Belere Hotel workers camp outside hotel to demand unpaid wages

For nearly three years, Sabir Hassan has been sleeping in a make-shift tent in front of the shuttered Bélère Hotel where he worked for 20 years as a receptionist. Hassan and 10 other workers have been camping outside the Ouarzazate hotel to protest the owners’ failure to pay their back salaries after the hotel closed June 9, 2009. Hassan was among 111 employees who lost their jobs. Some employees found temporary jobs, but others are still unemployed.

Hassan, 57, said he showed up for work on June 9, 2009, and was surprised when his boss him that there was no work.

“The doors were closed, so we couldn’t go inside,’’ he said one day last week while sitting under his tent playing cards with other workers.

Besides camping outside the hotel, the workers have been marching through city streets with other unemployed workers to advocate for jobs. They also gather outside concerts and other major events in the city to voice their concerns. Every night, three of four former employees sleep under the tents.

The workers have turned the front of the hotel into a home. They have pots, pans, dinner table and water cans. They create fire to prepare meals and make tea.

The hotel closed a year after the death of its owner, Berkach Abdel Fattah, said Ben Nacer Ismaili, of CDT, La Confederation Democratique du Travail, the local affiliate which advocates for workers. When the hotel closed, the workers had not been paid for eight months, Nacer Ismaili said. Abdel Fattah’s wife, Fatima Sabar, owns 75 percent of the hotel and shareholders own the remaining 25 percent, he said. Ouarzazate e-News was unable to reach Sabar or her lawyer. The workers began camping outside the hotel when the owners refused to pay their salary arrears. After some discussion, the workers received a portion of their salaries, but the owners refused to pay the rest.

The 111 workers are owed about 250 million dirhams, Nacer Ismaili said. In the last three years, the workers have tried to seek help from authorities. Jamal El Mazouiqui, another former employee, said workers took their case to the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court in Rabat. The Supreme Court ruled in the workers’ favor, but the law has not been enforced, he said.

“We are going to sit here until we get our rights back, even if it’s forever,” said El Mazouiqui, who supervised employees at Bélère Hotel for 16 years.

He said he hasn’t been able to find work. El Mazouiqui, 42, a father of three including a new born, said his relatives in Marrakesh help him support his family. Modnib Ahmed, who worked in housekeeping for 20 years, said the hotel had been struggling for several months before it closed. There were times when the hotel was empty for many weeks, he said.

“If someone called to reserve a room, they tell them that the hotel is full,’’ he said. “From this, we figured out that there was a problem and that it will affect us.’’

Ahmed, 58, said he hasn’t been able to find a job. He relies on relatives and neighbors to feed his two wives and four children. Hassan, a father of three, lives in Aghan with his wife and three children. He said he relies on neighbors to feed his family.

“Life gets harder after losing your job,’’ he said. “It’s hard to feed one person, and it’s really harder to have the responsibility of the whole family.’’