,000 francs
a year.
The allowance amounts to 65,800 francs a year. There is an increment
of 5,000 francs for a dependent spouse, and of 10 per cent, of the total
amount if the recipients have had not less than three dependent children.
The allowance comes to an end whenever the recipient ceases to reside
on French territory.
Special Assistance to Aged Persons.
Persons of French nationality aged 65 and over and resident in
Algeria, whose income, including old-age benefits and the special
allowance, does not exceed 201,000 francs a year in the case of a single
person and 258,000 francs a year in the case of a married person, may
apply for special assistance.
This amounts to 24,000 francs a year for a single person and 36,000
for a married couple ; it comes to an end whenever the recipient ceases to
reside on French territory. 1
The benefit is financed from public funds derived from various taxes
and contributions from the National Solidarity Fund in metropolitan
France.
Death.
On the death of an insured person who was admitted to membership
not less than a year before and who worked for 120 hours, 36 shifts or
18 days during the three months preceding the date of death, the accident
or the first medical certification of the disease which led to death, the
surviving spouse who is not separated de jure or de facto or divorced, or
(if there is no surviving spouse) the dependent children as defined in the
family allowance regulations, are entitled to a grant equal to 90 times the
1
This special assistance is payable, under the same conditions, to old people
who are not former wage earners in non-agricultural occupations.
268
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
insured person's daily earnings, subject to a maximum equal to three
times the maximum monthly wage assessable for social insurance purposes.
In addition, if the insured person at the time of his death was drawing
an old-age pension or qualified for one, his widow is entitled to a pension
at the age of 60 on condition that she contracted marriage with the
insured person at least two years before his death, that she was dependent
on him and that she is not herself in receipt of a pension from a social
security scheme. The widow's pension is equal to half the pension which
the insured person was drawing or would have been entitled to draw,
and it is supplemented in the case of children in the same way as an oldage pension. The pension lapses on remarriage.
If the surviving spouse is totally disabled, he or she is entitled,
irrespective of age, to a widower's or widow's pension equal to the
widow's pension granted at the age of 60. A widower, however, is
required to prove that his wife's earnings were the family's main support.
In the event of the death of the recipient of an allowance for aged
wage earners his widow, provided she was dependent on him, receives
at the age of 65 (or at the age of 60 if she is subject to a disability of at
least two-thirds) an annuity equal to one-third of the allowance on
condition that the marriage took place before the worker had reached
the age of 60 and that the widow herself is not in receipt of any benefit
from a social security scheme.
Additional Benefits.
In addition to these statutory benefits each scheme has its own
welfare fund out of which it grants additional relief in certain specified
cases.
Employment Injuries and Occupational Diseases
Scope.
All employers who habitually employ one or more wage earners are
subject to the legislation respecting compensation for employment
injuries and occupational diseases. In addition to wage earners in the
service of these employers, the legislation also covers homeworkers,
mine workers' safety representatives, pupils in technical education
establishments and training, retraining and vocational rehabilitation
centres, as well as convicts performing hard labour, in respect of accidents
due to, or arising out of, the service, education, training or labour as
the case may be.
An employment injury is defined as an injury caused by an accident,
irrespective of the cause, arising out of or in the course of the employ-
SOCIAL SECURITY
269
ment of any person who is a wage earner or who works in any capacity
or in any place for one or more employers. An accident occurring
to a worker on his way to or from his place of work and his main or
secondary place of residence or the place where he usually takes his
meals is treated as an employment injury as long as he has not broken
his journey or gone out of his way for a reason connected with his
personal affairs or unrelated to his employment.
The employer is liable for the payment of compensation for employment injuries and occupational diseases and is required to insure himself
for this purpose with an insurance company of his choice. Premium
rates are in general lower than those in operation in metropolitan
France.
Benefits.
Temporary Disability.
Medical or surgical fees, hospital expenses and pharmaceutical costs
are borne by the employer at the scheduled rates, together with the cost
of transporting the victim from the scene of the accident to his normal
residence or to hospital. The victim may choose his own doctor and
chemist.
In addition the victim is entitled, with effect from the first day
following the stoppage of work caused by the accident, to a daily allowance (without distinction between working days and public holidays)
equal to half the daily wage he was being paid at the time of the accident.
As from the twenty-ninth day following such stoppage the daily allowance is increased to two-thirds of the daily wage. The daily wage taken
into account may not be more than 1 per cent, of the maximum annual
earnings assessable for social insurance purposes. The full wage in
respect of the day on which the accident occurred must be paid by the
employer.
Permanent Disability.
The victim is entitled to the supply and renewal of any prosthetic
appliances he may need by reason of his disability.
He is also entitled to a pension equal to the product of his annual
wage and his rate of disability; this rate is first reduced by half in respect
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above 50 per cent. The annual wage is reckoned in full for the purpose
of calculating the pension only if it does not exceed 875,739 francs. If it
falls between 875,739 and 3,502,955 francs, only a third is reckoned. The
portion above 3,502,955 francs is not taken into account. The pension
payable for an accident causing disability of not less than 10 per cent.
270
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
may not be calculated on the basis of a wage lower than 437,869 francs
a year.
If permanent disability is total and the victim is forced to rely on a
third person to perform the ordinary acts of life, the pension is increased
by 40 per cent. This increase may not, however, be less than 317,355
francs a year.
Death.
If the victim dies the funeral expenses are defrayed up to a limit of
27,500 francs.
In addition his survivors, viz. spouse, children or (in absence of any
issue) relatives in the ascending line, are entitled to a pension. The annual
pension of a spouse who is not separated, divorced or repudiated is equal
to 30 per cent, of the basic annual wage. If a spouse is separated or
divorced and was receiving a maintenance allowance, he or she is
entitled to an annuity equal to the maintenance allowance up to a
maximum of 20 per cent, of the annual basic wage ; on the other hand, if
the victim had remarried, the new spouse may not be paid less than half
of the pension, calculated at the rate of 30 per cent. The surviving spouse
is only entitled to a pension if the marriage was contracted before the
accident. In the event of remarriage a spouse who is drawing a pension
is entitled, in full and final compensation, to a lump sum equal to three
times the annual value of the pension. If there are any children payment
may be deferred until the youngest child has reached the age of 16.
The annual pension for children who have lost either their father or
their mother is equal to 15 per cent, of the basic annual wage for one
child, 30 per cent, for two, and a further 10 per cent, for each additional
child. If the children lose both their parents, either at the time of the
accident or during the following three years, the pension is increased to
20 per cent, for each of them. The children continue to draw the pension
until the age of 16, although this is raised to 17 if the child is serving an
apprenticeship and to 20 if he continues his studies or if, owing to a
disability or chronic disease, he is permanently incapacitated from entering employment. The victim's descendants and any children cared for by
him before the accident and who, having no natural guardian, were
therefore dependent on him, are entitled to the same benefits as the
children themselves.
If there is no spouse or issue, each of the relatives in ascending Une
receives an annuity equal to 10 per cent, of the annual basic wage if he
can prove that he would have been able to obtain a maintenance allowance from the victim. Each of the relatives in the ascending line who, at
the time of the accident, was dependent on the victim receives an annuity
SOCIAL SECURITY
271
of 10 per cent, even if the victim also leaves a spouse and child. Nevertheless the total pensions paid in this way may not exceed 30 per cent, of
the basic wage. If this percentage is exceeded, the pension of each of
the dependants is reduced in proportion.
The total pensions payable to the various dependants may not exceed
85 per cent, of the basic wage. If the total is higher, the pension payable
to each class of dependant is reduced in proportion.
Situation of Aliens.
Alien workers in receipt of a pension who leave French territory are
paid, in full and final compensation, a lump sum equal to three times the
annual value of their pension. The alien representatives of an alien
worker receive no compensation if at the time of the accident they were
not living on French territory.
Family Allowances
Scope.
Membership of the family allowances scheme is compulsory for
employers in industry, commerce and the liberal professions, employers
of permanent domestic staff, law officials, non-trading corporations, trade
unions and associations of all kinds, and any natural persons or corporate bodies employing one or more wage earners.
Organisation.
The scheme is operated by two interoccupational family allowance
funds : the Interoccupational Commercial Family Allowance Fund for
the Algiers area ; the Interoccupational Social Insurance Fund for the
Oran area; and the various occupational or interoccupational social
funds which also operate social insurance schemes dealing with contingencies other than old age.
The Social Security Co-ordination Fund is responsible for equalising
the cost of family allowances between the different funds, as in the case of
social insurance for contingencies other than old age.
These bodies are administered by elected boards composed of equal
numbers of workers' and employers' representatives.
Finance.
The scheme is financed by contributions based on the workers'
earnings but paid solely by the employers belonging to the scheme. The
assessable income may not be less than the guaranteed minimum wage
for the workers concerned nor may it exceed 660,000 francs a year. The
contribution rate is 14.25 per cent.
272
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Benefits.
Family allowances are payable in respect of all children who are
permanent dependants of the workers on the pay roll of the employers
belonging to the scheme. Allowances are payable in respect of legitimate
or legitimised children, children of an earlier marriage by the spouse,
recognised natural children, children who have been adopted or taken in,
as well as grandchildren, brothers, sisters, nephews or nieces if they have
lost both their mother and their father or have been abandoned by their
parents and if the recipient of the allowance bears sole responsibility for
their education and maintenance.
The allowances are paid up to the age of 14 for all children, up to the
age of 18 for those who are serving an apprenticeship and up to the age
of 21 for children who are continuing their studies or for any girl who
cares for a brother or a sister on the death of their mother. There is no
age limit in the case of children who are unable to work because of a
disability.
The allowances are based on a percentage (varying according to the
child's age) of the recipient's monthly earnings up to a maximum wage
of 16,000 francs a month. Thus, in the case of a worker whose earnings
are less than 16,000 francs a month, the rate is 15 per cent, for a child
below the age of 10 and 17.5 per cent, for a child over the age of 10. If
the worker's monthly earnings are higher than 16,000 francs, flat-rate
allowances of 2,400 francs a month for each child below the age of 10 and
of 2,800 francs for each child over that age are payable. In addition a
school allowance of 2,000 francs a year is payable in respect of all
children over the age of 5.
Family allowances continue to be paid to workers during temporary
disability or permanent disability in excess of two-thirds caused by an
employment injury, and during any time off from work caused by sickness
or maternity, as well as to recipients of disability or old-age pensions.
They are also payable, subject to the regulations on the cumulation of
benefits, to the widows of recipients on condition that the latter were
employed for not less than six months during the year preceding death by
one or more employers belonging to the family allowance scheme; they
are payable unconditionally if the recipient was drawing benefit under a
disability pension at the time of his death, or if his death was due to an
employment injury.
Entitlement to family allowances has recently been granted to building
workers in the event of unemployment and bad weather, and to workers
who involuntarily lose their jobs during the six-monthly period for which
the unemployment allowance is payable.
273
SOCIAL SECURITY
Unemployment
An assistance scheme in respect of involuntary loss of jobs has
been established for those workers who can produce evidence of having
resided in the same commune for six months and who, during the year
preceding registration as a job applicant, worked for at least six months
in an industrial or commercial establishment. Proof of having worked
is supplied by payment of contributions to a social security scheme.
Full-time dockers in commercial harbours, who are covered by a special
compensation scheme for loss of wages, are excluded from this arrangement.
The assistance takes the form of a daily allowance ranging from 168
to 210 francs, depending on the commune. This unemployment allowance is payable for a maximum of six months; the cost is borne by the
communes, which may receive financial assistance from the Government
for this purpose.
Special Schemes
In addition to the general scheme, there are a number of special
statutory schemes. Their cover varies widely but does not usually
include employment injuries and family allowances as does the civil
servants' scheme.
The Algerian Electricity and Gas Staff Scheme, which is administered
by the Algerian Electrical and Gas Industries Providence and Welfare
Fund, provides its members with benefit in the event of sickness, protracted sickness and maternity.
The Mining Social Insurance Scheme is administered locally by
miners' friendly societies which deal with sickness and maternity. The
general management of the scheme is performed by the autonomous
Algerian Mineworkers' Pensions and Provident Fund, which handles
all the other contingencies and also equalises the burden on the miners'
friendly societies.
The Students' Scheme provides its members with benefits in kind in
the event of sickness, protracted sickness and maternity, subject to the
same conditions as the general scheme. It is administered jointly by the
local section of the French National Student's Mutual Association,
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Solidarity Fund for departments and communes, which is responsible for
financing and supervising the scheme.
The Scheme for War Disabled and War Widows affords the same
benefits as the corresponding scheme in France itself; it provides the
benefits through the interoccupational social insurance funds.
274
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
WAGE EARNERS IN AGRICULTURAL OCCUPATIONS
Wage earners in agricultural occupations are covered by social
insurance and the employment injury and occupational diseases compensation scheme.
Social Insurance
Scope.
Membership is compulsory for wage earners in agriculture and
forestry, rural craftsmen, employees of threshing and other agricultural
contracting concerns and employees of agricultural co-operatives and
associations, friendly societies, mutual insurance and re-insurance funds,
mutual loan societies and any regularly constituted agricultural bodies.
The employment relationship is defined in the same terms as for workers
in non-agricultural occupations. Khammès and share fruit producers
are also affiliated to the scheme.
The scheme covers sickness, maternity, disability, old age and death.
Organisation.
There are 29 agricultural mutual social insurance funds with responsibility for carrying the sickness, maternity and death contingencies,
participating in the payment of disability and old-age benefits, and
carrying out a health and welfare programme. These mutual funds
operate in the Algiers area at Algiers (two funds), Affreville, Boufarik,
El Affroun, Koléa, Marengo, Médéa, Orléansville, Ténès, Rivet and
Tizi-Ouzou; in the Oran area at Mascara, Mostaganem, Oran, Relizane,
Sai'da, Sidi-bel-Abbès, Aïn-Témouchent, Tiaret and Tlemcen; and in the
Constantine area at Batna, Bòne, Constantine, Djidjelli, Guelma,
Philippe ville, Sétif and Souk-Ahras.
A Central Agricultural Mutual Social Fund deals with disability and
old age, equalises the burden on the mutual funds with respect to the
contingencies for which they are responsible, organises medical examinations and directs the health and welfare programme.
These bodies are managed by elected boards consisting of equal
numbers of workers' and employers' representatives.
Finance.
A distinction should be drawn between agricultural holdings and
agricultural contracting concerns. As regards the former, the scheme is
financed partly by a tax on the income from landed property equal to
30 per cent, of the land tax thereon and a tax on farming profits equal
to 20 per cent, of the scheduled income tax, plus a flat-rate contribution
SOCIAL SECURITY
275
of 20 francs for each day worked, half of which is payable by the worker
and the other half by the employer.
In agricultural contracting concerns the cost of the scheme is met by
a joint employers' and workers' contribution equal to 4 per cent, of
earnings, 3 per cent, being paid by the employer and 1 per cent, by the
worker. The maximum income assessable for this purpose is 44,000
francs a month.
Benefits.
Qualifying conditions and the nature and rate of benefit are much the
same as in the general scheme for wage earners in non-agricultural
occupations. Only the major differences are mentioned here.
Sickness.
In order to qualify for benefits in kind (medical, pharmaceutical and
hospital expenses) as well as in cash, an insured person must have worked
for not less than 90 days during the six months preceding the date of the
first medical certification.
Medical consultations are usually held in medical centres, dispensaries
or hospital out-patient departments, and a member of the scheme is only
allowed to call in the doctor of his own choice if it is impossible for him
to travel because of his condition or in the event of an emergency.
Maternity.
In order to qualify for maternity benefit, a woman member must
have worked for not less than 90 days during the six months preceding
the date of confinement.
Disability.
In order to qualify for a disability pension a member must have
worked for not less than 90 days during the six months preceding the
occurrence giving rise to benefit.
Old-Age Insurance.
An insured person aged 60 is entitled to a pension when he has been
insured for not less than 12 years or the equivalent, if he qualifies for a
pension during the year 1959 (this period is increased by one unit per
year until it reaches 15 years) and when during this period he has paid
contributions to the agricultural social insurance scheme for not less
than three years.
For insured persons who have been members of the scheme for not
less than 30 years, or the equivalent, the annual pension is equal to oneand-a-half times the annual allowance for aged wage earners in agri-
276
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
culture, namely 81,000 francs a year. If the insured person has been a
member of the scheme for less than 30 years, or the equivalent, the
pension is equal to the product of one-thirtieth of the rate calculated
above and the number of years of membership or the equivalent.
Allowance for Aged Wage Earners.
If they satisfy the conditions required of aged wage earners in nonagricultural occupations and if, in addition, on the date of applying for
a pension they have been members of the agricultural social insurance
scheme for not less than three years and have paid contributions during
that time, aged wage earners in agriculture are entitled to an allowance
at the rate of 54,000 francs a year. The upper income limit for entitlement is 150,000 francs a year for a single person and 180,000 francs for
a married person.
Death.
Death benefit is payable provided the insured person worked for not
less than 90 days during the six months preceding the date of death or the
accident or sickness which resulted in death.
The spouse of the insured person or of the recipient of a pension or
old-age allowance is entitled to a pension or annuity in the same circumstances and conditions as provided under the general scheme for
wage earners in non-agricultural occupations.
Employment Injuries and Occupational Diseases
Wage earners in agriculture are protected in the same way as wage
earners in non-agricultural occupations by the compensation scheme for
employment injuries and occupational diseases (based on employers'
liability) which was described in more detail in connection with wage
earners in non-agricultural occupation.
THE SELF-EMPLOYED
An old-age and survivors' pension and allowance scheme was
recently established for the self-employed in industry, commerce and the
liberal professions. It is planned to extend the scheme to agriculture
and handicrafts.
Old Age
Scope.
Natural persons who are not wage earners within the meaning of the
social security scheme and who are engaged in an industrial or com-
SOCIAL SECURITY
277
mereiai activity or belong to a recognised liberal profession are compulsorily insured against old age.
Organisation.
The scheme for each occupation is operated by independent funds
administered by representatives of the occupation.
Finance.
The scheme is financed by contributions from the members. In 1958
and 1959 the annual contribution was 12,000 francs.
Benefits.
The scheme provides its members with pensions and, as an interim
measure, with old-age allowances.
Pensions.
In order to qualify for a pension, which is payable at the age of 65
(or at the age of 60 in the event of disability of not less than two-thirds)
a member must prove that he has paid contributions for 15 years. The
years of activity between 1 January 1939 and 1 December 1957 may be
treated as years of contribution up to a maximum of 13 years in the case
of persons who joined the scheme before 31 December 1959, this period
is reduced by one unit for each subsequent year to a minimum often years
in the case of members who join the scheme before 31 December 1962.
A condition of payment of the pension is that the individual must stop
work completely.
The rate of pension is in proportion to the number of years of contribution. Each year of contribution confers entitlement to an annual
pension of 50 points, and each year treated as its equivalent, to 45 points.
Each point is worth 100 francs for those in the liberal professions, as
from 1 January 1959 (Order of 25 May 1959) and is worth 50 francs for
those in commerce and industry (Order of 30 December 1957, article 54).
The pension is increased by 50 per cent, if the recipient's spouse is aged
65 (60 in the event of disability for work) and is not a member of a social
security scheme or in receipt of a social security benefit.
Allowances.
Persons aged 65 and over (60 in the case of a disability of not less
than two-thirds) who have completely stopped work, and whose income
is not higher than the limit fixed for entitlement to the aged wage-earners'
allowance, may apply for an old-age allowance, provided that they were
mainly engaged in one of the occupations concerned for 14 years before
278
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
31 December 1959 or 15 years before 31 December 1960. Only years
after 1 January 1939 are taken into account; years subsequent to
1 January 1958 are only taken into account if contributions have been
paid.
The old-age allowance is 30,000 francs a year. It is increased by
50 per cent, whenever a recipient has a dependent spouse aged 65 or over
(60 in the case of disability of not less than two-thirds) who is not
drawing a social security benefit, provided that the household's income
is not higher than the upper limit for entitlement to the aged wageearners' allowance.
Death
In the event of the death of the recipient of an old-age pension or
allowance, the surviving spouse (provided he or she does not remarry)
can get a reversionary pension without having to give an account of her
resources.
Family Allowances
The only self-employed workers to be subject to the Algerian family
allowances scheme are share fishermen. There is a flat-rate contribution
of 960 francs per man per month and allowances are paid at the uniform
rate of 2,400 francs per child per month.
Health and Welfare
In addition to social insurance benefits, other benefits are provided by
the Health and Welfare Fund (F.A.S.S.) and the Welfare Allowance
Fund (P.A.S.). The two Funds are administered in each of the three
regions of Algeria by technical committees deriving from the governing
bodies of each insurance fund concerned. As regards the P.A.S., the
credits made available to it amounted to more than 2,000 million
francs in 1958, or more than 20 per cent, of the legal benefits. These
credits were allocated by the technical committees to a workers'
housing programme. Accommodation in buildings constructed for
rental is allocated by a joint committee of representatives of employers
and workers. Moreover, the credits are also used to provide loans,
repayable over five years without interest, so as to facilitate the
purchase of apartments.
As regards the F.A.S.S., 600 million francs of credits were allocated
in 1957 and 500 million in 1958. These credits were mainly used to
provide medical equipment for out-patient treatment.
SOCIAL SECURITY
279
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
STANDARD SCHEME
Industrial accident compensation was introduced in Egypt by Act
No. 64 of 14 September 1936, which established a scheme based upon
employers' liability. Improvements were made in the scheme by Act
No. 86 of 6 September 1942, which required the principal employers to
take out insurance policies to cover their liabilities, and the whole
system was reorganised by Act No. 89 of 5 July 1950; compensation for
occupational diseases was dealt with in Act No. 117 of 9 August 1950.
Act No. 202 of 8 December 1958 repealed earlier legislation and transferred the entire responsibility for workmen's compensation to a single
fund administered by the workers' insurance and provident fund. This
Act was in its turn repealed by Act No. 92 of 6 April 1959, which established a single social security scheme for the whole of the United Arab
Republic.
As for the other branches of social security, Act No. 116 of 9 August
1950, which was to come into force on 1 February 1951, established a
scheme to provide an invalidity, old-age and survivors' pension scheme
(subject to a means test) and a public assistance scheme to pay allowances
to persons who failed to qualify for pensions and in the event of sickness,
maternity, unemployment or death. Subsequently, under Act No. 419
of 1955, a combined insurance and provident fund was set up for wage
earners. The insurance fund was to pay dismissal and death benefits,
while the provident fund was to accumulate savings for its members
which were to be made available in certain contingencies including
permanent total invalidity, retirement and death. This Act, together with
the statutory provisions concerning workmen's compensation, was
repealed by Act No. 92 of 1959, which contained a provision transferring
the rights and obligations of the insurance and provident funds and the
industrial accidents fund to the new administrative body which it established. The 1959 Act, which contains some of the definitions and provisions embodied in the legislation it supersedes, is at present—apart
from Act No. 116 of 1950, which has not been repealed—the statutory
basis of the Egyptian social security system.
Scope
Act No. 92 of 1959 applies in principle to all wage earners and apprentices other than agricultural workers, workers employed in temporary
and casual work (such as workers who are hable to be transferred
280
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
frequently, seasonal workers and porters), members of the employer's
family and domestic servants. However, these excluded groups, together
with homeworkers, members of liberal professions, artisans and all
persons working on their own account may subsequently be brought
within the scope of the Act for some or all of the contingencies covered
by the scheme.
In certain cases the scope of the Act has been extended to cover other
special groups; for instance, the provisions relating to invalidity, old age
and death also apply to persons employed in government departments,
independent administrative services and public institutions unless they
already enjoy more favourable conditions than those laid down in the
Act. Similarly the provisions relating to workmen's compensation are
applicable to agricultural workers working with machinery or exposed
to the risk of contracting an occupational disease qualifying for compensation and to workers employed on temporary casual work. Persons
employed in government departments, independent administrative
services and state institutions are also covered by the provisions of
the law unless they are already enjoying more favourable conditions;
such bodies may, however, themselves assume this liability towards
employees.
The contingencies covered are invalidity, old age, death, industrial
accidents and occupational diseases. Sickness is to be covered within
12 months after the Act comes into force and unemployment within
three years.
The Act came into force on 1 August 1959. The provisions concerning
workmen's compensation are, however, not to be applied to employers
and undertakings already insured against these contingencies with
insurance companies, or previously exempted under Act No. 86 of 1942,
until the expiry of the insurance policies or of the period of exemption
or until 31 March 1960, whichever is the earlier. In addition, the entry
into force of the provisions relating to invalidity, old age and death was
postponed for three months in the case of the government departments,
independent administrative services and public institutions covered.
Their appUcation to employers and workers already covered by special
schemes, such as provident funds, group insurance contracts or one of
the various retirement pension schemes, and to establishments which do
not use any mechanical equipment, normally employ less than five
workers and paid less than £E.20 in industrial and commercial tax during
the previous financial year, has been deferred for an unspecified period.
The new Act will be extended in stages to cover the undertakings and
regions concerned but must apply throughout the country within two
years, pending which the repealed Acts and orders are to remain in force.
281
SOCIAL SECURITY
Administration
The administration of the scheme is in the hands of a corporate body
known as the Social Insurance Institution, which is managed by a board
of directors consisting of representatives of the Government, of workers
and of employers. Its main tasks are the approval of the budget, the
adoption of the accounts and the framing of investment policies for the
Institution's funds.
Finance
The scheme is financed mainly by employers' contributions; the
workers contribute only to the old-age insurance scheme. The contributions for each contingency are calculated as percentages of monthly
wages as follows:
-,
Contingency
Contributions as percentages
of monthiy wages
Employers'
Workers'
Invalidity and death
Old age
Industrial accidents and occupational diseases .
2
5
3
—
5
—
Contributions are calculated for each Western (Gregorian) calendar
year on the basis of the wages paid during the month of January in that
year. Where a worker is engaged later in the year, the contributions due
for him are calculated on the basis of the wage paid to him in the month
during which he was taken on.
Employers are also required to pay a monthly contribution of 0.1 per
cent, of the total wages paid to insured workers. These payments are
credited to a special account, which is kept as a reserve to cover any
losses which the Social Insurance Institution may suffer in consequence
of paying the end-of-service benefits due under the Labour Code.
The money accumulated in the accounts of insured persons in the
provident fund established under Act No. 419 of 1955 has been transferred to their accounts in the new Institution.
Benefits
Benefits are payable in respect of invalidity, old age, cessation of
service, death, industrial accidents and occupational diseases.
Invalidity.
An insured person under 55 years of age who becomes totally disabled
while in the service of an employer or during the six months following
the cessation of such service is entitled to a pension if 12 consecutive
282
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
monthly contributions (or 24 monthly contributions, at least the last
three of which must have been consecutive) have been paid on his
behalf.
The invalidity pension amounts to 25 per cent, of the average wage
earned during the last three years or, if he has been a member of the
scheme for less than three years, during the period for which he was a
member. The amount payable per month may not be less than 100
piastres or more than £E.10.
The invalidity pension ceases to be payable when the beneficiary
reaches the age of 60.
Old Age and Cessation of Service.
An insured person who has reached the age of 60 and into whose
account there have been paid at least 180 consecutive monthly contributions (or a total of 240 monthly contributions during his active life) has
the choice between receiving a lump sum or a monthly pension. The lump
sum is equal to the total amount of the contributions paid into his
account, including any sums transferred to it from the provident fund
under Act No. 419 of 1955, plus interest accrued at a rate of not less than
2 per cent, per annum. This sum is used to pay the pension (if the insured
person so prefers), the amount of which depends on the beneficiary's age
at the time when the pension is calculated.
For an insured person who is not receiving an old-age pension or
whose pension comes to less than £E.2 per month an end-of-service grant
may be paid. This is equal to the amount of the lump sum credited to
him (as defined above) if his contract of service comes to an end as a
result of his death or prolonged disablement, if the contract is terminated
because of military service, if he leaves the country for good or ceases to
be compulsorily insurable or (in the case of women), in the event of
resignation, marriage or the birth of a child. However, for the purposes
of calculating this grant the total amount of the employer's contributions
are counted only if the insured person has been in employment for more
than ten years. If he has been working for between five and ten years he
receives two-thirds of the employer's contributions, and if he has been
working between two and five years one-third. He is not entitled to
receive any of the employer's contributions if he has been in employment
for less than two years or is dismissed for serious misconduct of any kind.
In all cases the balance of the account reverts to the Social Insurance
Institution. An insured person who is permanently unemployed—or
is unemployed for not less than six months—is also entitled to a grant.
Persons having received grants may pay them back into the Social Insurance Institution.
SOCIAL SECURITY
283
Death.
On the death of an insured person a grant equal to his earnings in
one month, up to a maximum of £E.10, is payable to a person who paid
his funeral expenses.
When an insured person under 55 years of age dies while in the
service of an employer or during the six months following the end of his
employment, his survivors are entitled to a pension provided that at the
time of his death he has completed the same qualifying period as that
fixed for invalidity pensions.
Survivors' pensions are calculated in the same way as invalidity
pensions and are subject to the same lower and upper limits.
The pension is distributed among the survivors as follows : 40 per cent.
to the widow, 40 per cent, to the children and 20 per cent, to the parents.
If there are no parents living, the widow receives 50 per cent, of the pension and the children 50 per cent,, unless the deceased had dependent
brothers or sisters, in which case they receive the pension which would
otherwise have gone to the parents. If there are no children, the widow
receives two-thirds of the pension and the parents the remaining third.
If there is no hving spouse the children receive 75 per cent, and the parents
25 per cent. If the widow is the sole survivor she receives the whole of
the pension. The same applies to children or dependent parents should
they prove to be the sole survivors. In all cases beneficiaries of the same
rank receive equal shares.
A widow's pension is payable until she remarries. Pensions payable
to sons or brothers cease when the recipients reach the age of 17 years
(24 years if they are still studying), but are payable indefinitely if they are
unable to earn a hving on account of mental or physical disability. The
pension rights of daughters or sisters lapse when the recipients reach the
age of 25 years, marry or enter employment, but are payable indefinitely
if they are unable to earn a Hving on account of physical or mental
disability. Parents' pensions are payable during their lifetime. When a
widow or a surviving daughter or sister of an insured person marries she
receives a lump sum equal to six monthly pension payments in final
settlement.
If the deceased was receiving an old-age pension his survivors are paid
a lump sum equal to the difference between the capital equivalent of the
pension and the amount already paid to him.
Industrial Accidents and Occupational Diseases.
Compensation and medical care are due to a worker in the event of
an accident arising out of or in the course of his employment or of an
284
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
accident occurring while he is travelling to or from work (provided that
the journey is not broken or interrupted in any way and that the worker
follows his usual route) and in the event of certain specified occupational
diseases.
Temporary Incapacity.
Victims of industrial accidents or occupational diseases are entitled,
until they are cured or certified to be permanently disabled, to medical
practitioner and speciahst care, hospital care and domiciliary visits, surgical operations, X-ray photographs and other essential medical examinations and the necessary pharmaceutical supplies. Treatment may be given
in clinics or hospitals which have concluded agreements with the Social
Insurance Institution for that purpose. The employer is responsible for
providing first aid within the undertaking and for transporting the injured
person to a treatment centre.
In addition to these benefits in kind the insured person is entitled to
an allowance equivalent to 70 per cent, of his wages for 90 days and
80 per cent, for any ensuing period until he is cured, until the stabilisation
of the injury or until his death, subject to a maximum of one year. The
amount of this benefit may not be less than the statutory minimum wage
or, if the wage actually paid is below that minimum, the total amount of
the wage. The employer is required to pay an injured person his full
wage for the day on which the accident occurred.
Permanent Incapacity.
The Social Insurance Institution organises retraining facilities and
provides prosthetic appliances.
In addition a permanently disabled worker is entitled to a pension
equal to 60 per cent, of his wages, subject to a minimum of 240 piastres
and maximum of £E.24 per month. An unpaid apprentice receives a
monthly pension of 100 piastres.
If the degree of permanent incapacity is not total but exceeds 35 per
cent, the insured person receives a pension proportionate to the degree
of incapacity; if it is between 10 and 35 per cent, he receives a lump-sum
payment equivalent to five-and-a-half times the annual invalidity pension
to which he would have been entitled if no minimum degree of incapacity
for the award of a pension had been fixed.
A review of the amount of the pension may be requested at
six-monthly intervals during the 12 months following the certification
of incapacity and at 12-monthly intervals during the four years
following.
SOCIAL SECURITY
285
Death.
If an insured person dies, an allowance equal to that which would
have been payable if death had not been due to an industrial accident or
an occupational disease is paid to the person who pays the funeral expenses. In addition the insured person's survivors are entitled to a
monthly pension equal to 50 per cent, of his wages, subject to a lower
limit of 200 piastres per month and an upper limit £E.20 per month. The
pension is divided among the survivors in the same manner as the survivors' pension payable in respect of an insured person who dies from
some cause other than an industrial accident or occupational disease.
The survivors of an unpaid apprentice receive, in final compensation, a
lump-sum payment of £E.100, which is divided up among them in the
same way.
Libya
GENERAL SCHEME
Before the Second World War the Italian authorities introduced a
social security scheme in Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, but it did not apply
to indigenous workers, with the exception of the employment injuries
scheme, which covered all wage earners in non-agricultural occupations,
irrespective of nationality. The scheme was operated by three funds
which were responsible for sickness (Social Welfare Institute for Italian
Africa), tuberculosis, disability, old age, death and unemployment
(National Social Insurance Institute) and employment injuries and occupational diseases (National Employment Injuries Insurance Institute).
Under British occupation the scheme ceased to apply to Cyrenaica,
but the three funds remained in operation in Tripolitania. A new employment injuries compensation scheme was, however, introduced in
Cyrenaica by Act No. 28 of 1951. This scheme, based on employers'
liability, entitles victims of accidents to medical care and benefit for
temporary or permanent disability, and provides lump-sum compensation for the survivors of victims of fatal accidents.
The granting of independence to Libya raised the question of the
transfer to the Libyan authorities of the liabilities towards their members
in Libya of the Italian schemes, together with a corresponding share of
their accumulated reserves. In accordance with resolution No. 388 (V)
which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 15
December 1950, an agreement was signed between Italy and Libya on
2 October 1957 settling the terms of the transfer. The powers and liabilities of the former funds were henceforth taken over by the National
Social Insurance Institution which was set up under Act No. 53 of
286
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
20 February 1957. The Libyan social security system is governed by this
Act, which came into force on 28 March 1959.1
Scope
All persons who are gainfully employed by virtue of a written or
verbal contract of employment (including apprentices) are compulsorily
insured, with the exception of domestic servants not employed in commercial establishments, homeworkers and members of the employer's
family. Aliens employed by international and diplomatic missions,
foreign officials under contract to the federal Government or the provincial
authorities, senior civil servants, members of the armed forces and the
police are also excluded from the compulsory scheme.
The contingencies covered comprise sickness, maternity, disability,
old age, death, employment injuries and unemployment. The regulations
on unemployment have, however, been held in abeyance as it has
been decided that it would not be practicable to put them into force
immediately.
During the first stage the scheme applies only to the city of Tripoli
and the surrounding district, and wage earners in agriculture are excluded.
In order to qualify for membership, persons covered by this legislation
• must be employed either in the Tripoli district by an employer who on
or after 1 December 1958 has employed five or more eligible workers in
the area, or anywhere in Tripolitania by an employer whose main place
of work is in the Tripoli district. These persons must be insured (and
must remain members of the scheme) even if the employer no longer
employs the prescribed number of workers. Membership is also open to
persons employed anywhere in Tripolitania by an employer who on or
after 1 December 1958 has employed one or more workers insured by
one of the Italian social security institutions which operated in Tripolitania.
A worker who ceases to be covered by the scheme has the option of
insuring himself voluntarily.
Administration
The new scheme is run by the National Social Insurance Institution,
a public body which is administratively and financially independent.
It is administered by a board composed of representatives of the federal
Government, the provinces, the workers and the employers. The chairman is one of the federal government representatives appointed by the
1
Industry and Labour, Vol. XXII, No. 5, 1 Sep. 1959, p. 198.
287
SOCIAL SECURITY
Minister of Finance. The Institution is subject to state supervision, which
is exercised at the national level by the Minister of Finance.
The Institution has its headquarters and a provincial office in Tripoli,
pending the opening of an office in the capital of each province, together
with local offices as the scheme is extended.
Finance
The scheme isfinancedby contributions from employers and workers.
For the purpose of calculating these contributions, members are divided
into wage categories according to their earnings, as shown in table XXIII.
TABLE XXIII. LIBYA: WAGE CATEGORIES FOR THE PURPOSE
OF CALCULATING CONTRIBUTIONS
Assumed
daily wage
(in millièmes)
Wage
category
1
2
200
400
3
600
Real wage (in millièmes)
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Less than 300
Between 300
and 499
500 and over
Less than 1,800
Between 1,800
and 2,999
3,000 and over
Less than 7,800
Between 7,800
and 12,999
13,000 and over
Source: Social Insurance Act of 20 February 1957.
The total weekly contribution, depending on the branch of social
security and the wage category, is divided between the employer and the
worker as indicated in table XXIV.
TABLE XXIV. LIBYA: APPORTIONMENT OF WEEKLY CONTRIBUTIONS
BY WAGE CATEGORY
(In millièmes)
Wage category
Branch
Temporary disability benefit and funeral grant
Medical care
Pensions
Apportionment
Employer .
Wage earner
Total . . .
Emolover .
Wage earner
Total . . .
Employer .
Wage earner
Total . . .
Source: Social Insurance Act of 20 February 1957.
1
2
3
15
10
25
30
20
50
36
24
60
30
20
50
60
40
100
72
48
120
45
30
75
90
60
150
108
72
180
288
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Table XXV shows the levels to which contributions in respect of
pensions are due to be increased in two stages, after three and eight years
of operation respectively.
TABLE XXV. LIBYA: APPORTIONMENT OF INCREASED WEEKLY
CONTRIBUTIONS BY WAGE CATEGORY
(In millièmes)
Wage category
Increase
Apportionment
1
2
3
First increase
(after three years)
Employer
Wage earner . . . .
Total
42
28
70
84
56
140
126
84
210
Second increase
(after eight years)
Employer
Wage earner . . . .
Total
51
34
85
102
68
170
153
102
255
Source: Social Insurance Act of 20 February 1957.
Benefits
Members of the scheme are entitled to medical care and to cash
benefit in the event of sickness, maternity, disability, old age, death and
employment injuries.
Medical Care.
Any insured person who is drawing, or would be entitled to draw,
benefit in respect of sickness, maternity or an employment injury, and
any recipient of a disability, old-age, widow's or orphan's pension, is
eligible for medical care. This entitlement lasts for six months after the
cessation of cash benefit. Members of the family of an insured person
who is entitled, or would be entitled, to benefit in respect of sickness or
an employment injury, as well as members of the family of a person
drawing disability or old-age pension, will also be entitled to medical care
on the expiry of a period of two years following the entry of the scheme
into force. A member of the family is defined as a wife being supported
by her husband and children under the age of 16 who are not employed
and are living in the same household as the insured person or pensioner.
Medical care comprises care by a general practitioner, treatment by
a specialist in hospital (and, where necessary, outside hospital), dental
care, essential pharmaceutical supplies and hospital treatment. In the
event of an employment injury, it comprises the supply of prosthetic
appliances and spectacles in addition to full dental care. Women members of the scheme receive antenatal care, and both during and after
289
SOCIAL SECURITY
confinement are attended by a midwife or doctor either at home or in a
maternity clinic.
Medical care may be provided through the public health service.
Cash Benefit.
Sickness.
An insured person who is temporarily incapacitated for work by
sickness is entitled to daily benefit on condition that contributions have
been paid on his behalf for not less than six weeks during the three
months preceding the date on which he was certified as unfit to work.
This benefit is payable as from the fourth day until the end of his incapacity but benefit may not be paid for more than twice the number of
weeks in respect of which contributions have been paid on his behalf
during the three months preceding the date on which he was certified
unfit to work. Benefit is payable in respect of working days and public
holidays.
The daily benefit rates, which vary according to the individuals'
wage categories, are as follows:
Wage
category
Daily benefit
(in millièmes)
1
2
3
100
160
240
Maternity.
A woman member of the scheme is entitled to daily benefit in the
event of confinement provided that she has been a member for not less
than 12 months before the presumed date of confinement and that
weekly contributions have been paid on her behalf for not less than
16 weeks during those 12 months. Benefit is payable in respect of all
working days on which she is absent from work during the period
preceding and immediately following confinement, subject to a maximum
of 12 weeks, of which not more than six may be before the presumed date
of confinement.
The daily maternity benefit is the same as the daily sickness benefit.
In addition a woman member of the scheme or the wife of a male
member draws a maternity grant of £L.2 for each child to which she
gives birth, on condition that on the date of confinement she or her
husband has been a member for not less than 12 months and that contributions have been paid on his or her behalf for not less than 16 weeks
during the 12 months preceding that date. The Institution may at its
discretion pay this grant in cash or in kind; all or part may consist of
articles for the child.
290
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Disability.
An insured person suffering from total permanent disabihty or a
disability preventing him from earning, in his usual job or in another job
suited to his aptitudes, more than one-third of the wage he was earning
previously, is entitled to a pension on condition that contributions have
been paid on his behalf for either not less than 250 weeks, of which at
least 50 must fall within the 36 months preceding the date when he
stopped work, or for not less than 1,000 weeks in all.
The monthly disability pension is composed of a basic allowance of
150 piastres plus a supplement for each week in respect of which a
contribution was paid on the individual's behalf since the date when he
first joined the scheme. This supplementary allowance is reckoned
(depending on the wage category) as follows :
Wage
category
Supplement
(in millièmes)
1
2
3
1
2
3
An insured person who is unable to work because of his disabihty
and who does not qualify for entitlement to a disabihty pension is paid
an allowance proportionate to his share in the total contributions paid
into the pensions insurance scheme on his behalf since his affiliation.
Old Age.
An insured person is entitled to a pension at the age of 60 on leaving
an occupation covered by the scheme. As far as contribution periods are
concerned, conditions of entitlement to an old-age pension are exactly
the same as for a disability pension. The qualifying age may be lowered
to 55 in the case of persons employed in jobs which are unhealthy or
hable to cause premature physical exhaustion, on condition that contributions have been paid in respect of hot less than 1,000 weeks.
The old-age pension is calculated in the same way as the disability
pension.
An insured person aged 60 (or not less than 55, as the case may be)
who leaves a job covered by the scheme receives an allowance calculated
in the same way as the disabihty allowance if he does not satisfy the
qualifying conditions for an old-age pension.
Death.
On the death of the recipient of a disabihty pension or of an insured
person who on the date of his death was entitled to sickness benefit, a
funeral grant of £L.5 is payable. In addition, his widow and children
(including any posthumous children) are entitled to a pension if he was
SOCIAL SECURITY
291
drawing a disability or old-age pension or if the necessary number of
contributions had been paid on his behalf.
The widow's monthly pension is equal to 50 per cent, of the monthly
pension which her deceased husband was drawing or would have been
entitled to draw if he had been disabled at the time of his death. A widow
who remarries forfeits entitlement to a pension but is paid a lump sum
equal to 12 times her monthly pension.
The orphan's monthly pension is equal (for each child) to 20 per cent.
of the monthly pension which the deceased father or mother was drawing
or would have been entitled to draw if he or she had been disabled at the
time of death. This figure is increased to 40 per cent, in respect of any
child who loses both father and mother. The pension ceases when the
orphan reaches the age of 16 or gets married.
The total widow's and orphan's pension may not exceed the total
pension which the deceased person was drawing or would have been
entitled to draw if he had been disabled at the time of his death. If this
level is exceeded the amount payable to each recipient is reduced proportionately.
If the widow of an insured person is not entitled to a pension she is
paid an allowance which is calculated in the same way as the disability
or old-age allowance. If there is no widow this allowance is paid to the
orphan or orphans who would have been entitled to an orphan's pension
assuming that the deceased had fulfilled the necessary conditions.
Employment Injuries
An employment injury is defined as any injury sustained by an insured
person as a result of and in the course of his work, including an injury
sustained on the way to or from the place of work by a means of transport
provided by the employer, and any recognised occupational disease.
Libyan legislation does not treat compensation for employment injuries
and occupational diseases as a distinct branch so that benefits in kind
provided in such cases come under the heading of medical care. Nevertheless, it would be preferable for the sake of clarity to deal with compensation for employment injuries separately; moreover, the nature and
extent of the benefits granted in such cases differ appreciably from the
benefits provided in the corresponding contingencies of sickness or
disability.
Temporary Disability.
If an insured person is temporarily unable to work because of an
employment injury he is entitled to a daily allowance irrespective of the
292
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
number of weekly contributions paid on his behalf. This allowance is
payable with effect from the day following that on which the injury
was sustained, provided that the disability lasts more than three days;
payment continues until the disability ceases, subject to a maximum of
360 days. Compensation is payable in respect of working days and public
holidays.
The total daily allowance, which varies according to the wage category
of the insured person, is as follows :
Wage
category
Daily allowance
(in millièmes)
1
2
3
150
240
360
Permanent Disability.
An insured person who, as a result of an employment injury, is
subject to a disability of not less than 662/3 per cent, is entitled to a
pension irrespective of the total contributions paid on his behalf. This
pension is calculated in the same way as the general disability pension,
but the monthly rate may not be less than 15 times the average daily
earnings of the individual concerned, calculated on the basis of the
contributions paid on his behalf during the 50 weeks preceding the
occurrence of the injury. Should permanent assistance by another
person be necessary the pension may be increased by a maximum of
50 per cent, depending on the extent and nature of the assistance required.
If the loss of earning capacity is not such as to warrant payment of a
full pension but is in excess of 30 per cent., a proportionate pension is
payable. If the loss of earning capacity is between 15 and 30 per cent, a
member is entitled to a grant equal to 24 times the monthly partial
disability pension for which he would qualify if there were no lower
disability limit for entitlement to a pension.
Death.
A grant of £L.20 is payable to cover funeral expenses.
In addition, the widow and children are entitled to pensions calculated
in the same way as the survivors' pensions payable following a death not
caused by an employment injury (subject to the minimum amount fixed
for occupational disability pensions).
Morocco
In Morocco there are workmen's compensation and family allowances
schemes.
SOCIAL SECURITY
293
Industrial accident compensation was introduced at the time of the
Protectorates by a Dahir of 25 June 1927 in the French zone and a
Dahir of 13 March 1936 in the Spanish zone. The Dahir of 25 June 1927
came into force on 21 March 1928. Under the Dahir of 21 May 1943 its
scope was extended to include occupational diseases. It has also been
extended in stages to include other categories of workers, in particular,
under the Dahir of 12 March 1945 all farm workers were brought within
its scope. It is today the basic statutory instrument governing workmen's
compensation in Morocco. Subsequently, under the Dahir of 24 September 1957, supplemented by the Dahir of 22 August 1958, it was extended to the province of Tangier, superseding the compensation scheme
set up under the provisions of articles 786 to 800 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts of the Tangier zone. Since then, under an Order of
12 November 1958, it has been extended to cover the former Spanish
protectorate.
The legislation relating to family allowances, which were introduced
in the French protectorate by the Dahir of 22 April 1942, which came
into force on 1 May of the same year, is at present applied only in the
southern zone of Morocco. Originally Moroccan workers received only
benefits in kind and, later, smaller family allowances than European
workers; but on 1 October 1950 uniform rates of allowances were established for both.
WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION
Scope
The legislation concerning workmen's compensation for employment
injuries and occupational diseases applies to industrial, commercial and
service undertakings, employers in liberal professions, non-trading corporations, co-operatives, trade unions, associations and similar bodies of
all kinds and to agricultural and forestry undertakings. It also covers
seafarers, unestablished officials employed by the central and local
governments, homeworkers, pupils in state or private technical and
apprenticeship centres and persons who have been admitted to vocational
training, retraining or rehabilitation centres, in respect of accidents
sustained on account of or during such education or training, persons
detained in prison and unemployed persons engaged at work under a
relief scheme.
It has also been extended, in application of Dahir No. 1/57/203 of
25 September 1957, to persons working voluntarily and without wages
on the construction of " Unity Road ". It is intended to apply it ta
294
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
unpaid voluntary workers carrying out work for public bodies and to
persons covered by the Franco-Moroccan Convention on technical and
administrative assistance.
Employers and members of their families may also avail themselves
of the provisions of this legislation.
Any accident, irrespective of its cause, is considered to be an industrial accident if it arises out of or in the course of employment, even if
it is caused by a case oí force majuree. In addition, any accident which
occurs during the journey from the worker's residence to his place of
work or vice versa is treated as an industrial accident provided that the
worker does not break the journey or deviate from his normal route to
attend to his private business or for other reasons unconnected with his
employment. The residence of a parent or a private person or any
establishment where the injured person normally takes his meals is
treated as a place of residence.
The employer is responsible for the payment of compensation to any
person working under a service contract (whether valid or not), even on
a trial basis or as an apprentice, to whom an accident occurs.
Benefits
Temporary Incapacity.
The employer is liable for the cost of transportation to the nearest
hospital, medical and surgical expenses, the cost of pharmaceutical
supplies, the cost of laboratory analyses and tests, the cost of hospital
care and all other expenses incurred during treatment, at rates stipulated
in the regulations. The worker may choose the doctor, chemist and
auxiliary medical personnel required to treat him, but in such cases the
employer is not Hable for expenses above a fixed amount.
As from the day following the accident and until the day on which
the injured person dies or recovers or the injury is declared stabiUsed, he
is entitled to a daily allowance payable in respect of working days,
weekly rest days and holidays on which the undertaking is closed, and
amounting, for the first 28 days after the accident, to one-half of his daily
remuneration and for the twenty-ninth and subsequent days to two-thirds
ofthat remuneration. The employer is fully liable for the remuneration due
in respect of the working day on which the accident occurred, regardless of
the method of payment of the wage, and the injured person must be paid
as if he had done all the work he would normally have done on that day.
The remuneration on which compensation is calculated includes not
only the wage proper but also the additional advantages provided in
cash or in kind.
SOCIAL SECURITY
295
Permanent Incapacity.
In the event of permanent incapacity the injured person is entitled to receive any prosthetic and orthopaedic appliances necessitated by
his disability and to have them repaired or replaced when necessary. In
addition, as from the day on which the injury is declared to be stabilised,
the injured person is entitled to a pension calculated on the basis of his
annual earnings and the degree of disability. For the purposes of calculating the benefit due the worker's entire yearly earnings are taken into
consideration up to a ceiling of 750,000 francs ; one-third of all earnings
over 750,000 and under 3 million francs and one-eighth of all earnings
over 3 million francs are also taken into account. Family allowances
received are not counted in the annual remuneration. The annual basic
wage for the purposes of calculating the benefit due in respect of a
disability of 10 per cent, or more may not be less than 162,000 francs.1
The benefit takes the form of an annuity equal to the annual wage
multiplied by the degree of incapacity, reduced by half in respect of the
part not exceeding 50 per cent, and increased by half in respect of the
part in excess of 50 per cent. If the injured person is obliged to have
recourse to the assistance of another person for the performance of the
ordinary acts of daily life the annuity is increased by 40 per cent, and may
not be less than 162,000 francs per year (173,000 from 1 January 1960).
Death.
Where the accident is followed by death the employer is required to
pay the funeral expenses and the cost of transporting the remains from
the place of death to the nearest cemetery or, if death occurred while the
victim was travelling on his employer's business away from his place of
residence and if his family so requests, to the cemetery in the place where
he used to reside.
In addition the survivors of the deceased (spouse, and relatives in
both the ascending and descending fines) are entitled to pensions. A
surviving spouse (if not divorced or legally separated) is entitled to a
pension of 30 per cent, of the deceased's annual basic wage if under
60 years of age and 50 per cent, if over 60. If the deceased was paying a
maintenance allowance to one or more surviving divorced or separated
spouses, pensions are due to them but none of them may receive more
than the amount of the alimony paid to them and the total amount so
paid may not exceed 20 per cent, of the basic annual remuneration,
irrespective of the number of spouses receiving alimony. If a spouse
1
A Decree of 7 January 1960 raises these figures from 750,000 francs to 785,000
francs; from 3 million francs to 3,500,000 and from 162,000 to 173,000, for accidents
taking place after 1 January 1960.
296
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
remarries the pension is commuted to a lump sum equal to three annual
instalments of the pension if there is no child; if there are children,
however, the commutation of the pension is postponed untñ the last of
the children entitled to receive the pension loses that right.
The pension due in respect of children is 15 per cent, of the basic
annual remuneration if there is only one child, 30 per cent, if there are
two and 40 per cent, if there are three; a further 10 per cent, is added for
every additional child. The amount of the pension is increased to 20 per
cent, for each child who becomes an orphan as a result of the accident.
Children are entitled to pensions up tó the age of 16 years. This age
limit is raised to 17 years if the child is apprenticed and to 21 years if
he is still studying or is permanently incapable of gainful employment
on account of an incurable disability or disease. If the child marries, the
right to a pension lapses. Any descendants who have lost their natural
breadwinner and are consequently dependent on the deceased are entitled
to the same benefits as the deceased's children.
Every relative in the ascending line who at the time of the accident was
maintained by the insured person is entitled to a life annuity equal to 10
per cent, of the deceased's basic annual remuneration, even if the latter
left a surviving spouse and child or children. An ascendant who, although
not dependent on the deceased, can prove that he would have been
entitled to receive a maintenance allowance from him receives a similar
annuity if the deceased has no surviving spouse or child. The aggregate
amount of the annuities payable to ascendants may not exceed 30 per
cent, of the deceased's basic annual remuneration ; if it does, the amount
of the pension paid to each ascendant is proportionately reduced.
The total amount of the pensions paid to all survivors may not
exceed 85 per cent, of the actual total yearly earnings on the basis of
which they are calculated. If the aggregate amount due exceeds this
percentage the annuities are reduced proportionately.
Review of Compensation Paid
An application for review of the compensation paid, on the grounds
of an increase or decrease in the degree of disability of the injured
person, may be made within thefiveyears following the date of apparent
recovery or the stabilisation of the injury. It may be made during the
first two years following that date; after this period the compensation
paid may not be reassessed at intervals of less than one year. If the
injured person dies as a result of the accident his survivors may apply
for a reassessment of the compensation within the five years following
the date of the accident.
SOCIAL SECURITY
297
Guarantee Fund and Special Fund
In order to guarantee the payment of the pensions due to industrial
accident victims a guarantee fund was set up in pursuance of the Dahir of
25 June 1927, as amended by the Dahir of 13 August 1955, to pay such
pensions in the place of employers or insurance bodies which fail to pay
the compensation due from them.
The special fund was established for the payment of the allowances
and increased annuities which became payable, under the Dahir of
9 December 1943, to victims of industrial accidents or occupational
diseases, and their survivors. These increases were intended to offset the
fall in the purchasing power of money and to pass on to persons already
receiving pensions the benefit of improvements made in the methods of
calculating them. The allowances payable are granted to injured persons
or their survivors who do not qualify for compensation under the Dahir
of 25 June 1927. These increases and allowances are not payable where
the degree of incapacity is less than 10 per cent.
The fund is maintained from the proceeds of two taxes, namely a tax
on insured employers, calculated as a percentage of the premiums payable
to the insurance institute, and a tax on uninsured employers, which is
calculated as a percentage of the capital equivalent of the annuities for
which they are liable.
Situation of Aliens
If an aben worker who is receiving a pension ceases to reside in
Morocco, his pension is commuted to a lump sum equal to three times
the annual pension which has been granted him. The alien representatives of an alien worker do not receive any compensation if they are not
living in Morocco at the time of the accident. However, within the
limits of the compensation due under the regulations, these provisions
may be modified by international treaty or agreement in favour of aliens
whose countries of origin guarantee equivalent advantages to beneficiaries under the Dahir of 25 June 1927.
FAMILY ALLOWANCES
Scope
All persons and corporate bodies carrying on industrial, commercial
or liberal occupations, including lay or religious institutions engaged
exclusively in teaching or welfare work, are compulsorily covered by the
legislation on family allowances. On the other hand, central and local
government departments and Moroccan employers and artisans carrying
298
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
on trades or professions in conformity with Moroccan corporate traditions are exempted. In addition, industrial and commercial public
utility services may apply for exemption if they grant their employees the
same benefits as those provided under the family allowance legislation.
Independent workers are also exempted by law from affiliation to the
Social Assistance Fund in virtue of a Decree of 25 December 1957.
Administration
The family allowance scheme is administered by a Social Assistance
Fund, which has corporate status and financial autonomy. The Fund is
in its turn administered by a board, the members of which are approved
by the Government ; its accounts are audited by the Ministry of Finance.
The head office of the Fund is in Casablanca ; it has branch establishments at Rabat, Port Lyautey, Beni-Mellal, Meknes, Fez, Oujda,
Mazagan, Safi, Mogador, Agadir, Marrakesh and Settat.
Finance
The scheme is financed by contributions from the employers covered
by it ; the contributions are fixed at 8 per cent, of each employee's
wages up to a ceiling of 50,000 francs per month. 1
In addition to the total of these contributions and the increases
sanctioned by existing legislation, the finance of the Fund is provided by :
reimbursement of family allowances chargeable to contributions which
have been temporarily advanced by the Fund; dividend interest and
reserves as well as the produce of sales of assets and stocks ; subsidies,
gifts and legacies; state and municipal loans and loans from banks.
Benefits
The Social Assistance Fund is responsible for the payment of family
and maternity allowances and for the repayment to employers who come
within the scheme of the wages they pay to workers in respect of the
holidays to which the latter are entitled on the birth of a child.
1
Contributions have been fixed at 9 per cent, of wages in the northern zone and
in Tangier in agreement with the employers (Order of 15 January 1960). This difference
from the rest of the country is due to the common desire of those concerned to cut
out the waiting period of six months in force in the southern zone. Fishermen have
a special system of contributions to the Fund. A Ministerial Order of 22 May 1958
fixed their contributions at 1 y2 per cent, of the net amount obtained from the sale
of fish caught by trawlers and 2'/2 per cent, of that caught by sardine and line fishing
boats.
SOCIAL SECURITY
299
Family Allowances.
Family allowances are payable if the head of the family is domiciled
in Morocco x and has worked for six months or more with one or more
employers covered by the scheme or exempted therefrom by law.
Allowances are payable in respect of every child other than the first,
including legitimate children born of the marriage or of a previous
marriage to either of the parents, children adopted by the recipient of the
allowances or his or her spouse, natural children recognised by the
recipient or his or her spouse and orphans taken in by the recipient.
In virtue of a Decree of 25 December 1957 the allowances are payable
if the child is living in Morocco and is actually and solely maintained by
the head of the family. Payment continues until the child reaches
the age of 12 years. The age limit is increased to 18 years if the child is an
apprentice and to 20 years if the child is still studying. In the case of a
girl who is the daughter or sister of the recipient or his or her spouse is
living under the same roof as the recipient and is engaged solely in the
performance of household duties and the education of at least two
children under 10 years of age dependent on the recipient, and in the case
of a child who is permanently precluded from gainful employment on
account of incurable disability or illness, the age limit is also 20 years.
The right to allowances lapses on the marriage of the beneficiary.
Family allowances are fixed uniformly at 1,600 francs per month per
child (other than an only child) up to a total of six. An allowance in
respect of an only child is paid if the conditions presented in article 2 (2)
of the Decree of 25 December 1957 are fulfilled.
Article 2 of Ministerial Order of 2 July 1959 provides that the right to
an allowance accrues only if the head of the family has earned in the
month in question a wage of at least 8,000 francs. However, those receiving less and who, at the date of entry into force of the order, were
entitled to a family allowance under the provisions of the Order of
4 October 1950 will continue to be paid: 780 francs per month per
dependent child if the declared monthly wage is between 3,000 and
7,999 francs and 150 francs per month per dependent child if the monthly
wage is less than 3,000 francs.
Moreover, a recent decree provides for heads of families who were
poisoned by adulterated edible oil in 1959 and who no longer draw their
wages, by extending to them the provisions regarding family allowances
for a maximum of one year.
If the recipient is the victim of an industrial accident the family
allowances continue to be payable during the whole of the period of
1
The Social Assistance Fund system was extended as from 1 January 1960 to
Tangier and the northern zone by a Decree of 14 January 1960.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
temporary incapacity. The same applies if the injured person is permanently and totally incapacitated for work ; if he dies as a result of the
accident the allowances become payable to the widow. The latter is also
entitled to allowances in respect of children born posthumously.
Maternity Allowances.
During the six weeks following confinement a woman wage earner
who at the time of her confinement fulfilled all the requisite conditions
for the granting of allowances other than that of being head of the family,
is entitled to an allowance equal to half the wage or salary she would
have earned if she had remained at work, subject to the condition that
the amount paid may not be less than the statutory minimum wage.
Payment for Holidays Granted on the Birth of Children.
When a child is born in the household of a worker his employer is
required to allow three days' holiday to the worker, who is required to
take it. If the employer is covered by the legislation on family allowances
the Social Assistance Fund reimburses him the wages paid to the worker
in respect of the three days' holiday.
*
*
*
It should be noted, in conclusion, that by Dahir No. 1-59-148 dated
31 December 1959, a new social security system was introduced in
Morocco, in principle applicable as from 1 April 1961 and covering the
following contingencies: maternity, sickness, disability, old age, and
death, as well as providing family allowances and survivors' benefits.
The new system does not provide full and complete cover for the whole
population, but its aims, nevertheless, are claimed to be in line with
those of other countries and to correspond to the following definition in
an I.L.O. publication as follows:
(a) comprehensive and co-ordinated cover of all the contingencies which,
without fault on his part, cause the wage earner temporary or permanent loss
of earnings ; medical care and family allowances ;
(c) assurance of benefits that, though moderate in amount, are sufficient to
maintain a socially acceptable standard of living and are granted in virtue of
a definite legal right;
(d) financing by such methods as maintain in the mind of the person protected a fair notion of the cost of the benefits he receives but, at the same time,
invoke a wide application of a principle of solidarity as between rich and poor,
male and female, the working population and those too young or too old to
work, the robust and the delicate ".1
1
I.L.O. : Social Security : A Workers' Education Manual (Geneva, 1958), p. 1
The passage quoted contains one further point which the Moroccan system cannot yet
be said to meet :
" (b) extension of this protection to all adults in the measure of their need for
it and to their dependants."
SOCIAL SECURITY
301
The system will be completed by mutual benefit arrangements which
are the subject of a legal text about to be promulgated.
Tunisia
In Tunisia there are workmen's compensation and family allowances
schemes.
Workmen's compensation was introduced by the Beylical Decree of
15 March 1921. It was subsequently extended to cover agricultural undertakings by a Decree dated 21 January 1924 and supplemented by provisions making insurance compulsory (Decree of 24 July 1952) ; in this form
it was the main statutory instrument governing workmen's compensation
until it was abrogated by the new Act of 11 December 1957, which came
into force on 1 January 1958. This Act consolidated all earlier legislation
and supplemented it, in particular by providing that accidents occurring
in the course of travelling to and from work were to be treated as industrial accidents.
The family allowances scheme established by the Beylical Decree
of 8 June 1944 as amended 1 came into force on 1 July 1944. Its scope
has since been extended to cover wage-earning employees in oil-works
attached to farms by Decree dated 22 November 1945 and to employees
of the central and municipal authorities and public utility services, in
virtue of a Decree of 17 May 1945.
In addition, under a Decree dated 30 April 1956 a system of welfare
funds was established to provide family allowances and old-age pensions
and, where appropriate, other benefits of an assistance character to
agricultural workers. However, these provisions are not yet in force.
WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION
Scope
The legislation concerning workmen's compensation applies to wage
earners employed by industrial, commercial and transport undertakings,
undertakings providing personal services, handicraft workshops and
shops, employers exercising liberal professions, non-trading corporations,
unions and associations, and hospital establishments, homes and benevolent institutions. In addition, and subject to any special regulations which
may exist concerning them, seafarers, wage earners employed in agricultural and forestry undertakings, manual and non-manual employees
1
The most recent amendments (dealing with the organisation of the scheme) were
introduced by Act No. 58-130 of 22 November 1958.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
and officials employed by the State or by a commune, public establishments, national companies, semi-public companies or concessionary
public utility undertakings are protected, whether they are employed in a
temporary, permanent or casual capacity and even if they were recruited
under a public code of rules or public contract unless that code or contract makes special provision for the award of compensation in respect
of industrial accidents and occupational diseases. The Act also applies,
subject to certain conditions, to pupils in technical schools and public
and private apprentice-training centres and to persons admitted to training, advanced training, resettlement, rehabilitation or vocational retraining centres in respect of accidents arising out of or in the course of
these various forms of training or instruction and to prisoners and
unemployed persons working on sites opened as part of a relief scheme.
Any employer who is subject to this legislation or would be subject
to it if he engaged employees may apply for admission to the scheme on
his own behalf or on behalf of a member of his family.
Any accident arising out of or in the course of employment is considered to be an industrial accident, irrespective of its cause. Any accident which occurs while the injured person is travelling from his residence
to his place of employment or vice versa is treated as an industrial accident provided that he does not break the journey or leave his normal
route to attend to his private business or for any reason unconnected
with his work.
The employer is liable for the compensation due and is required to
take out insurance against industrial accidents and occupational diseases
with an approved insurance organisation. Compensation is due if at the
time of the accident the injured person is performing a contract of service
or apprenticeship, even while on probation or training, and irrespective
of whether the contract is valid or not.
Benefits
Temporary Incapacity.
The injured person must be provided with such treatment as his condition requires and be transported from the place where the accident
occurred to the nearest place where treatment can be obtained at the expense of his employer or the insurance carrier. He is free to choose his
own doctor, pharmacist and any auxiliary medical personnel required;
but if he does so the employer (or the insurance carrier) is not required to
bear the cost of treatment in excess of a scale of charges laid down by the
authorities. The employer (or his insurance carrier) has sole liability for
the cost of hospital care, which is paid for at the official rates.
SOCIAL SECURITY
303
The injured person is entitled to a daily allowance, which is payable
for working days, weekly rest days and public holidays alike, from the
fourth day of incapacity until he dies or recovers completely or the
injury is stabilised. The daily allowance payable is equivalent to half
his normal daily remuneration but is increased to two-thirds of that
remuneration as from the forty-fifth day following the date of the accident.
The employer is hable for the payment of wages in respect of the whole of
the working day on which the accident occurred. The remuneration to
be taken into account for the purposes of calculating the daily allowance
payable includes all subsidiary benefits provided other than expenses
reimbursed and family allowances.
Permanent Incapacity.
In the event of permanent incapacity the injured person is entitled,
irrespective of the cause of incapacity, to the supply, repair and replacement, by approved centres supplying equipment for persons injured at
work, of such prosthetic and orthopaedic appliances as his disability
requires.
In addition, if the degree of incapacity exceeds 5 per cent, the injured
person is entitled to a pension, the amount of which is calculated on the
basis of his annual earnings, including all supplements received by him
in cash or in kind with the exception of expenses reimbursed and family
allowances. For the purpose of calculating the amount of the pension
the whole of the injured person's earnings up to 600,000 francs per year
and one-third of his earnings above 600,000 but below 1,600,000 francs
are taken into account; no account is taken of any earnings in excess of
1,600,000 francs. The annual basic wage may not be less than the amount
the injured person would have earned in 300 working days of the statutory length fixed for that occupation under the regulations in force on
the day of the accident and which fix the minimum wages of workers in
the same occupational category and in the same region. In no case may
the annual basic remuneration be less than 100,000 francs for persons in
agricultural occupations and 130,000 francs for persons in non-agricultural occupations.
The amount of the annual pension is equal to the basic annual
remuneration multiplied by the degree of incapacity, the latter being first
reduced by half in respect of any part thereof not exceeding 50 per cent.
If the permanent incapacity is total and such as to render the injured
person dependent on the assistance of another person to perform the
ordinary acts of life the amount of the pension is increased to 100 per
cent, of his basic remuneration ; in no case may the additional grant so
made be less than 60,000 francs per year. On the other hand, if the degree
304
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
of incapacity is between 6 and 15 per cent, a capital sum equal to three
annual payments is granted in lieu of the pension.
Death.
When the accident results in death, the employer or his insurance
carrier is liable for the reimbursement of funeral expenses, which are
assessed at 50 times the minimum hourly wage payable to labourers
employed in the building trades or on public works at the place where
death occurred. In addition the employer or his insurance carrier is
liable for the cost of transporting the remains to the nearest cemetery if
there is no cemetery at the place where the death occurred or, if the
family of the deceased person so requests, the cost of transporting the
remains to the cemetery of the town in Tunisia where the deceased
person resided, provided, in the latter case, that death occurred while
the deceased was away from his place of residence travelling on his
employer's business or undergoing medical treatment.
In addition the survivors of the deceased (that is to say, his or her
spouse and children or, if there are none, the relatives in the ascending
and descending lines) are entitled to pensions.
Subject to the condition that the marriage was contracted before the
accident occurred, the spouse of the deceased person is entitled to a
pension of 25 per cent, of the deceased's annual basic remuneration if,
on the day when death occurred, he or she was not divorced or separated,
had not been convicted of desertion of the family and had not been absent
from the home without a valid reason for more than three months. If
the surviving spouse was separated or divorced from the deceased and
was receiving a maintenance allowance, a pension is payable but is
reduced to the amount of the maintenance allowance and may in no
case exceed 15 per cent, of the basic remuneration; if the deceased person
had remarried the share of the new spouse may not be reduced to less
than 15 per cent, of that remuneration on these grounds. A person
receiving a pension who remarries is granted a lump sum equal to three
times the amount of the annual pension in final settlement.
The pension payable in respect of children of the deceased person
under the age of 16 years is calculated at the rate of 15 per cent, of the
basic annual remuneration for one child, 25 per cent, for two children,
35 per cent, for three and 45 per cent, for four or more. The pension is
increased to 20 per cent, for each child (subject to a maximum of 60 per
cent.) if both parents are dead. Children's pensions are collective and
are proportionately reduced whenever a child reaches the age of 16 years
or dies or marries before reaching that age. If there are children of more
than one marriage the total amount of the pensions paid to the spouse
SOCIAL SECURITY
305
and the children may not exceed 75 per cent, of the basic annual remuneration. If the total amount due exceeds this figure the pensions payable
to each group of dependants are proportionately reduced.
If the deceased person leaves neither spouse nor children, any relatives
in the ascending and descending lines who were actually and permanently
dependent on him are entitled to pensions; ascendants' pensions are
payable for Ufe, while those for descendants' are payable until the
beneficiaries reach the age of 16 years. The amount of the pension
payable to every such relative is 10 per cent, of the annual basic remuneration; the total amount of the pensions so awarded, however, may
not exceed 30 per cent, of that remuneration, and, if necessary, each of
the pensions paid is proportionately reduced.
Review of Benefits
Applications for the review of benefits on the grounds that the
injured person's disability has increased or decreased may be made
during the five years following the date on which the injured person is
apparently cured or the injury is declared to be stabilised. More than
one application may be made during this period, but at least one year
must elapse between applications. A pension is not subject to review on
grounds of a decrease in the degree of incapacity if the latter was originally fixed at less than 15 per cent. If the injured person dies within five
years as a result of the accident his dependants may apply to have the
compensation reassessed.
Industrial Accident Fund
There is a special treasury fund called the Industrial Accident Fund.
This was set up to guarantee the payment of benefits in the event
of default by the persons or bodies liable therefor, to pay compensation
for industrial accidents resulting from acts of war, to adjust pensions, to
pay allowances to persons injured as a result of industrial accidents for
which no compensation was payable at the time of their occurrence and
to receive the capital value of pensions, paid to it either voluntarily or,
in the cases specified in the regulations, compulsorily by the persons or
bodies liable therefor, and to pay the pensions due in their stead.
The income of the fund is derived from contributions from employers
insured against the risk of industrial accidents and occupational diseases,
which are levied on the insurance premiums they pay on this account,
and contributions from uninsured employers (other than public bodies
and establishments) levied on the capital value of any pensions they are
306
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
required to pay. It also receives sums recovered from employers or
insurance carriers in consequence of the subrogation of the fund in the
rights of injured persons and the capital value of pensions it may be
liable to pay.
Aliens
An alien receiving a pension who ceases to reside in Tunisia receives
in final settlement a lump sum equal to three times the amount of his
annual pension. These provisions do not, however, apply to aliens
covered by international treaties or agreements providing for more
favourable treatment.
FAMILY ALLOWANCES
Scope
The regulations governing family allowances apply to all employers
normally employing one or more wage earners in industry, commerce or
a liberal profession and all non-trading corporations, unions and associations of any kind. They also apply to the owners of oil-works attached
to farms, who are required to belong to the scheme in respect of the
wage earners employed by them during the oil-processing season.
Workers employed by the central Government, local authorities and
public utility services are also covered.
Administration
Up to 15 December 1958 the scheme was administered by three
family allowance equalisation funds. There was an interoccupational
fund for employers in industry (with the exception of the building and
related trades), commerce and the liberal professions and for corporations, unions and associations. The other two were occupational
funds', one for employers in the building and related trades (building
materials, public works, harbours and docks) and the second for
employers in the ore-extracting and smelting industries. The central
Government, the communes and commissionary public utility undertakings were exempted from the obhgation to become members of the
funds. As a result of a reorganisation decided upon in 1958 these funds
were brought under the management of a single body, namely a central
social benefit fund, which is administered by a board of directors consisting of representatives of workers and employers together with
persons of known competence in economic, financial and social questions.
The three old funds have, however, kept their financial autonomy and
are treated as separate sections in the new system. All employers and
SOCIAL SECURITY
307
recipients of allowances who were or would have been dealt with by one
of the old funds are dealt with by the same section.
Finance
The scheme is financed by contributions from the employers covered.
These are calculated as a percentage of wages ; the annual percentage
varies from one section to another. Only that part of earnings below
500,000 francs per year is taken into account for the purposes of calculating contributions.
Benefits
The fund pays family allowances, holiday allowances on the occasion
of the birth of children and holiday allowances for young workers.
Family Allowances.
Family allowances are payable only to wage earners employed in
undertakings covered; they are paid for every dependent child. The
allowances may be paid to a relative in the direct Une, that is to say to
the father or the mother (or, failing them, to a relative in the ascendant or
descendant line) in respect of children born of the marriage or of a
previous marriage to either spouse, or to a relative in the collateral line
(that is to say a person who has taken in a brother, sister, nephew or
niece and assumed actual and permanent responsibility for its maintenance) ; in the case of an adopted child, to the person adopting it or
his or her spouse ; or to the persons who have assumed actual and permanent responsibility for a recognised natural child or a ward or other
child taken in by them, providing, in the last two cases, that the parents
of the children are dead or living elsewhere.
Family allowances are payable until the child reaches the age of
14 years. The age limit may be raised to 18 years if the child is regularly
attending a primary school or is apprenticed and does not earn more
than 75 per cent, of the statutory minimum wage of an unskilled labourer
in the building industry, and to 21 years if the child is regularly attending
a public or private secondary school, university college or technical or
vocational school, or, in the case of a girl, if she is looking after her
brothers and sisters in the place of her mother if the latter is dead,
completely disabled, or widowed and engaged in wage-earning employment which takes up all her time, or separated or divorced if the custody
of the children has been granted to the father and the latter has not
remarried. The age limit is also raised to 21 years if the child is permanently and completely precluded from wage-earning employment on
account of an incurable disability or illness.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
The amount of the allowance payable for each child is 15 per cent.
of the recipient's remuneration. The total remuneration taken into
account, however, may not exceed 52,500 francs per quarter; thus the
minimum amount payable for a child is 7,875 francs per quarter. The
remuneration includes all moneys received as wages, commissions or
subsidiary benefits, including holiday pay and the money value of any
benefit in kind granted.
Family allowances continue to be payable if the worker is injured as
a result of an industrial accident, falls ill or dies (or, in the case of a
woman, gives birth to a child). In the event of an industrial accident
resulting in temporary incapacity for work the allowances continue to
be payable at the full rate during the period of incapacity ; this is also
the case if the accident gives rise to permanent incapacity of 40 per cent.
or more. If the injured person resumes wage-earning employment,
carrying with it entitlement to family allowances, he receives allowances
at the highest rate to which he is entitled. Allowances continue to be
payable during sickness or (in the case of a woman, childbirth), provided
that the recipient is not away from work for more than three months
during any period of 365 days ; in the case of a woman who temporarily
gives up her work to look after her child, the period of absence allowed
may be increased to one year. If the worker dies, whatever the cause of
death, the children's allowances payable prior to his death are paid to
the widow, who is also entitled to receive allowances for any children
born posthumously within the 300 days following the death of the father
provided that their legitimacy is not challenged. If more than one set
of allowances is due, only those payable at the highest rate are actually
paid. However, a widow may draw more than one set of allowances if
she is providing for the maintenance and education of the children
without assistance.
Payment for Holidays Granted on the Birth of Children.
Every employer covered by the scheme is required to grant three
days' holiday to each of his workers on the occasion of the birth of a
child in the latter's household ; the worker is required to take this holiday.
The payment due to the worker is equal to the remuneration which would
have been payable for an equivalent period of work. The employer is
reimbursed by the fund.
Holiday Allowances for Young Workers.
The fund pays part of the cost of the holiday allowances paid to
young workers in undertakings covered by the scheme but which are
not required to be members of a paid holiday fund. It refunds the em-
SOCIAL SECURITY
309
ployer half of the allowances paid by him to young workers under 18
years of age and one-third of the allowances paid to those between the
ages of 18 and 21.
Conclusions
Clearly, in an analysis of schemes established by law such as those
described so far, no mention can be made of the various types of welfare
schemes in existence in the countries of North Africa, designed for
particular groups or contingencies, and which exist in a variety of different
forms (such as schemes established under contracts or agreements,
schemes established by employers' associations or mutual-aid societies
and assistance schemes) but cannot be considered as forming part of
social security in its widest sense. In addition to the statutory schemes
covering civil servants and members of the armed forces (which are not
touched on in this study) mention should be made of the special nonstatutory supplementary schemes such as the provident funds established
by the Algerian bank and railway employees (both of which have been
approved by order of the Governor-General) and the scheme established
under the collective agreement on retirement and insurance for supervisory staff in Algeria 1, which is very similar to the corresponding
agreement in force in metropolitan France. In Morocco and Tunisia
there are schemes established under collective agreements providing
retirement pensions for banking employees; in Tunisia, too, sickness and
maternity benefits are provided in the same way, and in 1956 an agreement was signed between employers and workers in the mining industry
concerning the establishment of a retirement pension scheme.
In addition, in countries where social insurance does not yet exist,
attempts have been made by both employers and workers to provide at
least some measure of protection for relatively small groups of pensioners,
and in particular for the employees of the largest or richest undertakings.
For instance in Morocco and Tunisia employers may, on behalf of their
employees, become members of retirement pension funds established in
the form of private associations, such as the Moroccan Interoccupational
Pension Fund and the Tunisian Pension Fund. In all the countries
covered by this study individual employers have also organised
pension schemes with the assistance of insurance companies or have
attempted to set up private funds within the relatively limited compass of
their own undertakings. The schemes set up by workers are usually
1
This agreement, which was signed on 26 December 1950, was extended by an
order of the Governor-General dated 29 September 1951.
310
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
organised on mutual-aid lines; schemes of this kind—occasionally established with the help of employers—are encountered mainly in agriculture,
but sometimes in industry and commerce as well. In Morocco, for instance, the essential public utility services, such as the Moroccan Electric Supply Company, the Moroccan Railways, the Tobacco Corporation and the Sherifian Phosphate Office and some private undertakings
have mutual-aid schemes which pay sickness and maternity benefits in
cash. A similar situation exists in Tunisia, where the legal status of
mutual-aid schemes was laid down by a Beylical Decree dated 18 February 1954, and in Algeria, where a supplementary mutual-aid and welfare
fund was recently established for employees in the electric power and
gas supply industries. Sickness, invalidity, retirement and death benefits
and family allowances are paid to agricultural workers by the Agricultural Welfare Fund of North Africa which was established in 1946; but
the North African Mutual Agricultural Retirement Fund, which was set
up in 1952, administers group provident schemes paying old-age and
survivors' pensions; these schemes are intended mainly for supervisory
personnel in agricultural undertakings which are members. Since compulsory agricultural social insurance was introduced in Algeria—organised, incidentally, on mutual-aid lines—these two funds have been offering
supplementary protection to their members in Algeria.
Lastly, there are assistance schemes which form a useful complement
to the protection provided by social security and provident schemes and
mutual-aid societies. One of the most important benefits provided by
schemes of this kind, in some of the countries of North Africa where the
contingency of sickness is not yet covered by social security, is free
medical treatment, given under the authority of the government departments responsible for public health. For instance in Egypt the backbone
of the national health service is constituted by the rural dispensaries and
welfare centres, while in Morocco and Tunisia needy persons can, where
necessary, obtain medical advice and treatment in dispensaries, health
centres and hospitals. In Algeria, although there is now compulsory
sickness insurance, medical assistance has continued to be provided, and
it is now a current practice in agricultural areas to give medical treatment
in dispensaries, on production of a certificate of employment, to agricultural workers who do not qualify for treatment under the sickness
insurance scheme because they are only employed casually or intermittently. Moreover, in addition to providing non-contributory old-age
pensions and unemployment benefits, the assistance scheme in Algeria
covers contingencies other than sickness, while in Egypt assistance in
cash and in kind can be obtained in the event of sickness, unemployment,
invalidity or the death of the head of the family.
SOCIAL SECURITY
311
The great variety of individual schemes in existence providing protection against these various contingencies shows that there is a widespread need for social security throughout the countries of North Africa;
in some cases these schemes are necessary because no statutory scheme
yet exists, while in other countries their existence signifies that the standard of the protection given is still not high enough. The governments
responsible, most of which are preparing new social security legislation
with the technical assistance of the International Labour Office, will
have to take due account of the situation and of the success of schemes
established under contracts or collective agreements or by private enterprise when the time comes to enact this new legislation. This has been
realised in Morocco, where a Dahir on the subject of social security is
about to be promulgated, and in Tunisia ; both these countries are in the
process of establishing social security schemes under which wage earners
in non-agricultural employment will receive sickness, maternity and death
benefits and invalidity, old-age and survivors' pensions and of co-ordinating the structure of the new schemes with those already existing for
workmen's compensation and family allowances. In both countries
the previously existing medical assistance schemes will probably be
expanded and converted into health services which will provide free
medical care for all persons protected. In Egypt and Libya the law
specifies the manner in which the scope of the recently established social
security schemes is to be extended in stages to cover additional groups of
persons, contingencies and areas; for instance, the Egyptian scheme is
to be expanded to include sickness and unemployment insurance, while
the scope of the Libyan scheme is to be extended to cover wage earners
in agriculture. Lastly, in Algeria the development of the scheme has
made such progress that the next steps envisaged are the granting of
family allowances to wage earners in agricultural occupations and the
provision of old-age benefits for self-employed workers in agriculture
and handicrafts.
It is thus clear from an examination of the achievements so far and
the plans now under consideration that, in response to industrial development and the influence of examples set by other countries, social security
will almost certainly be extended to cover all wage earners in non-agricultural employment within a short space of time. But the most difficult
problem of the next few years—and one which the distribution of the
economically active population makes it impossible to ignore—will
probably be the extension of social security to cover wage earners in
agriculture; until this has been done the majority of the workers in these
countries will not be enjoying the protection of social security.
CHAPTER IX
CO-OPERATIVES
GENERAL
The dominating element in the North African economy is agriculture.
In each country the farmers comprise 70 to 90 per cent, of the total
working population and agricultural products provide 60 to 90 per cent.
of the national income. The fact that these two figures, which are among
the highest in the world, have not changed to any significant extent during
the last 50 years indicates clearly the extent and scope of the agricultural
problem in these countries. They also reveal the importance which even
a small-scale improvement in prevailing conditions in the agricultural
sector can have for the national economy.
The traditional problems facing agriculture in the area arise from
various factors which have been treated elsewhere in this survey. These
include a pattern of land ownership in which a large proportion of the
land is owned by a few persons while the holdings of the average cultivator are small and often made up of several dispersed parcels; the
low standard of education in the rural areas also contributes to the
problems. Against this background the application of modern cultivation methods, the introduction of better seed, and the collective use of
modern machinery will need institutions which can unite the farmers in
an over-all effort to ameliorate the economic and social conditions of
their immediate environment.
Institutions which adopt co-operative methods in their work can do
much to meet this need. In a declaration made on the occasion of the
first issue of a bulletin on co-operatives, which is to be published monthly
by the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, His Majesty Mohammed V,
King of Morocco, spoke of them in the following terms :
... One of the factors essential to the economic well-being of a country is the
institution of co-operative bodies serving to combine individual efforts and
channel them to the common task.
Since individual action—particularly in the economic field—can produce
only limited results and is of less value to the country than collective action
employing effective methods, it is essential that the number of such co-operative
CO-OPERATIVES
313
groups be increased and that they be given the means to achieve their aims.
In this way, rational and efficient methods will be applied to the utilisation of
the country's natural resources.1
The first steps towards co-operative action in North Africa were
taken about half a century ago. Thus, in Egypt, co-operatives were first
formed in 1907-08, though they did not develop to any extent until the
late 1940s, when legislative developments and the provision of financial
assistance by the State facilitated their expansion. The influence of the
co-operative movement is exercised mainly in rural areas among the
fellahin. It has still to be seen to what extent consumer co-operatives in
the urban areas can develop in a market situation characterised by the
numerous small merchants who operate largely with family help at very
low cost.
In Libya the movement has just started and it is difficult to predict
its future development at this stage.
In Tunisia the co-operative movement started early in the century
among European settlers, but has still to reach the great majority of the
Tunisians themselves. Genuine co-operative societies exist among
the farmers and handicraftsmen. The provident societies founded by the
French administration have never been of a fully co-operative character,
and, owing to the compulsory nature of their membership, the farmers
have tended to consider them as part of the state machinery.
In Algeria the first co-operatives were founded in 1906 by the
European element of the population. The movement developed fairly
rapidly among the Europeans, but the indigenous farmers confined
themselves to the provident societies, membership being compulsory
for them. During the period 1906-21 only 35 co-operatives were formed
in Algeria. The effect of new legislation in 1921 (amended in 1925)
gave fresh impetus to the movement and 314 co-operatives were constituted between 1921 and 1947. The co-operatives continued, however,
to be largely confined to the European farmers. The 1947 law on cooperatives, and especially the legislation enacted in 1954, provided the
movement with a legal framework adapted to local conditions. Today
co-operatives in Algeria are open to European and Moslem members,
the latter taking an active part in the operations of these societies.
In Morocco, as in Tunisia and Algeria, the co-operative movement
developed first among the European farmers. This was partly due to the
legislative position which until 1938 did not provide a basis more particularly suited to the formation of co-operatives among the Moroccans.
Although the number of co-operatives which has been formed since that
1
Informations cooperatives (Rabat), Sep. 1958.
314
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
date is relatively small and the membership low, a foundation has been
laid and the present official policy seems to favour further development
and greater diversification of the movement.
Generally speaking, legislation on co-operation in North Africa was
originally based on existing legislation in Europe. Amendments and
adaptations required by local conditions had to be made in successive
stages, and each country has gradually been developing legislation to
meet its particular needs. On the whole, this legislation embodies or
enjoins the fundamental Rochdale principles. The autonomy of co-operative societies in their own affairs is generally accepted; the rule of one
member—one vote is observed and only a fixed low rate of interest on
shares is allowed. Voluntary membership is general, and the rights and
responsibilities of members are clearly defined. Government intervention
and control does not appear to be excessive when account is taken of the
substantial aid accorded to the movement from public funds; as a rule
state control is aimed at preventing abuses rather than interfering with
the day-to-day running of affairs.
The form which official financial aid should take evidently requires
careful study and, in particular, an assessment of the real significance of
loans as compared to grants in the development of a sound co-operative
movement. In this connection, due regard must be had to the basic
importance of dispensing financial assistance in such a way as to
encourage the growth of a spirit of self-reliance among those responsible
for the conduct of co-operatives. Equally, in order to strengthen the
movement, a continuous educational effort is needed. In order to consolidate existing co-operatives and staff new ones, suitable measures for
the training of managers and other personnel are required. Finally,
government officials in departments responsible for the promotion of
co-operatives and their supervision and auditing, must be given the means
of acquiring a sound knowledge of co-operative principles and practices
and of keeping themselves continuously informed of new developments
which may affect their own techniques and methods.
The foregoing are some of the considerations which may have a
bearing upon the future development of the co-operative movement in
North Africa, the evolution and the principal characteristics of which
are outlined below.
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
Legislation.
The first co-operatives in Egypt, founded in 1907 and the following
years, had no legal status. A serious effort to introduce co-operative
CO-OPERATIVES
315
legislation was made in 1913 but owing to the First World War it was
only in 1923 that a law on co-operation was adopted (Act No. 27).
Under this the Government was invested with extensive supervision
of the co-operative movement and a department was set up in the Ministry of Agriculture to organise, control and encourage the development
of co-operatives. The law concerned only agricultural co-operatives,
being intended to serve the interests of the fellahin, and a fairly large
number of co-operatives were formed under its provisions.
In 1927 the 1923 law was superseded by a more general law on cooperatives (Act No. 23), which was in many ways better suited to the
needs of the co-operative movement. It envisaged the establishment
of different kinds of co-operatives and encouraged the formation of
unions, besides bestowing certain rights and privileges on them.
Neither of these two laws contained any measures for the provision
of official credit to co-operatives or to their members. In 1927, however,
the Egyptian Government decided to lend £E.250,000 (a sum later increased to £E.350,000) to a private bank for the purpose of making loans
to co-operatives. This loan was issued by the Government at 2 per cent.
interest; it could be re-loaned at 4 per cent, to the co-operatives, which
could in turn contract loans with their members at 7 per cent. This
assistance gave great impetus to the development of co-operatives, which
increased in number from 162 to 539 between 1928 and 1931. In 1931
the system was altered and a semi-governmental Agricultural Credit
Bank established. Co-operative credit was transferred to this bank,
which granted loans to societies to relend to members, or to individuals
provided they were members of a co-operative. Most of the loans were
short-term; only a small proportion were medium-term.
The legislation of 1927 was revised in 1944 (Act No. 58). The new
law included several points based on Egyptian needs and acquired
experience. Among other things it permitted co-operatives to apply
for seizure of holdings of under 5 feddans to cover bad debts. This
made it possible for the co-operatives to grant credit to the small landowners who were protected against such seizure by the " 5 feddans law "
of 1913.
The law permitted two kinds of co-operatives: those with limited
liability and those with unlimited liability. In the former, the liability
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the latter the members were jointly and individually hable for all undertakings of the society.
The law retained for the Government close control over the cooperatives. An organisation was established to supervise the co-operative
movement, in conjunction with the Co-operative Department, which
316
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
was transferred in 1939 from the Ministry of Agriculture to the newly
founded Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour. This supervisory
organisation consisted of a Supreme Advisory Council, with headquarters in Cairo, and an advisory council in each province. The
Government was given a clear majority in these councils and, at the same
time, measures were taken to strengthen the Co-operative Department
through increased staff and detailed definitions of duties and responsibilities.
The Co-operative Department had a double function. It was a
registration office where the by-laws of all new co-operative bodies
were checked, approved, etc., and it performed various functions of a
general co-operative union, e.g. giving support and guidance to cooperative bodies, auditing accounts, watching membership trends, etc.
The law provided for the setting up of regional unions to foster and
promote co-operation, and, eventually, to take over from the Cooperative Department such functions as supervision and auditing. The
regional unions, of which several were founded in the following years,
did not assume any functions in the field of commerce or credit.
The legislation of 1944 envisaged the establishment of a co-operative
bank. In the end, however, it was decided to change the structure of
the Agricultural Credit Bank, which in 1947 was transformed into the
Agricultural Credit and Co-operative Bank (known since 1949 by the
name of Crédit agricole et coopératif). Fifty per cent, of the shares
were held by the State, 17 per cent, by co-operatives and 33 per cent, by
individuals. As previously, the Bank could grant loans either to cooperatives or individuals; the tendency was, however, to contact individual members directly. The result was that the bank reached only a
limited number of farmers while the co-operatives secured none of the
benefits which transactions of this kind might involve.
The Agricultural Credit and Co-operative Bank is now operated on
a wider scale than formerly ; its total resources amount to approximately
£E.70 million.
Completely new legislation was promulgated in 1956 (Law No. 317
of 28 August). Societies formed before that date were obliged to adapt
their by-laws to this new legislation within a delay of one year.
The 1956 law defines the conditions which a society must meet to
qualify as a co-operative. It fixes the minimum number of members for
general co-operatives at ten; capital may be subscribed in the form of
shares with low, fixed interest; dividend may be paid on the volume of
business done by each member with the society. The co-operatives may
be either of limited or unlimited liability, provided this is clearly stated
in their by-laws. They may operate in any economic and social field
CO-OPERATIVES
317
and may accept deposits by members; societies may be established with
the main function of providing credit. Co-operatives are not allowed
to grant credit for consumer goods except in the consumers' societies.
Each member has only one vote in the annual meeting, regardless of the
number of shares he holds. The general meeting is the highest authority
in all affairs of any co-operative.
The activities of the co-operatives are subject to control, which is
exercised by a technical co-operative division within the Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labour. The authorities may provide grants to
regional co-operative unions to enable them to undertake the audit and
supervision of societies in their respective regions on behalf of the
Ministry.
Each co-operative must distribute its annual net surplus, if any, as
follows : 20 per cent, to reserves until these have reached twice the amount
of capital; not more than 20 per cent, for payment of interest on shares;
fees to the board of directors; not less than 10 per cent, of the remainder
for improving social conditions within the co-operative's geographical
area; and the rest may be used to pay dividends to members.
Two or more primary co-operatives may create a " common cooperative " to undertake joint economic, financial or social services.
The primary co-operatives and common co-operatives may form
"general co-operatives". They may also form regional unions or special
unions as well as an Egyptian national co-operative union, provided that
at least 60 per cent, of existing societies become members.
The main aim of the regional and special unions is to promote cooperatives, defend their interests, give advice on management, audit
their accounts, etc. If 60 per cent, or more of all co-operatives within
one region join the appropriate union, all other co-operatives in the area
are obliged to become members. Minimum membership of any union is
ten societies.
Agricultural co-operatives are defined as being those which produce,
store, process or sell agricultural products or provide members with
farming goods and services ; they are open to all farmers.
Some relief may be granted to co-operative societies under Act
No. 128 dated 26 June 1957. Under this legislation co-operatives are
exempted from certain taxes and fees which must normally be paid by
ousiness concerns, e.g. stamp uuty, registration ±ees, pronts tax, etc.
Moreover, agricultural co-operatives are entitled to buy tractors and
other farm machinery free of customs duty on condition that the equipment is solely for their own use.
The National Railway Company grants a 25 per cent, rebate on
freight charges for this equipment and co-operatives are also entitled to
318
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
a discount of at least 5 per cent, on the price of grain, fertilisers and
miscellaneous items purchased through government bodies or the
Agricultural Credit and Co-operative Bank.
While time will show the full effect of this new legislation on cooperative development in Egypt, it appears that the authorities wish to
foster the co-operative movement and give it a certain degree of autonomy,
although the regional offices of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour
are entitled to maintain close control of co-operative activities either
directly or through the regional unions.
Development and Position of Co-operatives.
As in the other countries in North Africa, co-operatives in Egypt have
so far developed mainly among the farmers. They are primarily multipurpose, distributing credit, collecting crops, providing seeds and fertilisers to members. Only few of them are actively engaged in marketing.
Generally they adopt the principle of limited liability, the maximum being
fixed in proportion to the number of shares that each member has
subscribed.
The agricultural co-operatives often engage in social work, such as
improving hygienic conditions, providing cultural services, facilitating
adult education, dispensing medical services, assisting the poor, etc. As
mentioned earlier, the cost of this work is met from allocations from the
annual surplus or from state subsidies.
Table XXVI gives an idea of the development of agricultural cooperatives in Egypt since the promulgation in 1923 of the first law on
co-operatives.
TABLE XXVI. EGYPT: DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL
CO-OPERATIVES, 1925-59
Year
1925
1935
1945
1955
1959 (at 31 May) . .
Societies
Members
139
676
1,641
1,911
3,095
10,673
66,085
545,810
630,000 1*
1,050,00o
The number of farmers in Egypt today is about 2,600,000.
The above table indicates that about 40 per cent, of them are members of
co-operatives, a figure which compares well with those of most other
agricultural co-operative movements in the world.
CO-OPERATIVES
319
With a view to resolving the difficult problem of agricultural credit, a
special scheme has been in operation during the last four years to provide
cheap finance on an extended scale to small farmers. The Agricultural
Credit and Co-operative Bank thus provides short-term and medium-term
loans to local credit organisations, or " village banks ", which have been
founded in selected areas. These banks re-lend to members for production
purposes. The amount of the loans is based on the needs of the farmer
and is granted against security in the crop and not in land as in the past.
The probity, efficiency and farming practices of the applicants are taken
into account when granting loans. The village banks are usually provided
with experienced managers by the Agricultural Credit and Co-operative
Bank, which also supervises their operations.
Consumer co-operatives in Egypt date from the late twenties. They
developed very rapidly during the Second World War, when they were
used for the distribution of rationed goods. This development did not,
however, prove to be permanent. Frequently too many such societies
were founded in the same area, each being too small to form an economic
unit once the special situation created by the War was over. Considerable
attention is now being given to reorganisation. In the big cities they are
being amalgamated into fewer and larger societies in order to have a
sound basis for economic operation. In May 1959 there were 241 consumers' co-operatives in the country. Most of them are members of a
co-operative wholesale society.
The first industrial co-operative society was created some two years
ago in Tahir province for the manufacture of shoes, rubber articles and
clothing. The enterprise is organised and operated on modern lines.
Of the several other types of co-operatives operating in Egypt today
the " school co-operatives " are the most numerous ; 558 such societies
were functioning in 1959, their main objective being to furnish members
with stationery, books and other consumer goods. Their work is encouraged by the authorities, who regard them as a means of spreading
the idea of collective activity among the younger generation.
A special co-operative society has been founded for the distribution of
petroleum products. Its membership consists of both individuals and
co-operatives. At the end of 1957 the society had 16,266 individuals and
453 societies as members. The total turnover that year was £E.16 million.
The Land Reform Law of 1952 has had a direct influence on cooperative development, since, under article 18, all holders of the redistributed land must become members of co-operatives with the following
main functions (article 19): agricultural credit, supply and transport,
organisation and improvement of cultivation, including crop rotation,
and sale of crops.
320
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
The land reform co-operatives depend largely on guidance from the
authorities, in this case the Higher Committee for Agrarian Reform.
The Committee appoints the managers and the technical staff. The
manager is not a member of the board of the co-operative (which is
elected by the members), but he attends its meetings, without the right
to vote but with power to refer any decision of the board to the Higher
Committee. It is envisaged that, as time goes by, and the new landholders
gain in experience and education, the official control of the societies may
be lessened and real responsibility transferred to members. At the end of
1957 there were 159 such societies operating in Egypt; in May 1959 the
number had increased to 298. Under the guidance of the authorities they
seem to have made good progress and to have gained the confidence of
the new landholders.
Secondary co-operatives are gradually expanding their activities. The
National Co-operative Wholesale Society is being reorganised and the
general co-operatives which existed in some regions of the country have
been dissolved and their resources and functions taken over by the
National Society. It is hoped that this Society will soon be able to
start production of consumer goods.
In 1959 there were 17 regional co-operative unions in Egypt. Their
main aim is to promote and control co-operatives and they have gradually
been taking over the functions of audit and supervision from the Ministry
of Social Affairs. The unions have a General Secretariat in Cairo, and
a permanent committee composed of representatives of the unions has
organised General Co-operative Congresses in 1955, 1956 and 1957.
It is hoped that a national union will be created in the near future on
the basis of the experience thus gained.
Libya
Legislation.
Prior to 1956 there were no co-operatives among the indigenous
population in Libya. In October of that year a co-operative law was
enacted and the following year regulations and model by-laws for cooperatives were issued.
The law lays down in general terms the principles of co-operation
and the procedure to be followed in the establishment of co-operatives
(registration, supervision, etc.). It also contains provisions regarding the
exemption of co-operatives from certain taxes, and other privileges. A
government administrative service is responsible for inspection and control of co-operatives, and provisions exist for the establishment of a
Federal Co-operative Advisory Council for the guidance of the
movement.
CO-OPERATIVES
321
A Federal Supervisor of Co-operatives has been named in the
Ministry of Finance, and provincial controllers have been appointed in
at least three provinces. The controllers are to undertake the supervision
and auditing of co-operatives and the training of their staff in technical
matters such as book-keeping. They may have considerable influence on
the management of the co-operatives since, for the time being, adequately
trained co-operative personnel is not available.
Provincial advisory councils have been established in Tripolitania
and Cyrenaica to assist and guide co-operatives which have been created
in these areas.
The Government Agricultural Bank is authorised to provide credit to
the co-operatives at the rate of 5 }4 per cent, per annum. Thanks to this
measure, co-operatives in Libya have been able to develop normally
within the framework of the new legislation.
Development and Position of Co-operatives.
The first co-operatives in Libya were formed by Italian settlers under
the sponsorship of the Italian Government. They were financed through
official channels and were considered as an aid to the colonisation of the
country. These co-operatives were not open to the local population who
had no access to co-operative principles and practices until the promulgation of the 1956 law.
The co-operatives formed since 1956 are mostly of the agricultural
type, usually performing more than one function. In 1959 there were
21 thrift and credit co-operatives, all undertaking a variety of other
activities. They receive deposits from members and non-members,
provide credit to members, sell farming supplies, collect crops for
marketing, and in some cases operate farming machinery for collective
use by members. Seven societies of this type have obtained tractors
which are used by members for ploughing, etc. Membership is mostly
confined to farmers who are themselves owners of land. This is necessary
since a co-operative cannot obtain loans unless it produces securities
in land and consequently the farmers pledge their collective liability
for loans made to the co-operative by credit institutions.
The strength of these co-operatives is still relatively limited. Although
the main emphasis is at present being laid on thrift and credit, it is hoped
that they may gradually become useful instruments in the introduction
of new farming practices in the country.
Six co-operatives for general agricultural purposes were in operation
in 1959. They distribute seed, small farm implements and have started
marketing on a small scale.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Among other co-operatives in Libya there is one for plant protection
and one fishermen's co-operative for distribution of fishing gear and
other necessities. The latter has bought a few motor boats for fishing
and plans to commence fish marketing.
In connection with a project for resettling landless agricultural
workers, a co-operative society has been assigned an important part,
especially in the provision of fertilisers, improved seed and farming implements, and of services such as ploughing land and lending machinery
at harvest time.
At mid-1959 there were 33 registered co-operatives in Libya, having
a total membership of 6,143 and share capital amounting to £L.19,204.
Tunisia
Legislation.
Provident societies1 were first established by a Decree of 20 May
1907. Several changes were made in the structure and functions of these
societies, notably by a Decree of 3 May 1945 which permitted two or more
such societies to join together to form a co-operative. The following
principal functions are now performed by the provident societies:
(a) provision of seed—or money to buy seed—to farmers whose crop
has failed ; these loans may be paid back at the end of the harvest in
ordinary grain, weight for weight, or in cash; (b) subsistence loans to
persons who, for a short period, are unable to earn their living; (c) loans
on security to help the middle classes and free them from resorting to
pawnbrokers, who all too often charge excessive rates of interest;
(d) loans for improving land and developing cultivation, buying new
machines, etc. ; (e) establishment of co-operative societies for different
agricultural purposes within the local units.
The S.T.P. are administered directly by a government department.
Membership is compulsory for the farmers, whose contributions (also
fixed by the authorities) are levied annually, with the taxes. The societies
are organised on a local territorial basis, and their financial resources
derive from: compulsory contributions from members; gifts and legacies,
as well as grants and loans made by the State; funds arising from surpluses on their own operations.
By a Decree of 21 February 1934 the S.T.P. took over the obligations,
and was charged to carry on the functions of a public office for agricultural credit (Office public du crédit agricole indigène). This establishment had been set up by a Decree of 10 June 1925 and provided
short-term loans aimed at improving cultivation and medium-term
1
Originally sociétés indigènes de prévoyance (S.I.P.), later renamed sociétés tunisiennes de prévoyance (S.T.P.).
CO-OPERATIVES
323
loans for permanent improvement to land occupied by the contractor.
Until its dissolution the office was mostly financed through grants and
loans from the State.
In 1905 French settlers founded a society for agricultural credit
under the name of Caisse régionale de la Tunisie. This fund was
registered in accordance with a Decree of 25 May 1905. It was open to
both French and Tunisian farmers alike. The fund did not have any
significant influence on the development of agricultural credit in the
country until after 1930, when legislative action was taken to intensify
its activities and increase the capital at its disposal. The whole structure
of the fund was revised by a Decree of 1 January 1948. The features of
this legislation have been of considerable importance for agricultural
and co-operative development in Tunisia and may therefore be analysed
in some detail.
The decree differentiates between a national fund and local funds.
The local funds, which are associations on the local level, are obliged
to affiliate to a single national fund (originally the Agricultural Mutual
Credit Fund of Tunisia). Both kinds of establishments are co-operatives
and certain fundamental co-operative rules (such as: one man—one
vote) are observed in their administration. Membership of the fund
is open to individuals, co-operatives or other establishments or associations provided their aims or functions are essentially in the field of
agriculture. The aim of the funds is to provide short-, medium- and
long-term loans to their members, and they may, in fact, undertake
banking operations of any kind.
The administration board of the local funds is elected at the annual
general meeting. Before they can become members of the national fund,
the local funds must have their by-laws confirmed by the credit section
of the Department of Finance, and must subscribe to one or more shares
in the national fund.
The administration board of the national fund is elected by representatives of members at the annual general assembly. It is also subject to
control by the credit section referred to and is obliged to check once a
year the operations effected by the local funds.
The National Agricultural Bank has superseded the Agricultural
Mutual Credit Fund, which was wound up in 1959.
Various decrees concerning co-operatives, their functions and duties
were promulgated in Tunisia before the First World War. Mention can
be made here of those concerning agricultural credit (25 May 1905),
consumer societies (1907, amended in 1919), etc. In 1934 a decree was
enacted regarding the caisse de crédit agricole mutuel (Decree of
13 February 1934). This decree established at the same time a legal
324
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
status for agricultural co-operatives. It was also in 1934 that the authorities who hitherto had let the co-operatives develop, so to speak, freely
under their benevolent regard, set up a credit and co-operative service.
This service was, however, dissolved in 1939 and a simple " office "
within the inspectorate of co-operatives was charged with its functions.
In 1945 the service was re-established as an autonomous service within the
Government. A decree regulating artisan co-operatives was enacted
in 1937 (amended 1939). A Decree of 12 October 1945 completed and
amended former ordinances concerning agricultural co-operatives.
Another decree (9 August 1945) defined and limited the term " cooperative ". In 1947 fresh legislation (Decree of 10 September 1947)
established a co-operative charter for all kinds of co-operatives in the
country, setting forth essential principles of co-operation which follow
fairly closely the basic Rochdale principles.
One further item of legislation may be cited here. In virtue of a
Decree of 14 December 1950, co-operatives in Tunisia were allowed
" . . . to undertake revaluation, at their real value, of certain of their
assets and liabilities " (article 1). The revaluation of fixed assets, amortisation, credits and debts in foreign currencies, etc., was subject to
certain limitations, e.g. " the increased value resulting from revaluation
shall be credited to a reserve account. Nevertheless such increased
value may, up to a limit of 50 per cent., be added to the capital, subject to
approval of the Director of Finance " (article 4).
Prior to this legislation, shares subscribed to by members could in
no circumstances be reimbursed at a higher value than the initial amount,
and the constant devaluation made members reluctant to take up shares
in the societies. The 1950 decree—the first of its kind in any country—
went far to reverse this tendency and helped to give the co-operatives
increased financial means through their own funds.
Development and Position of Co-operatives.
Pre-Co-operatives.
The Tunisian Provident Societies (S.T.P.) undertake a number of
functions, such as the provision of credit, buying and selling of agricultural products, promotion of agricultural techniques, introduction of
improved seed, etc. In addition they are legally entitled to create cooperative units in different fields of agricultural activity in Tunisia. It
must be noted, in this connection, that while adherence to the S.T.P. is
compulsory, membership in the co-operative units is entirely voluntary.
The authorities maintain, through the S.T.P., more or less complete
control over these units which are financed by contributions from the
State.
CO-OPERATIVES
325
The units have so far been active on the following lines :
Mechanised farming. Provision of heavy agricultural machinery,
especially machines which the individual farmer cannot make rational
use of and which are maintained and operated by skilled personnel, not
by the farmers themselves. At the beginning of 1957, 40 such units
were functioning in Tunisia and 23 more were in the planning stage.
Dams and irrigation. Building small dams, drilling wells and installing
pumps to irrigate members' land. The units undertake mainly works on a
small scale which do not need a large amount of capital. At the beginning
of 1957, 28 units had been formed. Plans had been laid to set up a
further 68.
Plantations. Units engaged in this work usually undertake to prepare
the cultivation of virgin land that will be irrigated under official plans and
control. Participants are paid for the work they have done during the
preparatory period when the land is distributed to them either in individual lots or collectively. In January 1957, 67 such units were functioning and plans had been made for the formation of 171 more in the near
future.
Co-operatives.
The Agricultural Mutual Credit Fund of Tunisia became, in the
course of the years, one of the biggest financial institutions in the
country. At the end of 1958 this national fund had 46 local funds as
members, which in their turn had a membership of about 2,900 individual
farmers. Deposits that year amounted to 1,791 million francs. In 1954,
21.2 per cent, of the total obligations of the fund were covered by its
own resources.
In 1906 a group of French settlers formed an agricultural association
with the dual aim of developing improved agricultural techniques and of
organising the sale of products and the purchase of fertilisers and
implements. Soon the association divided its activities into two different
sections: for research and commerce respectively; on these lines it separated in 1912 into two societies, namely the Society of Tunisian Farmers
(S.A.T.) and the Central Co-operative of Tunisian Farmers (C.C.A.T.),
of which the second carried on the commercial activities. The C.C.A.T.
engaged at an early stage in grain storage. It built several grain elevators
and installed equipment to counteract a disease which constituted a real
threat to a particular kind of wheat widely grown in Tunisia. Between
1938 and 1942 the C.C.A.T. received annually about 730,000 quintals
of wheat; since 1949 the figure exceeds 1 million quintals yearly. The
maximum theoretical storage capacity is nearly 900,000 quintals and
subscribed capital nearly 270 million francs (1954). In the same year
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
the C.C.A.T. had about 2,700 members of whom only 300 were
Tunisian.
A few other important grain co-operatives exist in Tunisia today,
one of them being engaged mainly in the cultivation, selection and
distribution of selected seed.
The wine growers started at an early date to form co-operatives to
counteract price fluctuations from which they suffer considerably.
Among other things they founded a distillery which permitted greater
variations in production. Later they established the Union of Winegrowing Co-operatives which has had a considerable controlling influence
on the production of wine and on the planning of new vineyards. The
union had in 1957 about 2,030 members (of whom 50 were Tunisian)
and handled the greater part of the national wine production. The
storage capacity available to the union exceeds 550,000 hectolitres.
Another important group of co-operatives has been formed by the
olive growers for the extraction of oil and various other products. In
spite of severe competition these co-operatives have contributed to the
raising and stabilising of prices to the farmers.
Among other co-operative groups in Tunisia are agricultural machinery and stock-breeding co-operatives. Both these groups are likely to
increase in importance as modern methods of cultivation and stockbreeding spread among Tunisian farmers.
In 1957 there were some 35 handicraft co-operatives comprising about
5,000 members. These societies exist for the purchase of raw materials,
the sale and export of finished products, the communal use of machinery
and workshops, etc. They founded a Federation of Tunisian Handicraft
Societies which performed various functions on the sales side, but was
wound up in 1956. Members of this co-operative federation were almost
all of Tunisian nationality.
A general federation of co-operatives in Tunisia was founded in 1946.
It is now known as the Fédération de la Coopération, du Crédit et de la
Mutualité Agricoles de Tunisie. It comprised in 1956 three organisations
(representing 30 societies) and 19 co-operatives. The efforts of this
federation have been mainly directed to the formation of new co-operatives, to helping existing societies with technical advice, etc. The federation publishes a periodical entitled La Tunisie agricole.
As in Morocco, the absence of voluntary thrift and credit organisations is noticeable.
Algeria
Legislation.
Co-operative legislation in Algeria has in many ways followed that of
France. French laws have often been applied in Algeria without change of
CO-OPERATIVES
327
text or with minor amendments to suit local conditions. The French Act
of 10 September 1947, determining for legal purposes the essential
character of co-operation and establishing a general legislative framework
for co-operatives, is applicable to Algeria without any amendment.
Similarly the Decree of 12 October 1945 which constituted, at that time,
the legal basis for agricultural co-operation in France was made applicable to Algeria with only minor changes.1
This close relationship on the legislative plane has had its effects on
the development of co-operatives in Algeria, which has differed somewhat
from the line taken in Tunisia and Morocco. Co-operatives in Algeria
have, for instance, always been open both to settlers of European origin
and to the Algerians themselves. In Algeria the provident societies
developed into more or less genuine co-operatives open to any farmer,
irrespective of origin, willing to contribute to their funds. In Tunisia and
Morocco these institutions are still restricted to the indigenous farmers.
Generally speaking, the administration in Algeria has been strongly
in favour of co-operatives. Various financial resources have been open
to them and their members, and they have been exempted from certain
taxes. The very first societies, founded by settlers, could, for example,
obtain loans on long or medium terms at a very reduced rate of interest
(2 per cent.) for investment in installations, equipment, etc. In the
agricultural sector this assistance was especially important, since it
enabled new societies immediately to establish such services as were
necessary for their effective functioning. In the beginning these facilities
were no doubt created to help the settlers, but since the co-operatives were
also open to Algerians, the latter have in general benefited considerably
from this policy.
Legislation on provident societies in Algeria goes back to 1893, when
a law was adopted (14 April 1893) on indigenous Provident and Mutual
Aid Societies (S.I.P.). The S.I.P. were organised on a territorial basis.
The buildings and equipment required for their operation were the property of the commune and their administration was entirely in the hands
of representatives of the Government. Membership was compulsory for
all Algerian cultivators and annual contributions were collected simultaneously with taxes.
The number of S.I.P. grew from 135 in 1900 to 208 in 1910, membero-Lup luvii/aaiiig m uK; Same p c i i u u i i v m a u u u i JJO,UUU LU j*tvi,uuu.
However, certain shortcomings soon became apparent. Firstly, being
entirely local organisations without a central fund for financial co-ordination, some S.I.P. soon found themselves with considerable resources
1
A. P. LEYVAL: La coopération agricole en Algérie (Algiers, 1956), p. 42.
328
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
while others had hardly any. Secondly, their resources per member
always remained very insignificant and although some ad hoc contributions came from the State these were only sufficient to provide short-term
loans in times of distress.
During the period 1933-46 legislation regarding the S.I.P. was
amended and supplemented. By the Act of 19 July 1933 a common
fund for the S.I.P. was created to facilitate provision of credit; the S.I.P.
were authorised by the Act of 15 August 1936 to found wheat cooperatives within the scope of an official institution; and a Decree of
27 April 1942 permitted them to handle other agricultural products
besides wheat.
In 1952 completely new legislation (Decree of 28 August 1952) gave
the S.I.P. a structure which ranked them with genuine co-operatives in
Algeria. At the same time their name was changed to Agricultural
Provident Societies (S.A.P.).
The S.A.P. are voluntary organisations open to any ethnic group
residing in Algeria.1 They are organised in units more or less on a
geographical basis. Each unit contains sectors for the different functions
undertaken (credit sector, cereals sector, etc.). At the annual general
meeting of the unit the members elect the board of directors and the
chairman, who must be elected by a secret ballot. The administrative
council of the S.A.P. is composed of a chairman appointed by the
Governor-General of Algeria, chairmen of the local sectors, and a few
individuals of known competence engaged in agricultural activities,
appointed by the Prefect.
The S. A.P. have two main functions : provision of any form of credit
to cultivators; and buying, selling, storage, processing, etc., of agricultural
products. They are financed through their own resources and through
loans provided by a central S.A.P. fund.
In June 1959 the agricultural co-operative sectors were founded as part
of the Constantine development plan. These sectors are established by
the S.A.P. under their tutelage but are intended to develop into full
co-operatives and thus become an integral part of the co-operative
movement.
The first legislation on co-operatives was enacted in 1909 (Act of
26 February 1909) and concerned exclusively agricultural co-operatives.
This legislation provided a general statute for farmers' co-operatives
(which had existed in the country since 1906) and authorised public
financial institutes to furnish them loans on a long-term basis. The
1
See Fonds commun des sociétés agricoles de prévoyance, 1954 (Blida, Imprimerie
A. Mauguin, 1954).
CO-OPERATIVES
329
authorities thereby indicated their desire to foster the co-operative movement and provide favourable conditions for it to become established.
This law was considerably amended by the Act of 26 November 1925 and
again by the Decree of 8 January 1947. This last decree was further
amended in 1954 (Decree of 15 February 1954) and gave the co-operatives
a legal framework which was more flexible and better adapted to local
conditions.
Under this legislation, the main objective of agricultural co-operatives
is to " perform or facilitate all operations related to the production,
processing, storage and marketing of agricultural and forest produce,
originating exclusively from the holdings of their members " (article 2).
The decree envisages the creation of unions or federations, to which
local S.A.P. may adhere if so allowed by the authorities. Similarly it
provides for the establishment of an Algerian Council for Agricultural
Co-operation, which the Governor-General may consult on all questions concerning co-operatives, which he considers the council is
competent to handle (especially model by-laws of co-operatives and
unions). The law also established a committee which may be consulted
for advice on the drawing up of by-laws, on registration of co-operatives
and unions, etc.
The law specifies the business to be transacted at the annual general
meetings of co-operatives and imposes certain requirements which cooperatives must fulfil prior to registration. The co-operatives are
obliged to use the model by-laws adopted by the Algerian Council for
Agricultural Co-operation. The minimum number of persons required
to create a co-operative is seven, except in the case of those formed for the
use of agricultural machinery where only four members are required
(article 9). Any person engaged in agriculture may become a member of
an agricultural co-operative. A co-operative may also accept " users "
provided that the by-laws of the society contain rules concerning their
participation in its services and in the costs of management. The users,
however, cannot subscribe shares or benefit from dividends. Members
subscribe shares on which dividends cannot be paid but which may bear
interest up to a maximum of 6 per cent.
In case of dissolution of an agricultural co-operative its assets, if any,
must be distributed to one or several agricultural co-operatives or
unions, or used to finance any development programme in the rurai
areas. The agricultural societies and their unions are subject to supervision by the Governor-General of Algeria.
This legislation leaves the co-operatives fairly free from official
intervention in their operations. It keeps them open to agriculturists in
Algeria without ethnic restriction, and enables their services to be used
330
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
by those who, for one reason or another, wish to draw upon them
without being members.
The basic co-operative legislation in Algeria is otherwise contained
in the French Act of 10 September 1947 which, in its entirety, is applicable in Algeria. Co-operative societies are, unless subject to special
legislation, administered in accordance with this legislation which has
three chapters: the definition of a co-operative society; co-operative
principles and their application; the legal protection of the term "cooperative ".
Provisions which have special importance in Algeria concern firstly
the principle of democratic management (each member can have only
one vote at the general assembly) and secondly the principle of free
admittance. The law allows only modest interest on shares, whereas
dividends on volume of business are authorised. In addition it is
envisaged that co-operatives may undertake mixed functions for members
either in the form of buying, selling, or processing products or by providing services. Co-operatives are also entitled to form unions.
Algerian legislation on co-operatives since 1947 has followed closely
this basic legal statute, with only slight variations due to conditions
peculiar to Algeria.
The mutual credit funds are governed by a Decree of 26 November
1925 which describes them as " co-operative societies ". The legislation
of 1925 and amendments of 1935 (Legislative Decree of 4 October 1935)
are largely based on French law. As in France, these institutions are
organised on a voluntary basis for the provision of credit to farmers.
Members may be farmers, professional syndicates, various agricultural
co-operatives and similar associations. They are obliged to be members
of the Algerian Mutual Credit Fund for Agriculture (C.A.C.A.M.),
which is a public institution, although the local funds participate to a
limited extent in its administration.
Finally, mention must be made of two types of association which
follow more or less the customary co-operative pattern. These are
mutual insurance funds and agricultural syndicates. The former are
governed by a Decree of 23 August 1904, as amended. The latter are
governed by the French Acts of 21 March 1884 and 12 March 1920.
The insurance funds accept all kinds of risks in the agricultural field:
fire, hail, death of cattle, etc., and have from the very start received
substantial support from the State.
The syndicates are authorised to sell and buy agricultural products,
implements and other necessities for members; they differ from genuine
co-operatives in many ways, notably since they are not allowed to pay
dividends to members on the volume of business.
CO-OPERATIVES
331
Development and Position of Co-operatives.
Pre-Co-operatives.
In view of the legal changes which occurred in 1952, and which have
been mentioned above, reference may here be made to the development
of the provident societies (S.A.P.). There were, in 1957,105 such societies
in Algeria with about 500,000 members. They cover the whole of the
country; each society is subdivided into sectors to facilitate operations
In all, 750 such sectors have been established. In 1956 the S.A.P.
handled nearly 300,000 quintals of wheat and about 370,000 quintals of
barley and corn. These operations are conducted on the basis of advance payment to farmers and are financed through the C.A.C.A.M.
in conditions which are prescribed by the legislation.
To the S.A.P. are attached the Rural Improvement Sectors (S.A.R.).
In 1956, 220 such sectors existed in different parts of the country.
There is a noticeable difference in the functions of the two organisations: the S.A.P. concentrate on assisting the advancement of the fanners
in the business field by facilitating the marketing of their products, by
providing credit, organising co-operatives, and affording other forms of
mutual help. The S.A.R. on the other hand carry through programmes
elaborated by the authorities and aimed more specifically at introducing
new and more rational methods in agriculture and stock-breeding
through model farms directed by experts in agriculture, and by giving
financial help on either an individual or collective basis for improvements
in these fields.
The S.A.R., as well as other activities of the S.A.P., are financed
through contributions of members and through advances made by the
authorities either as direct subsidy or in the form of loans through the
S.A.P. mutual fund.
The most effective media for co-operative development in Algeria
have been the different financial institutions formed by the farmers.
These institutions have, in turn, received generous aid and encouragement from the administration. In the beginning the provident societies
were the only source of credit available to the indigenous population.
They were, however, greatly handicapped in the beginning since they
were unable to form secondary organisations and could only make loans
on a short-term basis. This situation was amended by creating a mutual
fund for the provident societies which is authorised to make short-,
medium- and long-term loans to members. In addition to the contributions made by the S.A.P. the mutual fund receives considerable financial
aid from the Government either in the form of direct loans or guarantees.
In 1954 the mutual fund could borrow with the guarantee of the State
332
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
and re-lend to members a total of 5,000 million francs to finance up
to 2,000 million francs of short-term, 2,000 million medium-term and
1,000 million of long-term loans and for the year 1954-55 it received
450 million francs in direct loans from the State to finance its various
obligations. The fund maintains a very low rate of interest on all loans.
The importance of the fund and its development may be seen from the
fact that in 1949 it made loans totalling 747,898,029 francs, an amount
which in 1954 had increased to 2,628,554,066 francs. Of this amount
65.7 per cent, were short-term loans and 25.3 per cent, and 9 per cent.
loans granted on medium- and long-term bases respectively.1
Co-operatives.
The most important co-operative financial institution in Algeria is
the Mutual Agricultural Credit Fund, which, through 22 regional funds
subdivided into 160 local funds, constitutes a real banking system for the
farmers in the country. The origin of the local funds goes back to the
beginning of this century when settlers of French origin formed a few of
them in accordance with French legislation, applicable in Algeria. At
the end of 1957 the local funds had 53,790 members of whom 21,325
were of European origin and 32,465 Algerians and the total deposits
amounted to 31,927 million francs. Total loans that year amounted to
66,813,293,534 francs for the following activities: (a) cultivation;
(b) short-term loans to finance the various crops (mostly granted to
co-operatives and S.A.P.) ; (c) purchase and operation of agricultural
machinery; (d) irrigation, soil improvement, land reclamation and other
reform schemes; (e) building.
Another credit institution is the Crédit Populaire, which provides
credit to artisans, traders and industry as well as certain types of
co-operatives.
Mutual insurance establishments were founded in Algeria as early
as 1906. Their main aim was to insure farmers against risks such as
hail, fire, loss of herds, accidents, etc. These societies, which were
started in the form of professional syndicates, had many difficulties to
overcome and were assisted by the authorities to surmount the initial
period. These bodies are now organised in local insurance funds which
are in turn members of a central fund, created in 1907. This establishment is the stronghold of the Central Reinsurance Fund for Agricultural
Mutual Societies in North Africa, whose activities spread over Algeria,
Tunisia and Morocco. This fund had, in 1956, 35 member-societies
representing about 20,000 individuals.
1
Fonds commun des sociétés agricoles de prévoyance, 1954, op. cit.
CO-OPERATIVES
333
An important group of co-operatives in Algeria is the wine cooperatives. The first societies of this type were formed as early as 1906,
three years before the introduction of co-operative legislation. In 1914
there were 16 wine co-operatives; by 1947 the number had grown to
95 and by 1957 to 188, with about 7,000 members and about 400 nonmembers (users). These co-operatives processed 3,510,958 quintals of
grapes in 1957 and nine distilleries produced 66,506 hectolitres of alcohol.
At the end of 1957 there were 31 grain co-operatives in Algeria.
They undertake three main functions : improvement of seed by providing
means for selection and standardisation of seed; organisation of the
marketing of crops with a view to obtaining the best price and to keep
price fluctuations at a minimum; and provision of storage.
Two kinds of grain stores are provided; local stores with a capacity
limited to 10,000-15,000 quintals and larger regional silos. The grain
co-operatives handle every year well over 50 per cent, of the total grain
crop of the country.
The cultivation of tobacco in Algeria is limited to the coastal area.
There are three main centres for this type of agriculture, namely Bòne,
Kabilie and the plain of Mitidja. Each centre has formed a co-operative,
commonly called " Tabacoop ", which handles the entire production
of each region. Members are obliged to deliver the whole of their crop
to the " Tabacoop " which attends to the marketing. In 1957 the three
"Tabacoop" sold 133,124 quintals of tobacco mainly to the Régie
française des tabacs.
On 31 December 1958 there were 568 co-operatives in Algeria
distributed geographically as follows: 278 in the Algiers area; 212 in the
Oran area; and 78 in the Constantine area.
The breakdown of these co-operatives by main types was as follows :
citrus products and vegetables, 14; supplies, 46; wine depots, 187;
cereals, 32; tobacco warehouses, 3; distilleries, 8; oil mills, 9; dairies, 7;
farm equipment, 219; federations of cereal co-operatives, 28; miscellaneous federations, 5. There were 66,361 members of whom 35,957 were
Europeans and 30,404 were Moslems; the number of users totalled
12,727 of whom 4,335 were Europeans and 8,392 were Moslems.
Most agricultural co-operatives in Algeria are members of a Federation, founded in 1947. In 1955, 530 co-operatives were attached to the
i'cueration, ine main ìunctions o± wuiCu are to represent members
officially and to protect their interests whenever necessary.
There are also 128 housing co-operatives; 50 for medium-rent
housing and 78 for Algerian housing. These co-operatives were responsible for about 12 per cent, of housing construction in Algeria in
1959.
334
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Six fishermen's co-operatives provide important services to their
members through buying of supplies and repairing of fishing gear and
implements. These societies come under the jurisdiction of the Service
for Fishery and Maritime Credit. The fishermen's co-operatives receive
credit through a regional credit fund in Algiers which itself is a member of
a French maritime credit fund. Six funds deal with the distribution of
credit locally.
Finally, mention should be made of 250 school co-operatives with
about 54,000 members, mostly located in the region of Algiers.
Information on other types of non-agricultural co-operatives in
Algeria is very limited. Attempts have been made to establish consumers' co-operatives but apparently with little success; it appears that
in 1957 only three such societies existed, all of them in Algiers. A few
artisan co-operatives created during the Seocnd World War disappeared
when the supply of goods became normal again; similarly, a few workers'
co-operatives founded at different times found it difficult to maintain
their activities. Generally speaking it seems that renewed, comprehensive
efforts are still needed to promote the development of co-operatives
outside the agricultural sector.
Morocco
Legislation.
It is not possible to describe the development of the co-operative
movement in Morocco without referring first to several pre-co-operative
organisations established at an earlier stage. These organisations have to
some extent been used to spread genuine co-operative organisations
among the Moroccans themselves and to promote new techniques and
new ways of life among them.
The first of these institutions were the Provident Societies (S.I.P.),
now known as sociétés de crédit agricole et de prévoyance (S.O.C.A.P.),
which are regional provident organisations introduced in Morocco by
Dahir of 26 August 1917 on the Algerian model. Although the law
underwent a few amendments, the principal aims of the S.O.C.A.P. have
remained basically unchanged: mutual assistance in case of distress; provision of agricultural credit; improved agricultural techniques by making
available modern agricultural tools to the Moroccans ; mutual insurance
against fire, hail, etc.; they could also form co-operatives for buying,
selling or processing agricultural products of members.
The S.O.C.A.P. derive their finances from a compulsory contribution
levied on the Moroccan farmers along with the general taxes. They may
also receive gifts and legacies, and are allotted financial assistance in the
form of loans from the State. The administrative council is made up of
CO-OPERATIVES
335
officials and by two or three members appointed by each local council.
The latter is under the direct responsibility of the local authorities.
However, at least half its membership must be composed of the more
progressive farmers in the locality. A supervisory committee surveys the
functions of the S.O.C.A.P., lays down its policy and activities. This
committee can veto decisions taken by local councils.
In the administrative council the representative of the supervisory
authority assists the chairman of the S.O.C.A.P. in his functions and
countersigns all decisions of the council.
At the present time these bodies are operating as mutual benefit
societies. Each fellah is automatically a member and his annual dues are
in proportion to his income, but no matter how small his contribution,
he is entitled to a loan under the general regulations. In this way, the
big and medium farmers enable the small farmers to obtain the loans
they need, which would be impossible if contributions had to be in proportion to the amount of the loan.
A Dahir of 24 April 1937 permitted the establishment of wheat cooperatives (C.I.B.), their functions being : " The purchase, storage, conditioning, processing and sale of crops originating exclusively from
members of the Indigenous Provident Societies belonging to the cooperative." The C.I.B. were also authorised " to undertake operations
related to the purchase, storage, conditioning and sale of cereals and
other agricultural produce, goods and materials, required for cultivation
or consumption and intended for the Indigenous Provident Societies,
whether or not the latter were members ".
The C.I.B. can only be formed by two or more S.O.C.A.P. and the
legislation does not allow them to pay interest on shares or dividend on
transactions. Through his provident society every Moroccan farmer is
entitled to benefit from the services of the C.I.B. of the area in which his
holding is located.
By a Dahir of 15 March 1943 the C.I.B. changed their name to
Agricultural Co-operatives (C.I.A.). No change was made in their
structure, but their activities were extended to include any other agricultural products beside wheat.
During the War and until the end of 1948 the C.I.A. were extensively
used by the authorities to assist in the collection of grain from the
Moroccan fanners in order to hinder speculation and provide grain
for the towns at a minimum price fixed by the Government. During this
period the farmers were compelled to deliver grain over and above
personal requirements to the C.I.A. The C.I.A. had their name changed
again in 1954 to Moroccan Agricultural Co-operatives (C.M.A.) but
their functions remained unchanged.
336
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
A Dahir of 1 June 1931 established regional funds for thrift and
agricultural credit which were subsequently renamed Moroccan regional
thrift and credit funds (C.R.E.M.E.C.). Although strictly speaking these
funds cannot be regarded as pre-co-operative societies, they deserve mention here because they are the first attempt to encourage saving among
the Moroccans themselves. Besides being thrift societies, the regional
funds were authorised to contract short- and medium-term loans for
financing agricultural activity, to pay off old debts, to undertake financial
operations for members, and to provide insurance against fire, hail, loss
of herds, accidents, etc.
The income of the C.R.E.M.E.C. is derived from advances made by
the Central Thrift and Credit Fund and they grant medium-term loans
(maximum five years) of from 250 to 750,000 francs. These loans can be
increased to 2,500,000 francs for the purchase of large items of equipment; for certain loans the approval of the Central Fund is necessary.
Normally there are no long-term loans, although a largely theoretical
exception is allowed in favour of ex-servicemen (30 years), families
wishing to purchase some major asset (20 years), members of the
S.O.C.A.P., and all communities situated within large irrigated areas
(15 years).
The management committees of the regional funds for thrift and
agricultural credit were composed of a number of officials, the regional
manager and Moroccan members of the committee of the local agricultural credit and provident society.
These funds receive money from the S.O.C.A.P., the State and other
sources, and the Government provides certain facilities free of charge.
Ultimate control is in the hands of the administration.
As can be seen from the above, the C.M.A. (formerly C.I.A.) can
only be established by two or several S.O.C.A.P. However, to facilitate
their evolution to a more genuine co-operative form, the Government
ruled in 1950 that local C.M.A. societies might be dissolved and reconstituted under the name of Moroccan Agricultural Co-operative Societies
(S.C.A.M.). The latter type of society, governed by the Dahir of 8 June
1938, as amended by Dahir of 19 May 1939, may have mixed membership: (a) S.O.C.A.P.; (b) individual Moroccan cultivators; (c) official
institutions for the promotion of agricultural techniques and improved
social conditions. Individual members of the S.C.A.M. may subscribe
to share capital, participate in the annual general meeting, hold office in
the societies, and are entitled to a share in the distribution of dividends.
The functions of the S.C.A.M. remain the same as those of the C.M.A.
with the difference that they store or buy the crops, whereas the C.M.A.
are buyers only.
CO-OPERATIVES
337
It should be noted that the S.C.A.M. do not apply one widely accepted co-operative rule, viz. one member—one vote. The S.O.C.A.P.
societies dispose usually of three-fifths of the total votes in each S.C.A.M.,
the rest being divided between individuals and official institutions. This
arrangement may, however, vary from one society to another.
The Dahir of 13 February 1922 constituted the first co-operative
legislation in Morocco. This Dahir (amended by Dahir of 10 April
1931) laid down rules for consumers' co-operatives. These rules concerned : (a) the nature of such societies ; (b) the operations they may
undertake; (c) payment of interest to members; (d) formation of a
union or unions by these societies. They also made stipulations as to the
administration of the societies and distribution of loans from the State.
This legislation was based largely on similar measures in France. Although the consumers' co-operatives were open to both European and
Moroccan membership they failed to develop, and in particular their
Moroccan membership has always been negligible.
The Dahir of 20 August 1935, also based on co-operative legislation
in France, provided the foundation for multiple credit and agricultural
co-operation in Morocco. As was the case with the consumers' cooperatives, although some individual Moroccan farmers adhered to
agricultural societies formed on the basis of this legislation by the French
settlers, their participation was never of great importance.
In the absence of legislation making specific provision for the formation of co-operatives amongst the Moroccan population as such, the
first Moroccan co-operative created in 1934 byfishermenin the Souss was
formed and registered as a limited company. Similarly the second cooperative established in 1935 was registered as a simple association of
persons in accordance with Moslem law.
This situation led to a report being made by the then Chief of the
Co-operation Service of the International Labour Office (Mr. M.
Colombain), on the possibilities of establishing co-operatives among the
Moroccan population. This report, the conclusions of which stressed the
dire need for suitable co-operative legislation in the country, was used as
a basis for further study by the local authorities, and special legislation
was enacted by the Dahir of 8 June 1938, which was supplemented
on 19 May 1939 and amended on 24 April 1950. This body of legislation
and the Dahir of 1947 on co-operative unions constitute the legal base
for co-operatives among the Moroccans today.
The legislation of 1938 marks a turning point as regards official policy
concerning co-operation in Morocco. Until then co-operatives were
regarded more or less as institutions from which the settlers alone could
benefit; whereas it was compulsory for the Moroccan farmers to be
338
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
members of the pre-co-operative organisations, which the members
undoubtedly considered as part of the administrative machinery;
moreover, the importance of voluntary forms of association in promoting economic and social development among the Moroccans did not
appear to be adequately recognised. The new legislation based on the
Colombain report, however, provides for: (a) formation of co-operatives
among the artisans, for the buying and repair of tools, installations,
machines, etc., or any other aim in the interest of the artisans and other
organisations; (b) similar facilities for farmers; (c) membership of
individuals although S.O.C.A.P. were entitled to become members;
(d) provision of loans by the local and central thrift and provident
funds to societies duly formed under the law.
The law contains regulations concerning registration, examination of
by-laws prior to registration and control of operations by the authorities.
It also defines which administrative services are concerned with the
supervision of co-operatives formed in accordance with the law.
The Dahir of 1950 permits the co-operatives to contract loans in
advance on the produce they have in stock. This permission was of
primary importance for these societies since they cannot, from their own
financial means, give members advance payment on the crop or on
finished products.
A Dahir authorising the establishment of workers' production
co-operative societies is now being drafted.
Some Moroccan co-operatives are not registered under any legislation mentioned above. They have been formed as simple associations,
registered locally according to Moslem law or local Berber custom.
These societies cannot obtain loans from official sources, their by-laws
are simplified to the extreme and official supervision is limited. However,
they have in many cases helped to establish certain services which are
beyond the means of the individual farmer or artisan.
Development and Position of Co-operatives.
Pre-co-operatives.
The S.O.C.A.P. comprised, in 1930, 52 regional societies with a total
membership of about 700,000. The same year they planned to lend
33 million francs to members. In 1950-51 there were 65 of these societies
with an estimated 1,200,000 members. The loans that year amounted to
slightly more than 1,000 million francs. In 1957 there were 67 societies
with about 1,500,000 members.
The development of the C.M.A. and the S.C.A.M. has been continuous. In 1937-38 they received from farmers a total of 170,018
quintals of different agricultural products. This grew to 1,402,968 quintals
CO-OPERATIVES
339
in 1950, and 2,692,124 quintals in 1955 but fell to 1,168,791 in 1957-58.1
The societies have a network of grain elevators with a total capacity of
well over 2,200,000 quintals. In 1957-58 there were seven S.C.A.M. with
39 S.O.C.A.P. societies and 5,545 individuals as members.
The total subscribed capital in the S.C.A.M. societies in 1957 was
890,550,000 francs of which roughly 10 per cent., or 82,440,000, was
subscribed by the individual members (about 14,700 francs per member)
while the remaining 808,110,000 was put up by the S.O.C.A.P.
Co-operatives.
The first co-operative was established, as mentioned above, in 1934 by
a number of fishermen in the Souss area. At the height of its activities
(1938) this society had 1,610 members and handled 1,712 tons of fish.
Development of trawlfishingfrom Agadir, however, made the members
leave their own boats for work on the trawlers, and the society was dissolved in 1950. The development of the second co-operative established
in 1935 to mill corn for a particular district followed the same pattern. It
started with four mills which processed 3,000 quintals in one year, and the
membership reached 435. Due to certain technical difficulties caused by
the Second World War it ceased to function in 1944.
By the end of 1938, the year in which a new legal basis was laid down
for the formation of co-operatives in Morocco, 26 co-operatives of
different types had been established, although a few of them were
registered according to Moslem law. In 1940 there were 37 societies; this
number had increased to 61 by 1945. It is interesting to note how the
co-operatives gradually developed among different occupational classes
of the nation. The forest workers were among the first to take action,
followed by artisans, fishermen and farmers. This penetration into
different layers of the economy may be seen more clearly from
table XXVII on co-operatives functioning in 1951-52 and 1955-56.
The estimated total membership in 1955-56 was approximately
50,000.
The oil mills appear to be the most active societies. The quantity of
olives processed increased from 1,902 tons in 1944 (309 tons of oñ) to
13,874 tons in 1955 (2,558 tons of oil). In 1955 these societies had a
total capital of 86,179,200 francs of which 68,530,700 came from members' subscriptions, the remainder having been paid by agricultural
co-operative and provident societies.
By the end of 1955 the mechanised farming societies owned 17 tractors, 11 harvesters, four threshing machines and other equipment.
1
It seems likely that the fall in contributions of farm products in 1957-58 was
mainly due to a poor harvest.
340
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
TABLE XXVn.
MOROCCO: NUMBER OF CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES,
BY CATEGORY, IN 1951-52 AND 1955-56
Category
1951-52
1955-56
15 !
3
14 a
17
15 x
Oil-mills
Charcoal
Handicrafts
Mechanised cultivation.
Special products
(almonds, etc.) . . .
Forest workers . . . .
Fishermen
Various
Total . . .
4
33
Ia
3
60
1
Including one union founded by three societies.
Moslem law. " Registered under Moslem law.
24
11
3
3 s3
I
4
61
* Two registered under
As regards training, the agricultural training centres (formerly
S.M.P.) constitute, in fact, practical schools in agricultural co-operation
and a number of suggestions have been put forward for bringing these
centres closer to the co-operative pattern.
An agricultural co-operative school is now being formed for the
accelerated training of members and of managers of agricultural cooperatives.
CONCLUSIONS
From the foregoing pages it will have been seen that co-operatives in
North Africa have enjoyed considerable government assistance and that
this has been of primary importance for the development of the movement. Comprehensive legislation has been provided, financial aid
granted and the necessary guidance and supervision furnished to the
co-operatives. The authorities have recognised the usefulness of cooperative associations in both the economic and social fields. Cooperatives have been given an outstanding role in facilitating rural credit,
in introducing new and more advanced agricultural methods, and
establishing new and more effective marketing systems. They perform
important functions in agrarian reform plans, in the settlement of landless agricultural labour, and in soil conservation schemes. On the social
side the co-operatives constitute media for the spread of fundamental
adult education, for improved hygiene, and generally for raising living
standards among the people.
There is still, however, considerable scope for further action and
expansion by co-operatives in the region. Thus, in most of the countries
CO-OPERATIVES
341
concerned, there appears to be ample scope for the promotion of thrift
in co-operative forms among more members of the population who
traditionally live from hand to mouth and turn frequently or habitually
to the moneylender. Thrift and credit co-operatives can be an effective
means of lessening the burden of debt thus incurred, and of teaching the
people the real value and useful application of money, particularly as
regards its investment in productive as opposed to unproductive forms.
Thrift and credit co-operatives may also serve as a useful introduction
to further co-operative development. They are relatively simple in
organisation and can be run by people with limited technical knowledge.
Experience gained through work in thrift societies can help to prepare
people for active participation in societies where more skill and knowledge is needed.
Still more can be done to enhance the utility of co-operatives in other
spheres of rural life. The supply of fertilisers, farming implements and
the like can be further extended, and marketing of agricultural products
can be undertaken on an increased scale, either by individual primary
co-operatives of by groups of them. In areas where the holdings are
small, central stations for collective use of agricultural machinery can be
established, preferably in connection with agricultural advisory services
provided by the State.
The co-operative movement has so far been slow to develop in
most urban areas in North Africa. Relatively few consumers' societies
exist and, on the whole, their efficiency has not yet reached a very high
level. However, their practical value for the urban population should
not be underestimated, since they can be a valuable means of curbing
excessive prices and improving services to the consumer. It will, of
course, be necessary for them to evolve the methods of distribution and
organisation best adapted to local conditions. Thrift and savings
societies have also an important part to play in the urban areas where
the services of banks are not easily available to, or understood by, the
man in the street.
The housing situation in both urban and rural areas in North Africa
is a difficult and urgent problem which the governments are trying to
solve in different ways. In this connection, too, co-operative methods
may be used effectively in the formation of self-help organisations to
build low-cost houses for factory workers and other savings-conscious
categories. In some cases members of such co-operatives may be able
to do part of the building work themselves, under expert guidance, thus
reducing costs. Similar methods might be found applicable in rural
areas where the need for improved housing is just as acute as in the
towns.
342
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
There is also the problem of small industries and handicrafts;
wherever they have been outstripped by developments in technology,
marketing and organisation or have failed to appreciate the opportunities
offered by a changing pattern of living with its changed consumer
demands, adherence to their traditional tools and methods places them
on the defensive, with little prospect of meeting the competition offered
by large-scale production. These small industries, with their inherited
skills and spirit of initiative could nevertheless contribute in large
measure to the general economic development. One of the ways of
improving their position would be the pooling of their individual resources
through co-operative action in areas where this would seem to offer
considerable advantages. Thus, they could benefit by co-operative
buying and selling, use of production and processing facilities, and
development and exploitation of their resources.
Reference has been made in the introduction to this chapter to the
particular importance of an enlightened membership and well-trained
managers and personnel to the sound functioning of a co-operative
movement. It is appropriate to repeat this point here, since the process
of education and training in co-operatives must of necessity be a continuous one, and must itself be constantly adapted to changing conditions in general and the evolution of the co-operative movement in
particular.
CHAPTER X
HANDICRAFTS
GENERAL
When studying the development of handicrafts in North Africa it is
necessary to draw a distinction between traditional crafts on the one hand
and modern crafts on the other. Traditional crafts are commonly divided
into two categories: art work and utility crafts. The former group includes embroidery, carving in wood or leather, carpet making, etc. On
the utility side are some kinds of carpet making, textiles, shoes, etc.
The modern crafts have been evolved to meet the needs of development
in industry and transport such as repair of machinery and automobile
maintenance. In all the five countries of North Africa this group is still
the least developed and little information is available on its importance
in the national economy.
Towards the end of the last century when North Africa was beginning to come under foreign influence, handicrafts were still an important factor in the economic and social Ufe. A substantial proportion
of the population derived its living from handicrafts and the artisans were
usually considered one of the most prosperous elements of the population.
Successive changes in the political and economic situation considerably influenced the day-to-day life of the people, their occupations
and trades. Imported goods competed strongly with home-made wares,
and handicraft trades began to lose their share of their home market. To be
able to compete with imported goods, the artisans were obliged to lower
their prices, which meant that they had to lower their standard of living,
use less expensive material or give less finish to their work. The artistic
value and, at the same time, the marketing qualities of the goods diminished considerably. Originality of design and regional characteristics
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The utility crafts had more serious difficulties. Artisan-made cloth,
for example, tended to be more expensive than the imported one;
European-made blankets were cheaper than those made locally. Important changes also took place in consumer habits. Fashions in clothing
altered considerably in urban and even in rural areas. Imported cloth
344
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
tended to replace home-made utility textiles. The question of quality and
uniformity also had some influence. The artisans started to use imported
leather to produce certain articles; it was both cheaper and the quality
more uniform than could be obtained by traditional methods. The
artisans did not have the means, either technical or financial, to keep
pace with these changes ; as a result handicrafts were not able to maintain
their former position in the national economy, or to provide additional
jobs for the fast-increasing population.
Another important factor affecting the position of handicrafts has
been the development of medium-sized and large-scale industries in the
area. These new industries need skilled and semi-skilled manpower on
an ever-increasing scale and in North Africa this can only be found among
the artisans. These are therefore tempted to leave their trades, especially
trades which provide low income and are generally in difficulties, to seek
work in factories. Rural artisans finding it difficult to obtain full-time
employment in the exercise of their old trades have, similarly, joined in
the exodus from rural to urban areas.
Later in this chapter examples will be given of government measures
to preserve and promote handicrafts. It will be seen that Egypt is much
concerned with protecting and developing rural industries as a measure
in providing full-time employment in rural areas. The aim is not only to
preserve and develop what exists, but at the same time to introduce new
industries in connection with other development schemes for the rural
areas. In Libya an effort is being made to teach new crafts and improve
those which still exist. The Government of Tunisia is trying to provide
services to maintain and develop traditional crafts and to make them
competitive with imported goods both in price and quality. A great
effort is being undertaken to modernise the utility trades, to increase the
skill of the artisans, and to standardise and increase production. These
measures have met with success, especially in the field of art work, and it
has been possible to develop a considerable export trade to different
countries throughout the world. The line of development has been
similar in Algeria although utility crafts have, until now, been given only
secondary priority, the main emphasis being laid on traditional crafts of
high artistic value. It is estimated that the export of traditional handicraft
goods from Algeria could be doubled and in some cases even tripled.
The Government of Morocco is taking vigorous measures to restore
handicrafts to their former importance, and, as in Tunisia and Algeria,
good results have been obtained in the field of traditional crafts. There
seems now, however, to be a real crisis in utility crafts such as textiles,
tanning, shoe-making, etc. Competition from large- and medium-scale
industries is strongly felt and here also changes in consumer habits are an
HANDICRAFTS
345
important factor. The number of artisans in Morocco appears to have
fallen appreciably over the past ten to 15 years. Although some of them
have found work in modern industries, the underemployment now found
in almost all occupations (60 per cent, for handicrafts as a whole)
sometimes reaches alarming proportions in certain branches.
In each country of the region the Governments have created agencies
and services for the promotion of existing handicrafts by teaching new
production techniques, providing credit, undertaking research work, etc.
The problems which these agencies and services are trying to solve are
similar in all five countries and it may be pertinent at this point to
analyse separately the more important of these difficulties.
Occupational Skill
Although there is a considerable reservoir of craft skills in the region
there is still a great need for additional professional training. The first
step is probably to give professional training to artisans already working
in a trade with a view to teaching them new techniques, more rational use
of raw materials, better organisation, use of new machinery, etc. In
addition there is the problem of apprenticeship. The traditional craft
training of artisans took place within the workshop; the master taught the
apprentice, often his own son, his trade. Nowadays in North Africa
artisans are being trained less and less in the traditional way. This is
explained by two factors :firstlythe masters in trades that are in difficulties or are disappearing do not take apprentices ; and secondly masters are
finding it less easy to recruit young people for training. The young prefer
to work in factories or to seek professional training in technical schools,
which are becoming responsible on an increasing scale for giving such
training to young people. These schools, which exist in all the countries
except Libya, usually have workshops at their disposal for the practical
part of the educational programmes.
Artisan Organisations
The traditional organisation is gradually disappearing in the area and
the need for new institutions which can take its place is strongly felt. The
organisation of co-operatives as a possible solution to this problem has
been tried to some extent. The handicraft co-operatives may have
various functions: e.g. commercial, for the buying of raw materials and
the marketing of thefinishedproduct; technical, by providing workshops
for the common use of machinery too expensive for individual craftsmen;
and productive, where members of a co-operative undertake all stages
of production. When production is in a common workshop the members
346
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
are often paid on an hourly basis and the trading surplus, if any, is
distributed at the end of the year in proportion to the number of hours
that each member has worked. The formation of co-operatives seems to
be one of the means of strengthening the utility trades. Production cooperatives may have means of obtaining expensive modern machinery
and be able to introduce " piecework " methods and specialisation among
their members.
A typical feature of handicrafts production in North Africa has
been the combination, by moneylenders and other middlemen, of the
supply of raw material and marketing of the products with the provision
of credit. Indebtedness was widespread among the artisans and prices
obtained from the middlemen were often disadvantageous to the artisans.
In these circumstances it was not possible for the artisans to accumulate
enough savings to modernise their equipment or attain economic independence.
Official credit facilities have been established to improve this situation.
These facilities are intended to enable the artisans to buy raw materials,
tools and other machinery on more reasonable terms. In some cases they
permit advance loans to be made against the finished product. In view
of the difficulties encountered by the handicraft workers at the present
time credit facilities will no doubt have to be maintained and in some
cases extended in the near future.
Social Conditions
There is considerable need for improving the social conditions under
which the artisans Uve and work. Illiteracy is quite widespread and
the attitude of the artisans towards progress leaves much to be desired.
It is therefore a matter of urgency that programmes for technical training
include general courses in adult education. It is worthy of mention that
this is already the case in Egypt and Algeria, where there is a close relationship between technical training and adult education.
To these general observations on the difficulties met by handicraft
workers may be added some remarks on the problem employment of
women. Women occupy, in fact, quite an important place in traditional
crafts in these countries. Embroidery, carpet making and different types
of decorative needlework are mostly done by women. Carpet making is
the most important of these crafts and probably the only one which provides full-time employment. In a few co-operatives the members are all
women, and Tunisia and Morocco have, for example, created special
institutes to promote traditional feminine crafts. Women in these
countries are now obtaining civil rights which permit them greater
HANDICRAFTS
347
participation in every field of national activity. There is no doubt that
carefully planned education for women in arts and crafts may be of great
help for the further development of handicrafts with high artistic value
and having considerable commercial potentialities.
Economic Conditions
Before analysing the position of handicrafts in the countries under
consideration a brief reference should be made to the causes of the
economic difficulties encountered by producers. The nature of these
difficulties varies from one country to another, but broadly speaking they
amount to: limited purchasing power in the home market; limited
outlets in foreign markets, which on the average do not absorb more than
5 per cent, of handicraft production; competition from imported foreign
goods ; competition from locally manufactured goods, particularly in the
case of utility crafts; changes in consumers' tastes and way of life,
generally leading to a fall in demand for traditional handicraft products;
decline or total disappearance of the influence wielded by the corporative
organisations, especially in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, leaving a gap
which has been inadequately filled by new bodies; failure to take concerted action regarding the purchase of raw materials and equipment, production, marketing, the granting of credit, etc. ; lack of uniform quality
standards; equipment and working methods incompatible with modern
methods of production; lack of the skills needed to use modernised
equipment and failure to train artisans sufficiently in the running of small
businesses; shortage of money for improving equipment or buying
raw materials on favourable terms.
UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC (EGYPT)
The Government of Egypt has taken great interest in the development
of handicrafts. This is evident from the attitude of the authorities
towards rural industries. Prior to 1954 the interest of the Government in
rural industries was mostly limited to providing training facilities in
different regions of the country. The aim was to establish such industries
as supplementary occupations for the rural people who had considerable
free time between crop seasons.
In 1954 an agency for the development of rural industries was set up
within the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour. This agency, the
Department of Rural Industries and Economic Development, has its
headquarters in Cairo and reaches the villages through provincial offices
of the Ministry. In the beginning the department aimed at establishing
348
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
small industrial plants in rural areas, arranged on the community level.
Extensive use was made of existing facilities in the communities. Production was managed by the communities and supported by the funds
that they voluntarily invested. Under this programme, food plants
produced and packed lentils, dates, honey, etc. Other programmes were
started in textile production, new and more efficient looms were introduced, better use of raw material was taught, and new products in the
field of fibre processing developed.
The department has since directed its attention towards encouraging
the formation of co-operatives as productive units, and in 1959 there
were 42 co-operatives of this kind. Marketing facilities for the co-operatives included the Permanent Rural Industries Exhibition in Cairo and
other different permanent or occasional exhibitions in the provinces.
Finance for the development of rural industries is provided through
the Rural Industries Development Fund (Act No. 167 of 1956, amended
23 February 1958). The Fund is governed by a council appointed by the
Minister of Social Affairs and Labour and financed through the national
budget. The main activities of the Fund are as follows : extending loans
and granting subsidies to the co-operatives; financing training courses
for improving the skill of workers, technicians and consultants; financing
experiments and research on local raw materials and equipment; establishment of specialised exhibitions.
A five-year scheme has been drawn up to promote rural industries.
Rural production units, organised on a co-operative basis, and equipped
with up-to-date machinery, will be established in places where suitable
labour and raw materials are available. It is hoped that these production
units may be used as pilot plants and serve as models for other villages
which have the same potentialities in thefieldof labour and raw materials.
It is estimated that more than 1 million workers are engaged in
rural industries in Egypt. The importance of these industries in the
national economy is, however, not so great. It is considered that only
about 5 per cent, of the total national income is derived from them.
LIBYA
Handicrafts in Libya mainly fall into two categories; domestic (or
cottage) crafts and small-scale industries. The former group is spread
all over the country whereas the latter is mainly concentrated in a few
urban areas.
The domestic crafts cover a wide variety of artistic products such as
weaving of decorative cloth, embroidery, fancy leather work, and
are carried on more often than not with primitive and obsolete tools.
HANDICRAFTS
349
Many of these products are real works of art and the marvel is how such
quality can be achieved with such antiquated equipment and methods.
From the economic point of view, much more important are the
domestic crafts of the utility type. In rural areas and especially among
the nomadic and semi-nomadic parts of the population these crafts fill
almost every need for articles of daily use. Wool, skins and hides are
prepared for making tents, carpets, shoes, etc., all as a part of the routine
household occupations. It has been estimated that roughly 20,000
primitive hand-looms are in use outside the towns and produce most of
the carpets, rugs, tents, etc., needed in rural areas. These looms are
mostly worked by women as a part-time occupation. They also produce
some quantity of woollen cloth used in the traditional dress. Most of
this production and that of other part-time rural crafts (such as pottery,
basket making), are for home use, only a fraction being disposed of
outside the family. A number of these products are of good quality and
have a considerable market value. They would probably find a ready
market at home and abroad if they were offered for sale.
A few other crafts based on agricultural products exist in the rural
areas. The extraction of olive oil, the curing of hides and skins, flour
milling, packing of dates, are carried on in different places on a small
scale and often with very primitive equipment. Olive mills used to be
operated by hand or animal power until recently, but are now being
progressively replaced by small power-operated presses. Similarly, the
equipment of leather workshops and small rural tanneries and potteries
leaves a lot to be desired.
A number of traditional crafts are carried on in the towns. Leather
working of different types, such as footwear and fancy goods for the
tourist trade, is mainly concentrated in Tripoli. The output is, however,
small and the production of shoes is falling off due to competition from
imported factory-made shoes.
Handweaving is probably the most important branch of the traditional urban handicrafts. The main product is traditional dress in wool,
artificial silk or cotton. It is estimated that in Tripoli some 1,000 to
1,500 weavers produce an estimated 2 million square metres of such
fabrics every year. This industry enjoys certain protection against
competition from factory-made goods, produced locally or imported.
The future of the industry is somewhat uncertain—due to the fact that
the hand weavers cannot produce cloth at the same price as factories ; if
all protection were suddenly removed this industry would most probably
disappear.
Among other traditional crafts in the urban areas is the working of
brass, copper and silver. Many household goods used to be made from
350
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
brass and copper, but in recent years these crafts have been increasing
their production of goods of artistic value for the tourist market. Silver
work has also become a craft which relies heavily on the tourists for its
market. The success of the products of this kind is due to the fact that
the artisans have been able to maintain local characteristics in design and
a high standard in quality.
Some facilities for the training of craftsmen have been provided in
Libya. The Moslem Arts and Crafts School was founded in Tripoli by
the Turkish administration late in the nineteenth century. It still provides
training for young girls and boys in a variety of crafts. The federal
Government created a few years ago a handicraft centre in Tripoli for
graduates of primary schools and a small carpentry centre for girls has
recently been set up in Benghazi. A project for establishing a training
centre for rug production in Cyrenaica is also being launched. Finally,
mention can be made of a handicraft development project in the Fezzan
which started in 1957 with technical assistance from the International
Labour Office. This project has been making good progress and a number of local craftsmen have already received intensive training in improved methods and techniques of handicraft production.
The development of modern industries in Libya has made the need for
modern crafts strongly felt. A number of repair shops are being set up to
provide maintenance services for all kinds of factories, and to repair
motor vehicles, agricultural machinery, road-building equipment and the
like. Further industrialisation of the country will progressively provide
more such opportunities but the lack of skilled manpower may prove to
be a serious problem, in view of the existing shortage of skilled workers
in the modern crafts. It would be pertinent therefore to take measures to
increase the skill of handicraft workers and help them to acquire modern
tools and equipment.
Traditional handicrafts have always been of minor importance for
the Libyan economy as a whole. It is estimated that only 8,000 to
10,000 artisans are permanently occupied in different crafts, both of the
traditional and modern types. Little information is available as to the
value, in terms of real money, of the yearly output of handicraft products
and, as has been mentioned above, their export is negligible. Since the
Second World War, however, a market has been growing for handicraft
goods of artistic value, amongst the tourists and a large number of
foreign citizens residing in the country. The rise in living standards of
the local population during the last ten years has also helped to maintain
and in some cases expand activities in traditional crafts.
It even appears that some of these crafts could be developed further,
provided the artisans are given proper assistance and guidance in their
HANDICRAFTS
351
work. At present the techniques used by a large number of them are
obsolete and the raw material they use is of uneven quality. There is a
need to introduce improved designs and to take measures for the training
of artisans and the organisation of marketing. A suitable credit service
has also to be developed and standards prescribed for handicraft goods.
Services of this kind can most easily be organised through a government department dealing with the protection and development of handicrafts. No such facilities have as yet been created at the national level
in Libya. The provincial governments in Fezzan and Tripolitania have
however established small-scale industries offices for the promotion of
handicrafts. These offices assist the artisans in improving production
techniques and methods and in developing new products. They also
offer financial assistance and guidance. It is hoped that the assistance
thus given will provide a stimulus for further development of this sector
of the national economy.
TUNISIA
In the early part of the present century, when it became apparent that
the old craft corporations were having difficulty in adapting themselves
to the changing economic structure of the country, efforts were made to
create new forms of association which could replace the corporations and
at the same time give the artisans greater possibilities for development
on modern Unes. With this aim, the provident societies were authorised
by Decree of 17 June 1913 to form, among their members, co-operatives
aiming to " buy raw materials and necessary equipment to renew and
improve native industries and the sale of their products ". This has led
to the formation, inter alia, of a co-operative among the potters of
Guellala.
By this decree the handicraft workers in Tunisia were for the first
time enabled to extend some of their activities beyond the narrow scope of
the corporations into which the artisan was virtually born, since most
crafts traditionally were handed down from father to son.
A second step in the same direction was taken by the promulgation
of the Decree of 17 June 1937 which established a legal framework for
handicraft associations. The objectives of the handicraft societies were
then stated to be: " To effect and facihtate all operations concerning
either the production, processing, storing or sale of products deriving
exclusively from the work of the members, or the buying and distribution
among the members of all products and materials they need in their
trade."
It was, however, obvious that financial assistance and technical
advice would have to be provided to the new handicraft associations. A
352
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
central credit fund for handicrafts was founded in 1937, and reorganised
in 1948 (Decree of 29 April 1948) when its activities were extended to
cover all kinds of handicraft and maritime credit in the country. The
functions of the central credit fund and of a few technical services established with a view to promoting crafts and improving working and living
conditions of the artisans are outlined below.
The central fund for artisan and maritime credit is responsible for
providing credit to the artisans. The fund makes short-, medium-,
and long-term loans at a favourable rate of interest. It may lend to
artisans either as individuals or to their associations (corporations,
co-operatives, groups of artisans, etc.). The board of directors of the
fund is nominated by the authorities. It includes, however, a certain
number of active craftsmen.
Professional training is provided by different institutions whose work
is co-ordinated through the Office of Vocational Education. On the
initiative of this Office centres for permanent exhibition of old and new
works of art have been established in Sousse, Sfax, Gabès, Djerba,
Gafsa, Tozeur and Bizerta.
The protection of handicraft products against imitations produced
by the mechanised industries is one of the objectives of the Tunisian
Office of Standardisation (O.T.U.S.), which was set up by a Decree of
18 January 1934. The original law has been changed and amended several
times, notably by Decree of 12 January 1950, which empowers the
O.T.U.S. (a) to apply the official trade mark " Tunisia ", created by the
Decree of 18 January 1934, and supervise its employment; (b) to perform, when obligatory, technical inspection of Tunisian products for
exportation ; (c) to find markets and give assistance in organising sales
in foreign markets ; (d) to plan and carry out sales promotion campaigns
and, in particular, to arrange Tunisian participation in exhibitions, fairs,
competitions and other events having a commercial interest.
The Office for Tunisian Arts x deals with the promotion of popular
arts. It works through art centres which have been established in
different towns of the country. Each centre has a permanent exhibition
of works of art and a pilot workshop for training artisans. Prototypes
are tried out and their reception tested among the population. If the
new articles are well received, the models are circulated to the artisans
in the region for commercial production. Local co-operatives whose
membership is made up of artisans of several trades collaborate closely
with the centres. These co-operatives are used to provide details of new
techniques, new or improved designs, etc., tested by the centres.
1
The functions of this Office have been taken over by the new National Handicrafts
Office (see below).
HANDICRAFTS
353
The Handicrafts Service of the Ministry of National Economy,
created by a Decree of 12 January 1950, has the following functions:
to study the conditions for economic and social development of handicrafts; to organise handicraft production and assist in marketing; and
to give advice on applications for credit to artisans and their groups.
The activities of this Service cover the whole of Tunisia and every sector
of handicrafts. It has made a continuous effort to revitalise existing
trades, to improve techniques and production methods. The Service
has initiated marketing methods and helped the artisans to make
accurate assessments of production costs. To it are attached two
museums: Dar Othman for ancient crafts, and Dar ben Abdallah for
modern crafts.
The Handicrafts Service is mainly concerned with utility trades, viz.
tailoring, blanket-weaving, etc. The Office for Tunisian Arts on the other
hand is responsible mainly for handicrafts where the artistic element is of
great importance for the value of thefinalproduct. These include carpets
with traditional design, leather engraving, embroidery, etc.
An Act of 14 October 1959 established a National Handicrafts
Office. This Act repeals and supersedes all earlier conflicting provisions
respecting handicrafts.
The National Handicrafts Office is a public body of a commercial and
industrial character with incorporated status and financial autonomy.
Its headquarters are in Tunis and it is responsible to the Secretariat of
State of the President's Office. It is treated as a trading organisation in its
relations with third parties and is subject to the provisions of commercial
law (apart from such exceptions as may be allowed by the new Act).
The tasks of the National Handicraft Office are—(a) to operate, either
directly or indirectly, such pilot production workshops as are already
established or may be established by it or on its initiative; (b) to exercise
technical supervision over handicraft enterprises and handicraft products
intended for export ; (c) to promote the marketing of handicraft products, particularly through the training of handicraft workers and
publicity for handicraft products on both the home and foreign markets;
(d) to sell handicraft products on its own account or on behalf of third
parties; (e) to take or propose any measures calculated to safeguard,
improve and develop Tunisian handicrafts.
All the assets of the Office for Tunisian Arts are assigned to the National
Handicrafts Office, which will also receive the yield of such taxes as
may be imposed on its behalf; subsidies from the State or public bodies
to cover the operating expenses; interest on loans which it contracts
and overhead expenses which it cannot defray out of its own income ;
state subsidies needed to carry out its investment projects and to achieve
354
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
.its purposes. The National Handicrafts Office also has the following
tax reliefs : exemption from the transfer duties on assets acquired privately
or by court order; exemption from licence duty. It is to be administered
by a Board of Management, headed by a Chairman/General Manager
appointed by decree.
In order to show the range of handicrafts in Tunisia, the following
list is quoted from a Decree of 6 August 1952, as supplemented by an
Order of 18 January 1955 :
HANDICRAFT TRADES
1
I. Weaving Trades
Handloom weavers.
Powerloom weavers.
Carpet weavers.
Hosiers and knitters.
Braid makers.
Yarn or piece dyers.
Winders and warpers.
Spinners.
II. Clothing, Hairdressing and Other Trades
Clothing.
Tarboosh makers.
Tailors of European clothes.
Tailors of traditional garments of all kinds.
Patchers and makers of clothes for country dwellers.
Dressmakers.
Lacemakers and hand or machine embroiderers.
Lingerie and stay makers.
Milliners and hatters.
Dyers and cleaners.
Laundresses.
Hairdressing and Other Trades.
Barbers.
Men's hairdressers working in the European style.
Ladies' hairdressers and hairdressers for both sexes.
Scent and candle makers.
1
A similar list for Morocco is published in the report of the Production Subcommittee (Directorate of Handicrafts) in the Five-Year Plan for 1960-64 (roneoed
document).
HANDICRAFTS
355
III. Leather and Footwear Trades
Leatherwork.
Tanners.
Harness makers.
Saddlers.
Morocco leather dressers.
Bookbinders.
Leather board workers.
Footwear.
Makers of traditional types of footwear, including leather slippers.
Cobblers.
Shoe makers and repairers.
Fine shoe makers.
IV. Woodworking and Furnishing Trades and Rural Crafts
Woodworking.
Joiners.
Cabinet makers.
Carpenters.
Shipwrights.
Coopers.
Clog makers.
Wood turners and toy makers.
Furnishings.
Mattress makers.
Tapestry makers, saddlers and upholsterers.
Curtain makers.
Mat makers and esparto grass workers.
Wicker and rattan workers.
Brush makers.
Rural Crafts.
Country blacksmiths and farriers.
Makers of traditional pack saddles.
Cartwrights.
V. Building Trades
Masons.
Plasterers.
356
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Faience and mosaic setters.
Glaziers and blind fitters.
Constructional ironworkers and metal mattress makers.
House painters.
Plumbers.
Working electricians.
Oxy-acetylene welders.
Arc welders.
Tinsmiths.
Coppersmiths.
Hammered brass workers.
Stove setters.
Tile and brick layers.
Clay moulders.
Marble setters.
VT. Modern Technical Trades
Turners (metal trades).
Ironworkers.
Bicycle fitters and repairers.
Engravers on metal.
Gunsmiths.
Refrigerating engineers.
Automobile mechanics.
General mechanics.
Precision workers.
Wiring and general electricians.
Radio repairmen.
Electro-platers.
Vulcanisers.
Motor body makers.
Printers, hand compositors and linotype operators.
VII. Artistic Crafts
Makers of articles in chased, engraved or spun copper.
Ornamental painters.
Watchmakers.
Jewellers.
HANDICRAFTS
357
Gold and silver smiths and filigree workers.
Sculptors in stone.
Sculptors in wood.
Wood carvers and moulders in plaster.
Stucco workers.
Fancy leather workers.
Fine bookbinders, fancy cabinet makers and marquetry inlayers.
Makers of art ceramics.
Damasceners and artistic ironworkers.
Interior decorators.
Photographers.
VIII. Catering Trades
Bakers.
Pastry cooks.
Butchers.
An estimate of the importance of handicrafts in Tunisia may be
based on a census carried out in 1953.1 This showed that among the seven
most important groups there were about 23,000 masters in the country.
From this figure it was concluded that about 70,000 persons were in 1953
actively occupied in handicrafts. The largest number of artisans were
engaged in weaving. The 1953 census gave the number of masters in this
trade as 8,786, which indicates that probably about 26,000 persons were
occupied in this particular industry. The second biggest group was
tailoring with 4,154 masters or about 12,500 workers.
The economic importance of handicrafts in terms of real value is
difficult to estimate since information on the value of handicraft products
sold within the country has not been available. It has, however, been
estimated that yearly export of handicraft products is worth between
150 and 250 million francs, exclusive of sales to tourists.
It was estimated that an additional 35,000 to 40,000 people were
engaged in handicrafts of different types. This number includes artisans
who work alone at home in trades such as tailoring, knitting of carpets,
needlework, etc. The total effective number occupied by handicrafts is,
therefore, 105,000 to 110,000 out of a population of about 3 million
in 1953.
1
L. GOLVIN: Aspects de l'artisanat en Afrique du Nord O'aris, Presses universitaires
de France, 1957), p. 39.
358
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Reference has been made earlier to the traditional organisation of
trades into corporations. Such corporations still exist but are diminishing
in scope and importance. Their place is gradually being taken by cooperatives which are strongly supported in both financial and technical
respects by the Government. In 1958 there were about 50 handicraft
co-operatives in Tunisia with an estimated membership of 4,000 to 5,000.
The majority of these societies were members of the Federation of
Handicraft Co-operatives of Tunisia, which was organised to undertake
both economic and technical functions for its members and was dissolved
in 1956.
ALGERIA
In Algeria the artisans were grouped in local corporations more or
less identical with those existing in Tunisia. The abolition in 1868 of
regulations governing traditional crafts created some confusion among
the artisans and the old corporations, a number of trades disappeared,
and the value and quality of handicraft products were affected.
Some efforts to save certain traditional handicrafts such as embroidery
and traditional carpet-making were undertaken at the beginning of this
century by individuals in different parts of the country but without any
co-ordination between them. The authorities took a first step to preserve traditional handicrafts in Algeria by the establishment of a museum
of Moslem art now called the Stéphane Gsell Museum. In 1908 a
school of dyeing was founded and the following year a service to supervise teaching of art in schools for Algerian students set up. A centre
for professional education was established in 1921. Local centres
for woollen work were soon attached to the centre. A Service for
Indigenous Handicrafts was established in 1929 (Decree of 25 April
1929), and in 1937 a Commission for the Organisation of Algerian
Handicrafts was set up. By a Decree of 28 November 1938 provision
was made for the establishment of handicraft provident societies
(S.I.P.A.), with the sole function of promoting the development of
handicrafts through the granting of credit. Several such societies were
created and obtained government aid to set up handicraft workshops.
Most of these workshops proved, however, to be uneconomical and the
S.I.P.A. turned their efforts towards providing technical advice and
credit for buying raw materials, and making advance loans against the
finished products.
Several other measures which may be considered as provisional, and
some resulting from repercussions of the Second World War, were taken
in the following years. A permanent sales exhibition was organised in
359
HANDICRAFTS
Constantine and Algiers and artisan services were set up on a regional
level in these two departments.
In 1947 (Order of 6 May 1947), the legal basis was laid for a Technical
Service for Handicrafts. This Service was made responsible for the
direction, inspection, grouping and co-ordination of handicraft activities
in the whole country. It now comes under the Directorate of Internal
and External Commerce. It has three regional inspectors, each inspector
being responsible for a number of handicraft centres established in
different regions. These centres provide professional training as well as
extension services for handicraft workers wishing to learn the use of new
tools and techniques. In 1959 there were 31 handicraft centres in Algeria,
the main emphasis being laid on such crafts as embroidery, silverwork,
leatherwork, carpet-making, etc.
In Oran and Constantine the Technical Service for Handicrafts has
established permanent exhibitions of old works of art and new models
which may serve as patterns for the local artisans.
To protect the artisans from imitations, an Order of 25 March 1947 x
prescribed certain standards which had to be observed in the production
of carpets and which, if observed, gave the artisans the right to have products officially stamped to confirm the standard and the quality of the
product. All goods produced for export must thus be stamped.
The S.I.P.A. and a few handicraft sections formed by the provident
societies render various services to the artisans. For instance they may
provide not only short-term credit for the buying of raw materials, but
also loans of tools and equipment. In addition the artisan may often
be able to obtain financial assistance through the Banques Populaires.
The Academy of Algiers has in the past done considerable work to
protect and maintain local arts. The Academy has created facilities to
study designs and a pilot workshop for undertaking special research.
It has also established schools to teach traditional crafts. So far, these
schools have mainly taught the making of carpets and embroidery in
different local styles. There is no doubt that the work of the Academy
has helped to maintain traditional styles and designs and protect them
from outside influence.
As in Tunisia, the authorities in Algeria have been particularly
concerned with problems of handicrafts of traditional and artistic value.
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handicrafts. Assistance has been given to improve equipment, organisation and marketing facilities have been provided. This work was of
particular importance during the Second World War, when the country
1
Ministerial Order of 25 March 1947 respecting the sale and exportation of
carpets made in Algeria.
360
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
was virtually cut off from outside sources of supply. Improved weaving
centres were created, for example in Tlemcen and Algiers. The output
was considerable but, owing to lack of management and skills, and to
high overhead costs, the centres could not compete in price when the
market was again opened to imports from abroad, and they encountered
great difficulties. Some have disappeared while others had to be reorganised with considerable support from the State.
Modern handicraft workshops are being started in considerable
number in Algeria, e.g. for repair and maintenance of equipment,
automobiles, etc., but figures are not available as to the importance of
these new enterprises in the national economy.
The artisans can benefit from the measures provided for in Decree of
31 January 1958 to encourage the industrialisation of the country.
It may also be mentioned that the Algerian Government intends that
handicrafts will play an important part in plans for economic and social
development.
MOROCCO
An ancient tradition of handicrafts exists in Morocco. As in Algeria
and Tunisia, artisans were organised into corporations which protected
their members' general interests while at the same time maintaining
quality standards. These corporations, however, were not sufficiently
flexible to cope with the changes of the past 50 years. Many of them have
disappeared and those that have survived have lost a good deal of their
former prestige. This has resulted in the relaxation of the supervision
they exercised and the quality of handicraft products has steadily
declined.
The Moroccan Government established an Office for Indigenous
Industries and Crafts in 1918 in an attempt to improve the economic
position of the handicraft trades. The aim of this service was to coordinate the efforts being made to preserve traditional handicrafts and to
" find outlets for their products. In the following year the Dahir of 22 May
1919 introduced an official stamp guaranteeing the quality and origin of
Moroccan carpets.
The Indigenous Arts Service was established shortly afterwards. It
carried out a systematic study of the traditional arts of the country with
a view to selecting and preserving old designs and traditions. To facilitate
marketing, several exhibitions were organised in Morocco and in France
and a number of publications on Moroccan arts were produced. With a
view to providing a more flexible framework for artisans' associations,
the establishment of handicraft co-operatives was authorised by a Dahir
HANDICRAFTS
361
of 8 June 1938 and at the same time a credit service for artisans was
instituted. Under this law handicraft co-operatives can be established by
Moroccan artisans for the buying of tools, installation of machines and
the buying of raw materials which they need in their trade. Handicraft
co-operatives can also be founded for production, processing, storage
and sale of any products of these industries; and for any other aim in the
interest of the artisans and their organisations.
Handicraft co-operatives usually set up workshops for use by their
members. The workshops are equipped with modern tools which are
beyond the financial means of individuals. Finance is provided through
loans from the provident societies which are authorised to grant longterm loans for this purpose. In 1958 there were 32 handicraft cooperatives with 3,579 members, and several others were in the course of
formation. The total turnover of the existing societies was 248,342,208
francs. The policy of the Moroccan Government appears to be to
strengthen the position of the co-operatives, which, it is hoped, will replace
the former corporations each in its own particular sphere.
The organisation of traditional crafts in Morocco is at present carried
out by the Directorate of Handicrafts in the Ministry of National
Economy. This office channels its activities through regional inspectors,
and, on the local level, through technical agents who are usually assisted
by local artisans' committees. On the national level there is a union
for commerce, industry and handicrafts, its members consisting of
corporations, co-operatives, individual artisans, etc. A national handicraft council works in an advisory capacity with the artisan service.
Occupational training for artisans is provided in Morocco through
special schools and apprenticeship workshops. The model workshops
provide short courses for established artisans or long courses for beginners. Considerable time is devoted to organisational questions, basic
education, technical organisation of the workshop, etc. The workshops
are under the supervision of the regional handicrafts inspector, who is
responsible for the training programmes.
A co-operative education course was held in 1960 in order to train
managers for handicraft co-operatives and co-operative organisers.
According to information contained in a recent publication on
handicrafts in North Africa 1 , there were 151,518 artisans in Morocco
in 1942-43 of whom 90,647 (59.9 per cent.) were master-craftsmen,
43,306 (28.6 per cent.) workmen and 17,565 (11.5 per cent.) apprentices.
Subsequent censuses have established that in 1947 the number of artisans
was 157,059 but that by 1958-59 this number had fallen to 123,384.
1
GOLVIN, op. cit., p p . 41-43.
362
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
A breakdown of these numbers by occupations is given in tables
XXVIII and XXIX.
TABLE XXVIII. MOROCCO: NUMBER OF ARTISANS, BY TRADES, 1947
Trade
Leather
Building and
ceramics . . . .
Metals
Wood
Miscellaneous . . .
Total . . .
Percentage
of total
number of
artisans
Mastercraftsmen
Workmen
44,341
14,724
19,311
10,454
5,729
5,442
69,381
30,620
44.3
19.6
17,006
5,250
4,419
9,443
6,982
1,814
2,810
2,365
2,375
1,588
962
2,044
26,363
8,652
8,191
13,852
16.9
5.6
5.4
8.2
95,183
43,736
18,140
157,059
100.0
Apprentices
Total
Source: Ministère de l'Economie nationale; Direction de l'artisanat: Artisanat, problèmes et perspectives (Feb. 1958) (roneoed document).
These figures show that of the total number of artisans, mastercraftsmen numbered 95,183, or 60.6 per cent.; workmen 43,736 or
27.9 per cent.; and apprentices 18,140 or 11.5 per cent.
TABLE XXIX. MOROCCO: NUMBER OF ARTISANS, BY TRADES, 1958-59
Trade
Mastercraftsmen
Workmen
Textiles
Leather
Building and
20,405
10,203
11,223
5,988
6,785
4,654
4,449
6,254
Total
Percentage
of total
number of
artisans
5,623
1,999
37,251
18,190
40.0
14.8
948
883
1,001
12,590
7,419
7,617
7,023
10.2
6.0
6.2
5.7
5,968
4.9
Apprentices
Metals
Wood
Vegetable products .
Miscellaneous
(production) . . .
Miscellaneous
(services)
. . . .
1,818
4,857
1,882
2,167
769
4,150
11,655
13,173
2,498
27,326
22.2
Total . . .
66,223
44,209
12,952
123,384
100.0
Source : Report by the production subcommittee (Directorate of Handicrafts) in the Five-Year
Plan for 1960-64.
363
HANDICRAFTS
These figures show that master-craftsmen represented 54 percent, of the
total, workmen, 36 per cent, and apprentices 10 per cent.
It appears, however, that neither of these two censuses covered all
the artisans, and many isolated artisans in the country districts and
numbers of homeworkers were overlooked by the census takers. It was
estimated, for example, in 1958-59 that the Moroccan handicraft trades
employed somewhere between 200,000 and 225,000 artisans (employers,
workers and apprentices). When it is remembered that each employer and
wage earner in handicrafts supports on the average a family of five persons, around a million Moroccans or one person in ten can be said to
derive their income from one handicraft activity or another.
A further point is that the statistics taken from the 1947 and 1958-59
censuses do not permit of any absolute comparison. The figures for 1947
do not appear to include the food trades, whereas in the 1958-59 census
they are included in the " Miscellaneous " category. Moreover, some
trades are not classified in the same occupational groups in the two
tables, e.g. " Vegetable products " in the 1958-59 table, which appears to
be included in " Textiles " in the 1947 table.
Despite the difficulties encountered by the Moroccan handicrafts,
sales of the main products have shown a steady rise over the past few
years, as is shown by table XXX.
TABLE XXX. MOROCCO : MARKET VALUE OF H A N D I C R A F T PRODUCTS,
1957-59
(In millions of francs)
Trade
Leather-work
Basket-making
Copper goods
1957
1958
1959
606
78
86
177
779
100
132
203
802
118
150
223
Between 1951 and 1958 the over-all value of handicraft products
exported rose from 726,701,000 francs to 923,642,000 (1955) and
1,540,311,000 (1958), combined with an increase in the volume of
products exported. For instance exports of carpets rose from 82,682 kilos
increased over the same period from 182,700 kilos in 1951 to 477,635
in 1958. It is reasonable to conclude from this that output per artisan
has increased appreciably over the past decade despite the latent underemployment in certain trades and that this has preserved the preponderant
part played in the country's economy by this sector as a whole.
364
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
CONCLUSIONS
Changing economic conditions have exercised a profound influence
on the status of handicrafts in North African countries. In varying degrees, however, they continue to occupy a significant position. This being
so, the future role of handicrafts in the economic development of these
countries is an important question.
All the countries of the area are in varying stages of industrialisation,
and increased industrialisation tends to lessen the chances of survival of
various categories of handicrafts. The present policy, however, appears
to be to maintain existing crafts and develop new ones side by side with
modern industries. Economic and social conditions prevailing in the
area seem to favour the development of handicrafts and small-scale
industries rather than that of large-scale industries. Capital resources
are generally limited whereas labour is abundant and growing rapidly,
the birth rate in North Africa being one of the highest in the world. It
seems, therefore, reasonable to develop first such enterprises and production methods as require relatively less capital and are labour-intensive, in
so far as this can be done without detriment to the country's economy.
A second factor which favours the development of small production
units is the acute shortage of management and supervisory skills required
to run and maintain modern factories. Some facilities for acquiring such
skills have already been provided through programmes of vocational
training in the field of handicrafts, though their efficiency could, in most
cases, be improved further and at low additional cost by introducing
more modern working methods. Comparable facilities for training
managers, engineers, technicians, etc., to run modern factories are
practically non-existent, and it will take years to create them and
will require high investment in capital—as well as a large number of
specialised staff.
In North Africa, as in most developing regions throughout the world,
there is a continuous movement from smaller urban and rural communities to larger towns in search of employment. This movement tends
to create in the towns many acute problems of a social and economic
nature. The creation of employment opportunities outside the towns
seems to be the only possible answer to this migration and, in view of the
existing shortage of capital and technical skills, handicrafts may offer one
of the more effective means of maintaining some balance between the
rural and urban populations. It should not be overlooked that in countries with great industrial potentiaUties, thanks to their special resources
in either raw materials or power or both, the development of handicrafts
may prove to be only the first step towards an over-all industrialisation.
HANDICRAFTS
365
It seems, however, reasonable to conclude that for some time to come,
countries in North Africa will continue to take advantage of and have
recourse to handicrafts as the less expensive and most efficient solution
to some of their urgent problems in the field of economic and social
development.
Traditional handicrafts of the artistic type seem to enjoy a special
position in the countries of North Africa and should be capable of further
development and expansion, provided the authorities are ready to furnish
continuous technical and financial assistance with a view to protecting
artistic value, characteristics in design and quality. These crafts also need
protection against factory-made imitations and central marketing
facilities need to be organised, especially as export of their products
increases.
Artistic crafts will, however, never provide employment except for a
limited number of artisans. The majority of the artisans will always be
engaged in traditional utility crafts or modern handicrafts of different
types. The future of a great many handicrafts of the utility type seems
rather uncertain due to several problems related to modern industrial
development and changing consumer tastes. Utility crafts are, on the
whole, the prey of severe competition from factory-made goods, produced
either locally or imported. The change in consumption habits is generally
to their disadvantage and, in spite of considerable efforts to modernise
them, the workers in the utility trades are not sufficiently equipped to
stand open competition with factory-made goods. As a rule, they lack
technical knowledge and their skills could be improved. Similarly there
is a lack of organisation both within the workshop and in commercial
activities ; only a handful of artisans within the area organise for common
buying of raw materials and tools or marketing of the final products.
In this connection it may be useful to study briefly the development
of one group of crafts, such as textiles, which is the most important in the
area. The situation of this group may therefore be considered as typical
of the utiHty crafts as a whole, especially since textiles are affected very
strongly by the impact of modern techniques and their future expansion
will depend upon their adoption and successful application of modern
working methods. Home spinning will very likely tend to disappear,
artisanal equipment being able to produce only a fraction of the output
Oi lacuory equipment, weaving, on mC Omcr uanu may uC carrier on
quite efficiently on a small scale, using modern mechanised or semimechanised looms which can produce cloth of satisfactory uniformity
and quality. Processes such as dyeing, calendering, etc., will similarly
tend to disappear as handicraft trades, since for the modern market the
commodity must have a standard finish. What can then be done to
366
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
maintain weaving as a major occupation in these conditions ? In the
first place, it will be necessary to provide central spinning and finishing
facilities ; secondly, adequate financial assistance must be made available
to enable the artisans to acquire modern equipment (looms) ; and thirdly,
new marketing channels and methods must be found. It might even be
necessary in special cases to consider providing direct subsidies for a
limited period for the procurement of either yarn or equipment. Finally,
continuous technical advice would have to be given, as well as extensive
training in the use of new equipment. All these facilities would need to
be developed in an integrated manner at a minimum cost to artisans.
Many other utility crafts are undergoing a similar process and although
the example given above is limited to textiles, all measures envisaged for
securing the survival of that particular industry are applicable either
partly or in their entirety to the other utility crafts.
This is not the place to assess what measures, or combination of
measures, would be most appropriate in any particular set of circumstances, or whether, on the whole, subsidies to handicrafts would be
desirable. The final decision will always depend upon appraisals of local
factors such as the inherent viability of the crafts concerned, the rate of
growth of large-scale industries, the general employment situation, the
need for decentralisation of industry, etc.
Modern crafts which still operate on a relatively small scale in North
Africa will develop at an ever-increasing rate as new industries take root
in the region. Factory industries need a multitude of service trades, such
as electricians, mechanics, plumbers, etc. Transport facilities require
maintenance and repair hands. Increased mechanisation in the agricultural sector calls for a growing volume of modern technological skills.
Future development of modern crafts will depend to a very large extent
on measures for providing adequate vocational training, either by the
State, the universities or other institutions. Of great interest are facilities
which might be provided with a view to diverting artisans from dying
trades to new skills. Such facilities will help to prevent the loss of acquired skills which, with some additional training, may be usefully
adapted to new occupations either in handicrafts or in industry.
Finally, some consideration may be given to the possibility of integrating industrial and handicraft production in some of its phases.
This combination may often be usefully and gainfully introduced in the
production of articles composed of several parts. Under this system, the
central factory provides detailed working drawings, models or designs, to
individual artisans or their associations who undertake the production.
The components are then brought to the factory for assembling. The
factory is usually responsible for the provision of raw material and for
HANDICRAFTS
367
marketing. This system is extensively used by modern industries in Japan
and in some branches of certain industries in Europe. Some developing
countries are making use of this system in their plans for industrial development with a view to ensuring a more rational use of capital and
manpower, and at the same time avoiding problems created by excessive
concentration of large-scale industries.
It may be concluded that development programmes of broad scope,
rather similar in their general structure, could be envisaged for the maintenance and development of handicrafts and the evolution of small-scale
industries in countries of North Africa. Various elements of such programmes already exist, and others might be added as required, to form
a co-ordinated whole. Such programmes would normally comprise
services which are provided directly to the artisans, supporting services,
and over-all development measures. Direct measures would include such
services as vocational education and training, equipment selection,
advice and assistance in improving production processes and marketing,
in the organisation of co-operatives, and other matters requiring work to
be done by speciahsts directly with the craftsmen concerned. Supporting
measures would comprise such essential activities as the training of
speciahsts, research and experimentation in given problems of handicrafts
and small-scale industries, and the establishment and running of extension services for these crafts and industries. Over-all measures would be
such as might not have a direct bearing on handicraft and small-scale
industries but would nevertheless condition their development in various
ways, such as communications, power generation and transmission,
banking facilities, fiscal measures, and social policy. In view of the nature
of the problems involved and the scope of the measures which may be
necessary in various combinations, advice and assistance from international organisations may be found appropriate in connection with the
realisation of such co-ordinated development programmes.
CHAPTER XI
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
INTRODUCTION
In all the countries covered by this survey, except Libya, there
are now specialised services under a central authority responsible for
handling all labour questions.
Some of these services have been established for many years: for
instance, labour inspection units were set up in Algeria in 1909, in Tunisia
in 1910, and the first labour office was established in Egypt in 1930. In
most of the countries, however, labour administration has developed
very rapidly in the last few years: existing services have been reorganised
and new machinery set up. This development is due mainly to the
general factors which characterise the political, economic and social
development of the whole region and more particularly to the following:
the greater importance of wage labour in the economy; the need for
ensuring effective application of extensive and complex labour laws and
regulations aimed at applying the many aspects of government social
policy; the development of labour-management relations; the urgency
of the problems raised by securing and maintaining full employment;
and in general the increasing acceptance of the idea that labour services
are a necessary instrument for applying and guiding the policy of social
progress which must go hand in hand with economic development.
STRUCTURE OF LABOUR ADMINISTRATION
This chapter deals with the present organisation of labour administration and the place which each unit occupies in the administrative
structure of the particular country. A distinction is made between
administration proper (mainly external supervisory services) and the
various bodies (mostly advisory) in which employers' and workers'
representatives and official of the labour department generally take part.
United Arab Republic
(Egypt)
Administrative Services.
A Labour Office was established in 1930, having as its main function
the formulation of detailed labour legislation and the settlement of
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
369
labour disputes which were growing more numerous as Egypt became
industrialised and the new trade union movement grew in importance.
In 1935 this Office became an administrative department and was attached
to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry; it was afterwards attached
to the Ministry of Social Affairs which was established in August 1939.
At present the Directorate-General of Labour in the Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labour comprises the following four divisions:
(a) The Industrial Relations Administration, which comprises the
following six subdivisions: conciliation and arbitration; industrial
accidents insurance and compensation; social insurance and provident fund; trade unions; trade union guidance; legislation and
registration of collective agreements. It is planned to establish a
further subdivision for workers' education during the financial year
1959-60.
(b) The Manpower Division, responsible for all questions relating to
the organisation of manpower in general (subdivided into four
sections which deal respectively with employment and placement,
vocational training 1, migration and work permits for foreigners,
and unemployment).
(c) The Inspection Division, which supervises the application of labour
legislation. It comprises four sections : labour inspection, industrial
safety and health, industrial welfare, and child labour.
(d) The Research and International Relations Division, which undertakes research work, prepares statistics, issues pubb'cations, runs the
library and handles international relations. It should be added here
that the Labour Attaché to the Permanent Delegation of the United
Arab Republic to the European Office of the United Nations in
Geneva represents the Government in dealings with the International
Labour Organisation and other specialised agencies. He is also
authorised to deal with social and labour questions in Belgium, the
Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia. There are also labour attachés at the Republic's embassies
or consulates in Washington, Khartoum, New Delhi, Baghdad,
Djedda, Accra and Rabat.
In 1939 the Department of Labour began to set up local offices in
the big cities and more important industrial centres; there were 22 of
these offices by 1958. It was expected that three new offices would be
opened during the financial year 1959-60.
1
The Manpower Division is not solely responsible for vocational training. A
council co-ordinates its work with that of the Ministries of Industry and Education.
370
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
In 1958 the labour inspection services included 78 inspectors, of whom
nine were medical officers, nine were engineers and two were chemists;
this personnel is distributed among 12 inspectorates, at Cairo, Benha,
Alexandria, Zagazig, Mansurah, Port Said, Damanhur, Suez, Beni Suef,
Tanta, Assyut and Kena. The establishment of six new inspectorates
is planned for the financial year 1959-60.
Other Bodies.
An Advisory Labour Council was set up on a tripartite basis in
December 1932. Until the promulgation of the Decree of 17 September
1953, which amended the rules governing this council, the workers'
representatives were appointed by the Government and were outnumbered by the representatives of the public authorities and the employers ;
in fact, labour legislation was drafted in many cases during this period
without consultation of the council. The rules issued in 1953 lay down
several new principles, including that of equal representation for workers
and employers, designation of the workers' representatives by the
chairmen of local and regional trade unions, and compulsory consultation of the council on all questions relating to labour and on all labour
legislation before its issue.
The 1953 Decree was repealed by Decree No. 563 of 1958, which
was promulgated in 1959, but its chief provisions have been retained.
The High Advisory Labour Council now comprises a number of government titular members, including the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour
(President), the Executive Ministers and Under-Secretaries of State for
Social Affairs and Labour of the two Regions of the United Arab Republic, and the Director of the Labour Office attached to the Central
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, as well as seven employers' and
seven workers' members, four of whom on each side represent industry,
two commerce and one agriculture.1
Employment offices were established in 1953 with the special aim of
organising the registration and placement of the unemployed. There
were 18 employment offices under the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labour in 1958.2 The Labour Code of 1959 provides for the establishment of advisory committees which are to assist the employment offices
in their work ; these committees are composed of equal numbers of representatives of employers and workers ; their powers include the making
1
This representation applies to the whole of the United Arab Republic. The
members for Egypt are five employers and five workers (three on each side from
industry, one from commerce and one from agriculture).
2
It was expected that eight new employment offices would be opened during the
financial year 1959-60.
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
371
of proposals on methods of placement, the organisation of the employment oiSces, vocational guidance and the migration of workers from one
region to the other. Under this Code the Arbitration Court and the
conciliation committees (comprising representatives of the administration and of employers and workers) which have to be established in each
province or district must include a delegate of the Minister of Social
Affairs and Labour. The Labour Code also provides for the establishment of mixed committees which will submit proposals to the Minister of
Social Affairs and Labour for determination of minimum wage rates.
It should be added that since 1956 there have also been mixed advisory
bodies (including officials of the labour services) in other fields, including
vocational training (a central advisory committee, regional committees)
and social security (Council of the Social Insurance Fund).
Libya
Administrative Service.
Little information is available on the present structure of the labour
services in Libya based on application of the Labour Code of 1957.
Until recently the Ministry of Finance was responsible for dealing
with labour questions, and employment offices, labour inspection
and conciliation were under a labour commissioner in Tripohtania and
a director of labour in Cyrenaica. In October 1959 the strength of the
administrative services was as follows: in Tripohtania, a director of
labour and two deputy directors, a principal inspector, four labour
inspectors ; in Cyrenaica, three chiefs of section (inspection and conciliation, employment offices, welfare and vocational training) and eight
labour inspectors. In October 1960 a Ministry of Social Affairs was
created and this new department presumably has responsibility for
labour questions.
Under the 1957 Labour Code the appropriate authority in each
province shall appoint a director of labour who shall be responsible
under the said authority for enforcing the Code within the province and
shall act as adviser in all labour matters that relate to the improvement
and safeguarding of the welfare of the workers and the maintenance of
good relations between employers and workers. The Code also states
that labour inspectors, to be appointed by the appropriate authority in
each province, shall act under the control and supervision of the director
of labour.
Other Bodies.
The Code of 1957 provides for the establishment, at the federal level,
of a standing advisory committee to give advice on labour matters
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
generally or on specific labour questions. The provisions respecting
employment of workers state that an employment service, under the
control and supervision of the provincial director of labour, shall be
established in each province with offices in every district of the province.
In October 1959 there was an employment office at Benghazi, an employment office at Tripoli (run by an officer with two assistants) and four
employment offices in various parts of the province of Tripolitania.
The Code also provides for the setting up of an advisory committee
on wages, a conciliation board and an arbitration commission in each
province.
Tunisia
Administrative Services.
Decree No. 58-123 of 3 May 1958 abolished the former separate
Departments of Public Health and Social Affairs. Labour questions
proper are handled by several central services and by supervisory services
in the field.
The Manpower and Labour Service deals with : general conditions of
employment and remuneration (form and contents of the contract of
employment, hours of work, weekly rest, paid holidays, wages and
allowances, health, safety, women's and children's work, etc.); management-labour relations (collective agreements, collective disputes, right to
strike, conciliation and arbitration, establishment of unions) ; individual
disputes arising out of employment (probiviral councils); the employment market (control of engagements and dismissals, supervision and
operation of employment offices); vocational training; selection by
testing (there is a testing centre at the headquarters of the service);
action against unemployment ; control of immigration of foreign workers;
relations with the International Labour Organisation (study of international Conventions with a view to ratification, preparation of annual
reports, submission of Conventions and Recommendations to the
competent authorities).
The Social Security Service deals with: the family allowances scheme;
compensation for occupational accidents and diseases (this Service
administers the fund out of which accident compensation benefits may be
supplemented) ; mutual insurance ; provident institutions of all kinds in
so far as they concern employed persons exclusively or mainly ; technical
supervision of public and private provident bodies (particularly family
allowance equalisation funds).
The Health Service is responsible for supervising occupational
hygiene and workers' health. It supervises the medical services in
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
373
undertakings and the treatment given to persons covered by social
insurance ; together with the testing unit it examines workers with a view
to vocational guidance, regrading or retraining. It also handles the
protection of mothers and children.
The supervisory services in the field include the social security
inspectorate (specialised in supervising application of regulations on
family allowances, pensions, insurance against various social risks, etc.)
and the divisional labour inspectorate, which supervises application of
labour and related legislation in the various sectors of the Tunisian
economy. An agricultural labour inspectorate was set up in virtue of a
Decree of 24 March 1949; the Decree of 21 June 1956 set the number of
agricultural labour inspectors at ten, not including the divisional inspector who is the chief of tins service. Recently the agricultural labour
inspectorate was combined with the divisional labour inspectorate (for
commerce, industry and the professions) and a single directorate was
established.
The divisional labour inspectorate, provided for and effectively
established in 1910, is now governed by Decree of 6 August 1953. The
labour inspection service includes labour inspectors and controllers
under the Department of Public Health and Social Affairs. In some
branches (undertakings under the defence authority, mines, transport,
postal, telegraph and telephone services), labour inspection has been
placed in the hands of other officials under the various ministries concerned. It should be noted that the laboar inspection service is assisted
by a medical labour inspection service, established by a Decree of 20
September 1955; medical labour inspectors have a special responsibility
for supervising occupational health and safety in undertakings and for
ensuring due operation of the medical services which they are required by
legislation to establish.
According to the available information 1, in December 1955 there was
one divisional inspector, one deputy divisional inspector, 17 inspectors
(including 13 at Tunis, one at Sfax, one at Sousse, one at Souk el Arba
and one at Bizerta), and seven controllers (three at Tunis, two at Sfax, one
at Sousse and one at Souk el Arba). In addition to these officials having
general powers under the Department of Social Affairs there were
officials specialising in the application of a given branch of labour
legislation; for instance five controllers were specially responsible for
supervising placement and unemployment. Furthermore, in December
1955, supervision of application of labour and related laws in the mines,
transport, building and undertakings subject to technical control by the
1
Report by the Tunisian Government to the I.L.O. on the Labour Inspection
Convention, 1947 (No. 81), for the period ending 31 December 1955.
374
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
Department of Public Works was in the hands of officials having their
headquarters at Tunis, as follows : two labour inspectors and one labour
controller for transport and manpower; three labour inspectors for
general supervision in all the branches for which the Department of
Public Works is responsible, particularly the building industry; apart
from these specialists, officials styled " public works engineers " act as
labour controllers in all the branches subject to their supervision,
particularly in the mines. In March 1960 there were nine regional labour
inspectorates distributed as follows : Tunis (five inspectors and two controllers), Bizerta (one inspector, one controller), Sfax (one inspector, one
controller), Grombalia (one inspector), Beja (one inspector), Souk el Arba
(one inspector), Le Kef (one inspector,) Sousse (one inspector), Kairouan
(one controller). In addition the divisional inspectorate with offices in
Tunis was at the same date composed as follows: one divisional inspector,
one deputy divisional inspector, five inspectors and one controller
It should be added that two labour inspectors were recently attached
to the Tunisian Consulate-General at Paris and Marseilles to act as
labour attachés and deal in that capacity with the Tunisian workers in
France.
Other Bodies.
There are many economic and labour committees, etc., most of them
advisory, on which employers' and workers' delegates sit with representatives of the public authorities. The following should be mentioned: the
Labour Committee set up in 1943 (its composition was amended by
the Decree of 21 January 1954); local agricultural labour committees; the
advisory committee to study the application of social legislation in
the traditional guilds, established by a Decree of 15 September 1956; the
central and local committees on wage review; the Vocational Training
Council and the grading committees established by the Decree of 12
January 1956; the committees on control of dismissals established by
the Decree of 14 November 1940; the Occupational Safety Committee;
the advisory committee on collective agreements; the Central Social
Security Benefits Fund.
The workers are placed by the employment office, which informs the
Department of Public Health and Social Affairs regarding the manpower
supply and demand. A Decree of 30 June 1904, still in force, authorises
private employment exchanges to be opened on very stringent conditions. 1 In 1958 a National Employment Council was established to
study means of combating unemployment. There is also a permanent
1
In March 1960 only two private employment exchanges existed, both in Tunis
and specialising in the placement of domestic workers.
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
375
central committee for action against unemployment, which has been set
up by the Department of Public Health and Social Affairs and includes
representatives of the various departments dealing with economic matters,
particularly agriculture and public works; this committee has listed the
various public utility projects (included in equipment programmes) which
may be carried out with the help of the unemployed. At the local level
there are similar committees including representatives of the employers'
and workers' organisations, with the governor as chairman in each case.
Various agencies have been established to deal with individual labour
disputes. The conciliation boards (conseils de prud'hommes), which
were set up under a Decree of 19 January 1950 (amended by the Act of
4 November 1958) and are composed of equal numbers of employers and
workers with a magistrate as chairman, have inherited the functions of
the French institution of a similar kind introduced in 1944. There are
such boards in several places of industrial and commercial importance
such as Tunis, Bizerta, Sousse, Sfax, Gafsa and Madhia. Since April
1958 the Tunis Court of First Instance has had a special section to deal
with disputes regarding family allowances.
Algeria
Administrative Services.
Labour administration in Algeria is organised on the same basis as
in the metropolitan departments. The various services come under the
Ministry of Labour and Social Security, but the Delegate-General of the
Government in Algeria has certain powers regarding organisation and
personnel. For instance the inspectors-general of labour and manpower
(under the Director-General of Labour and Manpower in the Ministry
of Labour and Social Security) are assigned, as regards Algeria, by the
Delegate-General of the Government in agreement with the Minister of
Labour and Social Security; these-inspectors-general must send their
reports both to the Delegate-General and to the Minister (Decree of
17 January 1958). In the same way, the labour services of a department
may, by order of the Delegate-General, be attached to the director of
labour and manpower of another department. As regards the members of
the labour and manpower inspection services who are placed at his
disposal by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, the DelegateGeneral determines assignments and transfers, grants leave of all kinds
and may take such disciplinary action as admonition, censure and
suspension.
A Directorate-General of Labour and Social Security is attached to
the office of the Delegate-General of the Government in Algeria.
376
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
There is a directorate of labour and manpower and a manpower
service in each department. The director of labour and manpower of the
department is responsible for ensuring the necessary co-ordination between the labour inspection and the manpower services ; he has, under his
direct authority, the labour and manpower inspectors, the specialised
services belonging to the department, and the administrative services of
the departmental directorate.
The labour and manpower services in the field are responsible for
ensuring application of laws and regulations, particularly as regards the
following: conditions of work, occupational health and safety, works
committees, collective agreements, industrial disputes, utilisation of
manpower, placement, protection of national manpower, control of
employment of aliens, regrading, vocational selection and training,
assistance to workers without employment.
The manpower service of the department is responsible, inter alia,
for placement and the supervision of employment at the departmental
level, registration of unemployed, supervision of unemployment relief
works and accelerated vocational training for adults. Its personnel is
appointed by order of the Delegate-General in Algeria. Manpower offices
have been established in each department : there were 48 altogether in 1958.
Under two Decrees of 30 September 1957 the members of the labour
and inspection corps in Algeria were integrated with and regraded in the
metropolitan corps of the same title. In October 1959 the establishment
of the labour inspection service included a divisional inspector of labour
and manpower, seven departmental directors, 22 male or female inspectors and 97 controllers.
Supervision of the application of social legislation in agriculture is
undertaken by inspectors and controllers under the Director of Agriculture. The numbers of officials have been fixed by regulation at one
divisional inspector, 17 inspectors of social legislation in agriculture
(Orders of 26 April 1955 and 10 December 1957), and nine controllers
(Order of 15 January 1957). In October 1959 this service was operating
in three different fields : supervision as regards social laws, supervision of
social insurance, and inquiries on specific subjects. Owing to recruitment
difficulties the personnel strength was below the budgetary level: it
included one divisional inspector, 14 inspectors and six controllers (the
budget provided for 20 inspectors and 13 controllers).
In some branches (defence undertakings; mines; transport, particularly road services; production, transport and distribution of gas and
electricity), supervision of application of labour legislation is in the hands
of officials (other than inspectors of labour and manpower) under the
various ministries concerned.
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
377
Other Bodies.
Various chapters of the present survey refer to the existence of
tripartite bodies which play an important part—usually advisory—in the
formulation, operation or supervision of labour legislation. It may be
useful to mention briefly here what are the functions and composition
of some of these bodies.
The Advisory Labour Committee re-established by the Order of
26 July 1943, composed of 23 persons including the Director of Labour
and Social Security and the divisional inspector of labour and manpower,
is required to give its opinion on the application of laws and regulations
concerning labour and social welfare (health and provident arrangements), to supervise such application and to study the conditions of the
workers and the relations between them and their employers. It meets
once a year in ordinary session, but may be convened for extraordinary
sessions by the Delegate-General of the Government in Algeria.
The Advisory Agricultural Labour Committee established by
Order of 24 August 1948 is required to give an opinion on general
conditions of work and the employment of manpower in agriculture, but
not on wage questions. This Committee is composed of 15 persons,
including the Director of Labour and the Director of Agriculture.
The Advisory Committee on Full Employment instituted by Order
of 30 April 1955, to which the Director of Labour and Social Security
belongs, is required more particularly to inform the Government on the
employment situation in Algeria, to determine employment possibilities,
to propose action for the absorption of the unemployed, and to make
such proposals as it considers appropriate regarding the vocational
training of young persons. The Committee works in liaison with the
Directorate of Labour and the directorates responsible for the various
officials who undertake labour inspection in particular sectors of the
Algerian economy.
The advisory committees on manpower which, in virtue of an Order
of 16 March 1957, are set up by the Prefect in each department, are
required to express an opinion on all questions of manpower and vocational training. Each of these committees is composed of 12 members
including the departmental director of labour and manpower; it is
convened at least once a year (more often if necessary) by the Prefect,
who determines its agenda on the basis of proposals by the departmental
Director of Labour and Manpower.
The Superior Committee on Vocational Training, established under
the Order of 12 February 1949, is responsible for ascertaining needs and
drawing up a plan of action as regards vocational training. It is composed of 41 members, including the Director of Labour and the divisional
378
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
inspector of labour and manpower. The Chairman is the DelegateGeneral of the Government in Algeria or his representative.
The Central Committee for Accelerated Vocational Training which
was set up by an Order of 29 April 1949 has 13 members. It is required
to formulate an opinion on all questions related to the administrative
and technical organisation of accelerated vocational training.
The Superior Collective Agreements Board instituted by the Act
of 11 February 1950 meets at least once a year. Its functions include
giving a reasoned opinion on any proposal to extend a collective agreement or to cancel an extension order. This Board may be consulted
on any difficulty arising out of the negotiation of collective agreements
and on any other question regarding the conclusion and apphcation of
such agreements. It is also required to study the composition of a
model budget with a view to determination of the over-all guaranteed
minimum wage.
The Superior Board for matters of works committees established
by an Order of 20 May 1946 has 17 members, including the Director
of Labour and the divisional inspector of labour and manpower. It is
required to supervise application of the decree concerning the establishment of works committees, to contribute by its advice towards settlement
of any difficulties which may arise out of apphcation of the legislation,
and in general to examine any action which may appear advisable to
ensure the satisfactory operation of works committees.
Two Algerian conciliation boards have been estabhshed, one for
non-agricultural occupations and one for agriculture. These boards
were set up in virtue of an Order of 5 April 1951, amended by an
Order of 21 May 1959. Both have their headquarters at Algiers, one at
the office of the Divisional Inspectorate of Labour and Manpower, the
other at the office of the Divisional Controller of Social Legislation in
Agriculture. Each has a section with regional powers as well as sections
for each department.
As regards social security, there are several bodies to which officials
of the labour administration services belong, such as the Algerian
Technical Committee on Prevention of Occupational Accidents and
Diseases and the organs of the social insurance funds.
Morocco
Administrative Services.
A Dahir of 31 December 1947 transferred to the Directorate of
Labour and Social Affairs labour matters which had previously
been handled by a section of the Division of Industrial Production and
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION .
379
Labour. In December 1955 the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
succeeded the Directorate, which had, since 1947, been divided into
three offices, responsible for regulation and industrial accidents, immigration and emigration, and accounts, personnel and equipment. Subsequently the Ministry has been reorganised and the establishment of new
services has involved a considerable increase in personnel : on 1 January
1956 the staff of its central services numbered 53, and that of its external
services 129; in 1958 these figures were 89 and 201 respectively.
It should be noted that an Inter-Ministerial Social Committee was
set up in virtue of a Decree of 12 September 1957. The main object of this
measure was to provide machinery which would permit the various
ministries dealing with social questions to co-ordinate their work more
closely. The Committee was also to formulate plans for common action
with a view to solving problems which exceed the scope of a given
ministry (for instance, a national basic education system, the organisation and development of occupational medical services in undertakings,
and special education for delinquent children). The Inter-Ministerial
Social Committee is responsible for the preliminary study of social
questions coming up for decision either by the Prime Minister or by the
Government: it is also required to supervise the execution of the decisions
taken and to ensure permanent co-ordination of the work of the ministerial departments concerned. The Committee includes the Prime
Minister and the Ministers of Labour, the Interior, Justice, Education,
Health, Information and Tourism. The Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs provides the secretariat.
At present the central services of the Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs are responsible, each in its own field, for preparing draft
laws and regulations (in accordance with the Minister's directives) and
for the settlement of difficulties which may arise out of their application.
The Administrative Service is responsible for personnel questions
as well as those relating to buildings, equipment, supplies, etc.
The Labour Regulation and Social Welfare Section is responsible
for: questions regarding labour laws and regulations, claims, labour
inspection and decorations; preparing draft laws and regulations on
social questions (social aid fund, national social welfare fund, mutual
insurance, occupational medicine, co-operative movement, etc.) and
supervising tneir application; preparing reports ior tue international
Labour Office and examining all questions relating to international
labour Conventions and Recommendations. This section has three
main offices, one dealing with regulation, legislation, claims, international
relations and decorations, one with social welfare and co-operatives and
the third with medical aspects of labour inspection.
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LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
The Occupational Accidents Service, apart from preparing draft
legislation and settling disputes in its particular field, is required to pay
pensions to state employees who have been injured in accidents and to
administer the fund for supplementing accident benefit. It has three
offices: legislation and claims; accident pensions; and supplementary
benefit.
The Employment and Manpower Service is responsible for questions
of immigration and emigration, placement and unemployment.
The Vocational Training Service has to formulate general policy
with a view to the training of skilled workers and supervisors. With
this object it directs the National Vocational Training Institute and the
various instruction centres.
The Documentation, Statistics and Research Service is required to
collect all the necessary documentation and to collate reports on
questions in which several other services are concerned. It comprises
three offices: reports and technical questions; statistics; documentation,
card index and library. A social affairs office is temporarily attached to
this service.
The service for inspection of social laws in agriculture, established
at the Ministry of Agriculture in 1955 and transferred to the Ministry
of Labour in 1957, includes inspectors and controllers in the various
provinces and a central service responsible for the co-ordination and
operation of the external services; it also deals with all social questions
relating to agriculture. In May 1959 there were ten regional inspectorates
in the most important provinces.1
The Labour Inspection Service, directed by a divisional inspector
who is based at Rabat, consists of inspectors and controllers. This
Service supervises the application of labour legislation in industrial and
commercial establishments, in the handicrafts and in professional
employment. In the mines and quarries with underground workings,
and in undertakings subject to technical supervision by the Ministry of
Public Works, inspection is in the hands of the mine engineers and public
works engineers respectively. However, the labour inspectors are
empowered, concurrently with the public works engineers, to ensure
application of labour legislation in undertakings for road transport by
automobile, workshops operated by the railway companies and quarries
where there are no underground workings.
Furthermore, the labour inspectors are alone competent to ensure
application of labour legislation in the docks, in undertakings operating
a municipal concession, private undertakings established on railway
1
Oujda, Fez, Meknès, Tetuan, Rabat, Kinitra, Casablanca, Beni Mellal, Marrakesh, Agadir.
381
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
premises and on building sites of undertakings working for establishments under the technical control of the Ministry of Public Works.
The external services are divided into four sectors, each directed by a
deputy divisional inspector, and 20 districts covering the whole country
as follows:
Divisional Labour Inspector
I
I
I
I
Sector A
Sector B
Sector C
MEKNÈS
RABAT
Districts
Districts
Districts
Districts
Fez
Meknès
Oujda
Nador
Rabat
Kenitra
Tangier
Tetuan
Larache
El Houcina
Six districts
in Casablanca
town and
area;
Fedala
Marrakesh
Safi
Agadir
CASABLANCA
I
Sector D
MARRAKESH
At 1 January 1960 the aggregate personnel strength of the external
services of the Ministry of Labour and Social Questions was as follows :
one divisional inspector of labour, three deputy divisional inspectors,
13 labour inspectors including one woman inspector, two inspectors
and ten controllers of social legislation in agriculture, and 54 labour
controllers.
The Dahir of 8 July 1957 (applied by the Decree of 8 February 1958)
on the organisation of industrial medical services states that: " The
medical labour inspectors shall be appointed by the Minister of Labour
and Social Questions in agreement with the Minister of Health." By
1959 two medical labour inspectors had been appointed, one for the
southern region of Morocco, the other for the north, the latter being
responsible for the medical aspects of labour inspection for the whole
of Morocco.
Other Bodies.
In accordance with the Dahir of 9 April 1958 respecting conditions of
employment and remuneration of agricultural wage earners, a provincial
joint committee consisting of four employers' and four workers' delegates, has been established in each province by order of the Minister
of Labour and Social Questions. These committees meet fairly frequently. The Governor presides and is assisted by an inspector of social
legislation in agriculture. The committees are required to give opinions
and make suggestions concerning labour regulation and social legislation
382
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
in agriculture; they are also empowered to examine collective labour
disputes with a view to settlement.
The Moroccan Manpower Office, established in 1930, is responsible
for free placement of workers. Its organs are the employment service
of the Ministry of Labour and Social Questions and the free public
employment offices. In 1959 there were 16 free employment offices,
14 in the southern zone of Morocco, eight of them directly under the
Ministry of Labour and Social Questions, the others under municipal
authorities, and two in the northern zone. A joint supervisory committee
has been established at each of these employment offices: it is composed
of the Governor as chairman, a labour inspector, the head of the employment office, three employers' and three workers' delegates (appointed
by the Governor on the basis of proposals from the occupational organisations). The committees have a double task: to take decisions on
complaints concerning the operation of the employment offices ; and to
inform the administrative authorities of the action which they think
proper to render these offices more efficient. A special management
committee, on which the Minister of Labour and Social Questions is
represented, is responsible for examining and checking the works programme to be undertaken as part of a struggle against unemployment
and underemployment. This committee, however, has not met since
1958.
The National Committee for the Co-ordination of Technical Education and Vocational Training, the establishment of which was decided in
December 1957, met for the first time in January 1958 in the presence of
several members of the Government, including the Prime Minister. This
Committee is the successor of the Inter-Ministerial Social Committee.
It has established the following subordinate bodies: sector subcommittees (agriculture, industry and commerce, handicrafts); subcommittees
on stocktaking and basic organisation, on the reform of technical and
vocational education, on vocational guidance, on the legislative and
financial problems of vocational training, on the estabhshment of a
national institute of vocational-training officers and instructors. The
National Committee has not, however, met since January 1958.
Provision was made by the Decree of 8 February 1958 for the estabhshment of an advisory committee on industrial medical services
which will lay down general rules for the work of the medical labour
inspection service. The Minister of Labour and Social Questions or his
representative is to preside over this committee.
The Superior Collective Agreements Council, which met for the first
time in November 1957, is an advisory body including, inter alia, representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Questions. It has
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
383
drawn up general recommendations, within the framework of present
legislation, on the conclusion of collective agreements at the level of the
occupation. It is also to express to the Ministry of Labour and Social
Questions an opinion regarding the extension of collective agreements by
order (this procedure makes such an agreement binding on all employers
and workers in the occupations and regions covered thereby).
There are regional and inter-regional conciliation committees for
the settlement of collective labour disputes.1 Officials of the labour
authorities take part in the work of these bodies : the Director of Labour
presides over the inter-regional committee; the competent labour
inspector is present in an advisory capacity at meetings of the regional
committees. As regards the settlement of individual labour disputes, the
conciliation boards were replaced by labour courts in 1957, when it was
provided that the Minister of Labour should appoint the members of the
courts during a transitional period. Each labour court has three sections :
one for commerce and the professions, another for industry, and a third
for agriculture. A Dahir of 30 December 1957 fixed the number of labour
courts at 12 (in Casablanca, Rabat, Meknès, Fez, Marrakesh, Tangier,
Tetuan, Nador, Oujda, Agadir, Beni-Mellal and Ksar-es-Suk). The
number was raised to 14 by the Dahir of 14 November 1959.
As regards wage fixing and social security, there are several bodies to
which representatives of the labour authorities belong: the consultative
commission on prices and wages; the regional wage committees for workers in the public services ; the central commission and wage committees
for homeworkers; and the Social Assistance Fund (administered by a
board over which the Minister of Labour and Social Questions presides).2
SUPERVISION OF THE APPLICATION OF LABOUR LEGISLATION
Labour authorities and services are required to perform, as part of
their normal operations, many functions which arise and change as labour
problems develop. Generally their work may be said to he in four main
fields: they supervise the application of laws and regulations; they help
towards establishing harmonious industrial relations; they participate in
achieving and maintaining full employment; and finally they provide
information and make inquiries and surveys on labour questions.
Although information on supervision of the application of laws and
regulations has been given in other chapters of the present survey, it may
1
Although legally in existence these committees do not function in practice.
Although legally in existence, the regional wage committees for workers in the
public services and the commissions and committees for homeworkers have, in
practice, no activity.
2
384
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
be useful to deal in rather more detail here with the way in which the
labour services of each of the countries perform this fundamental function
of ensuring that the standards laid down by legislation are effectively
applied. The following passages will therefore describe the means used
to ensure efficient supervision with this aim in view: efficiency depends
not only on the scope of the functions which inspection personnel are
required by law to perform, but also on the powers they can effectively
exercise when inspecting workplaces, their professional ability and impartiality, and the staff and other facilities placed at the disposal of
supervisory bodies.
United Arab Republic (Egypt)
According to the information available 1 , the labour inspection
system applies to all industrial establishments without exception, including mines and transport. When Egypt ratified the Labour Inspection
Convention, 1947 (No. 81), the Government made no reservation excluding commercial establishments from the application of the Convention.
Besides the labour inspectors there are specialised officials having
particular responsibility for helping to ensure industrial safety and health
(chemists, engineers and doctors of medicine).
The Labour Code of 1959 contains only rather brief provisions on
the powers and obligations of supervisory officials. It says that persons
having the quality of judiciary police officers are empowered to visit
workplaces; and that when nominated the labour inspectors shall swear
not to divulge (even after leaving their posts) professional secrets which
may come to their knowledge during the performance of their functions.
Provided they can produce their authority, the labour inspectors are
entitled to enter workplaces during working hours, by day or by night,
and to make a search therein. Employers are required to facilitate the
performance of the inspectors' duties, particularly by placing registers
and documents concerning the workers at their disposal. The Code also
states that " the administrative authorities shall effectively assist the said
officials in performing their duties ".
The inspection staff is composed of public officials under the authority
of the inspection division of the Directorate-General of Labour. The
status and conditions of employment of inspection personnel are governed by the laws and regulations applying to civil servants (see Act
No. 210 of 1951, as amended); the labour inspectors are said to be
recruited from persons possessing college degrees and to undergo a
1
Report made to the I.L.O. by the Government of the United Arab Republic
(Egyptian Region) for the period ending 30 June 1958 on the action taken to give
effect to the provisions of the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81).
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
385
training period. Inspection duties may be performed by women, the
female labour inspectors being particularly concerned with supervision
of women's and children's conditions of work.
Libya
Under the 1957 Labour Code the director of labour appointed by
the appropriate authority in each province is responsible for applying
the Code in that province. He acts as adviser " in all labour matters that
relate to the improvement and safeguarding of the welfare of the workers
and the maintenance of good relations between employers and workers ".
The Code also provides that the labour inspectors, appointed (in such
number as may be required for its enforcement) by the appropriate
authority in each province, shall act under the control and supervision of
the director of labour. A further section states that the competent
Minister shall exercise general supervision in order to ensure the uniform
application of the government policy in labour matters as prescribed in
the Code. With that object the director of labour will submit to the
competent Minister information, documentation and statistics concerning
the labour situation; conferences of the provincial directors of labour are
to be held at least once a year; a federal standing advisory committee
is also set up.
The powers allotted to the directors of labour and labour inspectors
under the Code are as follows : to enter any establishment during working
hours to ascertain whether the Code is being complied with; make such
examination of the workplace and of the records prescribed by law and
carry out such inquiries as may be necessary; exercise such other powers
as may be necessary for enforcing the provisions of the Code.
Finally, the directors of labour and the labour inspectors are empowered to take all legal action necessary in relation to offences against
the Code.
Tunisia
Supervision of the application of labour laws is undertaken by the
labour inspectors and controllers in industrial and commercial establishments, handicrafts, professions and agriculture. These officials are under
the authority of the Department of Public Health and Social Affairs.
However, in certain branches such as mines, transport, postal
services and defence undertakings, the supervisory officials are under the
various Ministries concerned. The passages of the present chapter
regarding the structure of labour administration in Tunisia have already
referred to the technicians who are more particularly responsible for
386
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
application of the statutory provisions regarding the workers' health
and hygiene and for technical supervision of social security bodies. The
status, recruitment and conditions of employment of the labour inspectors and controllers are legally prescribed by Decree of 7 April 1960. All
these persons are public officials, with the safeguards corresponding to
such office. They are recruited by competition, with or without a
written examination. Before becoming established officials, candidates
who have been successful in the competition must complete a year of
probation. There are several women labour inspectors.
The Tunisian labour inspectors have most of the powers laid down
for officials of this character in the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947
(No. 81).1 The same applies to the obligations to which they are subject
during performance of their duties. The annual report on the application
of labour legislation in Tunisia in 1958, drawn up by the divisional
labour inspector, states that during the second half of the year the
number of tours of inspection increased by 284 per cent, as compared
with the first half of 1957 and by 335 per cent, as compared with the first
half of 1958. However, the report also refers to a dechne in the number of
systematic visits to establishments in 1958 as compared with 1957 and
1956 ; this is said to be due to the reorganisation of the labour inspection
service in 1958, involving—among other changes—greater activity in
conciliation and arbitration. Finally, according to the same report,
several general surveys are being undertaken including a census of
industry and handicrafts in each region, a census of cultivated land
showing the average number of days worked per worker and per hectare
in a year, a census of permanent agricultural workers, a survey on
co-operatives and an inquiry into the footwear industry and trade.
Algeria
The members of the labour and manpower inspection corps have
been integrated with, and regraded in, the corresponding metropolitan
establishment. The inspectors and controllers of social laws in agriculture
have a special status. As in Tunisia, supervision of the appUcation of
laws and regulations in certain branches of the economy is placed in the
hands of officials other than the inspectors of labour and manpower.
There are women labour inspectors who deal more particularly with
the conditions of work of women and children.
In 1957, when the extent of application of international labour
Conventions in non-metropolitan territories was being examined, the
1
This Convention was ratified by Tunisia in 1956.
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
387
Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations considered that the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947
(No. 81), was fully applied in Algeria. The inspection officials have indeed
the same powers as those of their metropolitan colleagues, while the
obligations arising out of the performance of their duties are also similar.
The French Government has stated x that, between 1 July 1956 and
30 June 1957, 16,628 establishments employing an aggregate of 261,282
persons (out of the 39,329 establishments subject to inspection) were
visited, 4,594 of them more than once. During the same period, 1,281
special reports were sent in and 4,745 infringements revealed.
Morocco
As in Tunisia, the labour inspectors and controllers supervise application of laws and regulations in industrial and commercial establishments,
handicrafts and the professions. The inspectors and controllers of
social laws in agriculture have a special status. In the mines and quarries
and in establishments subject to technical supervision by the public
works authority, inspection is carried out by the mines and public works
engineers respectively. As already stated, the legislation regarding occupational medical services provides for the appointment of medical labour
inspectors. All the above inspection personnel are public officials with
the corresponding safeguards. They are recruited by competition, with
or without written examination. However, in recent years, in order to
make up in due time for the departure of a number of French officials,
the recruitment of labour controllers has been undertaken among persons
holding the intermediate school certificate; the young Moroccans thus
recruited received special rapid training, for two months, on labour
legislation and the essential elements of their future work.
The powers and obligations of labour inspectors are to a large extent
identical with those enumerated in the Labour Inspection Convention,
1947 (No. 81).2
The Ministry of Labour and Social Questions has stated that in
1956 and 1957 there was a sharp decline in the number of inspections
(4,658 in 1956, 5,888 in 1957) because of the greater number of disputes,
the departure of many French officials and the fact that new labour
controllers were still being trained. The number of inspections rose to
13,500 in 1959. Whereas between 1950 and 1955 the annual average
number of observations made by labour inspectors was 100,432, this
1
Report made to the I.L.O. by the French Government for the period 1 July ^SOSO June 1957, on the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81).
2
This Convention was ratified by Morocco in 1958.
388
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
figure had fallen to 35,969 in 1956 and 63,883 in 1957, but had risen to
127,934 in 1959.
CONCLUSIONS
The information contained in the preceding pages will give an idea
of the extent to which labour services have developed in the countries
of the region and the way in which certain essential principles have been
applied with a view to solving the problems of organising and operating
a national labour department.
The need for an administrative agency with some independence has
been understood by the various governments concerned. The International Labour Conference unanimously decided in 1953 x that " within
the framework of a government administration it is, therefore, appropriate to provide a labour department—or, failing that, to set up within
an existing department an administrative unit capable of ultimate
emergence as a separate labour department—enjoying within the overall structure a status corresponding to its important responsibilities ". The
labour services of all the countries covered by the present survey, except
Libya, have a status corresponding to this standard. Nor should it be
forgotten that the Government of Libya has declared its intention of
eventually establishing a department of social affairs which would be
competent to handle all labour questions at the federal level.
The specialisation of labour services, which is indispensable for the
satisfactory study and solution of the technical problems which arise
nowadays in many of the fields covered by labour administration—such
as occupational health and safety, statistical work, labour-management
relations and placement—has made great strides in most of the countries
in question. However, it would appear that some of the specialised
services, such as those dealing with occupational health and safety or
research and statistics, are still insufficiently developed. The information available is so incomplete that it is difficult to judge whether the
existing specialisation does or does not suffice to meet present needs;
but there are grounds for believing that most of the governments concerned will have to develop the technical competence of their labour
services in the next few years if the various aspects of national social
policy are to be effectively implemented.
To ensure that the personnel of the labour services have appropriate
qualifications and can be quite impartial, recruitment should be by
1
Observations and Conclusions Regarding the Organisation and Working of
National Labour Departments, adopted by the International Labour Conference at
its 36th Session, Geneva, 1953 {Official Bulletin, Vol. XXXVI, No. 3, Aug. 1953,
p. 66).
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION AND INSPECTION
389
public competition on merit only and the successful candidates should
receive special training on the technique of the problems they will have
to solve; similarly, permanent full-time personnel of the labour departments should have the assurance of employment stability and a special
status, satisfactory remuneration, and a suitable rank, thus enabling
them to act with all due impartiality.
Despite the considerable increase in the personnel establishment of
the labour services which has occurred in recent years in some of the
countries, such as Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco, their effectives still
seem in general to be too small for optimum performance of all the
duties incumbent on a labour department, particularly those relating to
supervision of the application of laws and regulations. According to
the available information, it would appear that in many cases the checks
are not made at short intervals and do not apply to all the workers, by
reason of the shortage of personnel and equipment at the disposal of
the labour inspection services.
Effective supervision of the application of laws and regulations
requires the supervisory personnel to have powers appropriate to their
wide responsibilities as laid down in international instruments, particularly the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), Articles 12
and 13. Although this Convention has been ratified by Egypt, Tunisia
and Morocco and the Committee of Experts on the Application of
Conventions and Recommendations has considered that it is fully applied
in the Algerian departments, there would appear to be some gaps in the
legislation.
As regards information, the necessity for developing research and
statistical services is pointed out above : it is indeed essential that a labour
authority should have full, reliable and recent information on the
matters which it is required to handle. Reference must also be made
to the great advantage of ensuring that the central inspection agencies
in all the countries publish annual reports of a general character on the
work of the inspection staffs under their control, in accordance with the
standards laid down in the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81).
Such are the main points to which regard might be had in an attempt
to improve the organisation and operation of the labour services as they
exist at present in the countries under consideration.
CHAPTER XII
APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS
The influence which international standards have had on law and
practice in the countries covered by this survey can be seen from the
information given in earlier chapters. In the present chapter an indication is given of the extent to which the standards in force in the different
countries are applied and the degree to which the governments concerned
discharge the obligations relating to international labour standards laid
down in the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation.
Before examining the situation in the individual countries a few words
should be said about the legal and practical means by which the International Labour Organisation can supervise the enforcement of these
standards.
I.L.O.
ACTION ON THE APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR STANDARDS
The constitutional obligations of States Members are laid down in
articles 19, 22, 23 and 35 of the I.L.O. Constitution, which deal with
the submission of Conventions and Recommendations to the competent
authorities (article 19), the sending in of reports on unratified Conventions and on Recommendations (article 19), the sending in of reports
on ratified Conventions (article 22), the communication of the reports
and information in question to the national employers' and workers'
organisations (article 23) and the application of Conventions in nonmetropolitan territories (article 35). Following a brief outline of these
various obligations, a general description will be given of the mutual
supervision procedure followed.
Submission to Competent Authorities
Article 19 of the Constitution of the I.L.O. requires the governments
of States Members of the I.L.O. to submit the Conventions and Recommendations adopted by the Conference to their national authorities
which have the power to legislate on the subjects dealt with in these
APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS
391
instruments within 12 months—or, in certain exceptional cases, 18
months—after their adoption, in order that such authorities may enact
legislation or take other action. The various mutual supervision bodies
(which will be described later) have on several occasions stressed that this
procedure is designed to bring the international standards drawn up by
the I.L.O. before public opinion in each country. Article 19 also provides
that States Members must inform the Director-General of the International Labour Office of the measures taken by them to fulfil this
obligation.
Reports on Unratified Conventions and on Recommendations
A government is not required to apply an international labour Convention unless it has ratified it and thereby accepted the international
obligations deriving therefrom. Recommendations are not open to
ratification; they are principally intended as a guide to government
action. However, article 19 of the I.L.O. Constitution empowers the
Governing Body of the International Labour Office to ask States Members for reports indicating their law and practice with regard both to
unratified Conventions and to Recommendations. These reports must
show the extent to which the provisions of the Convention or Recommendation concerned have been or are to be applied and, in the case of a
Convention, indicate the difficulties preventing or delaying its ratification.
Since 1948 x the Governing Body has asked for reports of this kind
in respect of slightly over 50 different Conventions and Recommendations; the instruments concerned dealt with forced labour 2 , manpower
problems (employment and migration) 3, wages *, the employment of
1
The new provisions of the amended Constitution providing for the sending of
these reports came into force on 20 April 1948.
2
1949 : Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29); Forced Labour (Indirect
Compulsion) Recommendation, 1930 (No. 35), and Forced Labour (Regulation)
Recommendation, 1930 (No. 36). Reports on these instruments and on the Abolition
of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), have been requested for 1961.
3
1950 : Vocational Training Recommendation, 1939 (No. 57), and Apprenticeship
Recommendation, 1939 (No. 60); 1951 : Employment Service Convention, 1948
(No. 88), and Recommendation (No. 83), 1948, Public Works (National Planning)
Recommendation, 1937 (No. 51), Employment (Transition from War to Peace)
Recommendation, 1944 (No. 71), and Public Works (National Planning) Recommendation, 1944 (No. 73); 1952 : Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949
(No. 97), and Recommendation (Revised) 1949 (No. 86).
4
1953 : Labour Clauses (Public Contracts) Convention, 1949 (No. 94), and Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95), Labour Clauses (Public Contracts)
Recommendation, 1949 (No. 84), and Protection of Wages Recommendation, 1949
(No. 85); 1955 : Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), and Recommendation (No. 90), 1951; 1957 : Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928
(No. 26), and Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951
(No. 99), Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Recommendation, 1928 (No. 30), and
Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1951 (No. 89).
392
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
children and young persons1, industrial hygiene and safety2, social
security 3, seafarers' work 4, freedom of association and industrial relations 5 and labour inspection.6
Reports on Ratified Conventions
As regards ratified Conventions, States must take all action necessary
to ensure their application and report annually to the International
Labour Office on the steps taken to that end. The report must be drawn
up in the form laid down for each Convention by the Governing Body
and must contain such particulars as the latter may request, particularly
regarding the legislation applicable and all information available on the
practical application of the instruments in question (statistics, decisions
1
1954 : Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment) Convention (Revised), 1937
(No. 60), Medical Examination of Young Persons (Non-Industrial Occupations)
Convention, 1946 (No. 78), and Night Work of Young Persons (Non-Industrial Occupations) Convention, 1946 (No. 79), Medical Examination of Young Persons Recommendation, 1946 (No. 79), and Night Work of Young Persons (Non-Industrial Occupations) Recommendation, 1946 (No. 80); 1959 : Minimum Age (Industry) Convention,
1919 (No. 5), Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937 (No. 59), Night
Work of Young Persons (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 6), Night Work of Young
Persons (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 90), and Medical Examination
of Young Persons (Industry) Convention, 1946 (No. 77).
2
1950 : Protection against Accidents (Dockers) Convention (Revised), 1932
(No. 32), and Protection against Accidents (Dockers) Reciprocity Recommendation,
1932 (No. 40).
3
1949 : Income Security Recommendation, 1944 (No. 67), Social Security (Armed
Forces) Recommendation, 1944 (No. 68), and Medical Care Recommendation, 1944
(No. 69); 1951 : Unemployment Provision Convention, 1934 (No. 44), Unemployment Provision Recommendation, 1934 (No. 44), and Unemployment (Young Persons)
Recommendation, 1935 (No. 45). Reports on the Social Security (Minimum Standards)
Convention, 1952 (No. 102), have been requested for 1960.
4
1949 : Food and Catering (Ships' Crews) Convention, 1946 (No. 68), Certification
of Ships' Cooks Convention, 1946 (No. 69), Seafarers' Pensions Convention, 1946
(No. 71), Medical Examination (Seafarers) Convention, 1946 (No. 73), and Certification of Able Seamen Convention, 1946 (No. 74), Vocational Training (Seafarers)
Recommendation, 1946 (No. 77).
6
1952 : Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and Right of Association (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947 (No. 84); 1955 : Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention,
1949 (No. 98), and Collective Agreements Recommendation, 1951 (No. 91); 1956:
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948
(No. 87); 1958: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise
Convention, 1948 (No. 87), Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention,
1949 (No. 98), and Right of Association (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention,
1947 (No. 84), Collective Agreements Recommendation, 1951 (No. 91), and Cooperation at the Level of the Undertaking Recommendation, 1952 (No. 94).
e
1950 : Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), and Labour Inspectorates
(Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947 (No. 85), Labour Inspection
Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), and Labour Inspection (Mining and Transport)
Recommendation, 1947 (No. 82); 1956 : Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81),
Labour Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81), and Labour Inspection (Mining
and Transport) Recommendation, 1947 (No. 82).
APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR STANDARDS
393
of courts of law or other tribunals, extracts from the reports of inspectorates or the competent government departments, etc.).
Application of Conventions to Non-Metropolitan Territories
Article 35 of the Constitution lays down special obligations concerning the apphcation of Conventions to non-metropohtan territories
(territories for whose international relations States Members of the
I.L.O. are responsible). Certain general indications concerning these
obligations will be found below in the section on France (Algeria).
Communication of Reports to Representative Organisations
Article 23, paragraph 2, of the Constitution provides that copies of
the information and reports which have to be sent to the International
Labour Office under articles 19 and 22 must be communicated to the
representative organisations of employers and workers. The competent
mutual supervision bodies have expressed the desire that reports concerning non-metropolitan territories be communicated to local representative organisations wherever they exist.
SUPERVISION OF THE APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL
LABOUR STANDARDS
Under article 23, paragraph 1, of the Constitution the DirectorGeneral of the International Labour Office is required to submit to the
International Labour Conference a summary of the information and
reports received under articles 19 and 22.1 To facilitate the examination
of annual reports on ratified Conventions, two special bodies were set up
in 1927. Subsequently the functions of these bodies were extended to
include the examination of information on the submission of Conventions
and Recommendations to the competent authorities and of reports on
unratified Conventions and on Recommendations.
Every year the information supplied by the governments is examined
by an independent Committee of Experts, appointed by and reporting to
the Governing Body.2 This report includes observations 3 on the applica1
This summary constitutes Report III, Part I of which contains a summary of the
reports on ratified Conventions, Part II a summary of reports on unratified Conventions and on Recommendations, and Part III a summary of information on the submission of Conventions and Recommendations to the competent authorities.
2
Report III (Part IV).
3
In cases of doubt or of minor discrepancies, " direct requests " are sent to the
governments concerned.
394
LABOUR SURVEY OF NORTH AFRICA
tion of ratified Conventions by States Members and in their nonmetropolitan territories, observations on the manner in which governments fulfil their obligation to submit Conventions and Recommendations to the competent authorities, and a general survey of the situation
in States Members (and, where applicable, in their non-metropolitan
territories) in the fields covered by the Conventions and Recommendations selected by the Governing Body for report under article 19 of the
Constitution. The report is
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