Public services in Morocco ground to a halt on Wednesday after stalled labour-management talks spurred a general strike.

Three major public-sector unions launched a general strike Wednesday (March 3rd) after two months of negotiations with the government reached an impasse.

"We're not fans of strike action," Democratic Labour Federation general secretary Abderrahman Azzouzi said, "but after a two-month halt in the negotiation process, we had to do something."

The strike, led by the Moroccan Labour Union, the Democratic Labour Federation, and the National Union of Moroccan Workers, may paralyse public-service activity in Morocco throughout the month. Union officials and the government plan to resume talks in April.

The action marks the culmination of an escalating series of strikes in the transport, civil service, healthcare, and education sectors during the past several months.

"The public-sector unrest that Morocco is now witnessing is partly the fault of the central government and partly the fault of companies that don't listen to their employees' grievances," Azzouzi said.

The government has failed to resolve grievances over internal promotions and pay raises in connection with the increasing cost of living, he said. Talks with Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi were supposed to have resumed several weeks ago, Azzouzi said.

Morocco's government has denied responsibility for the stalemate.

The government has always been willing to engage in dialogue, said the deputy minister for the modernisation of the public sector, Mohammed Saad Alami. He added that the government has ensured that talks are held between management and labour twice a year. The ministry is preparing for the second round of talks in April, Saad Alami said, and noted his plans to attend meetings with union representatives until then.

Alami also credited the government with raising salaries through a reduction in the income tax.

Justice and Development Party (PJD) MP Lahcen Daoudi dismissed the concession as "tax breaks given to financial lobbyists while workers are suffering."

The government is "incapable of settling the disputes," said Daoudi, who is an economist. He blamed the strike on "the erosion of people's purchasing power against a background of increases in the cost of living and the stagnation of salaries".

An annual pay raise of 1-2% tied to national economy's growth rate could break the deadlock, he said.

"The average growth rate in Morocco is 5%," he said. "This means that salaries should be increased."

"The government must make more effort in terms of economic development so that there will be some scope for doing something about pay," Daoudi added.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat