أرسل اتحاد العمال الأمريكى خطاب تضامن مع القادة النقابيين المقبوض عليهم ، يستنكر فيه القبض عليهم على خلفية اتهامهم بالتحريض على التظاهر- رغم اتباعهم الإجراءات المنصوص عليها فى القانون رقم 107 لسنة 2013.

طالب الاتحاد بالإفراج الفورى عن المقبوض عليهم، وتمكين النقابات المستقلة من ممارسة أنشطتها والقيام بدورها ، وإصدار قانون النقابات بما يتوافق مع اتفاقيات العمل الدولية رقم 87 ، 98 .

وفيما يلى نص الخطاب

AFL-CIO

AMERICA'S UNION

September 28, 2017

Mr. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President

Arab Republic of Egypt

Via Email: media.office8@op.gov.eg

questions@cabinet.gov.eg

primemin@idsc.gov.eg

Embassy@egyptembassy.net

Your Excellency:

On behalf of the over 12.5 million working women and men of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), I urge you to immediately and unconditionally release all trade unionists detained on charges of instigation of striking and demonstration, misuse of social media and affiliation to a banned group and to drop all charges against them. The AFL-CIO is greatly concerned about the recent escalation of repression of peaceful trade union activity that these arrests represent.

In accordance with law 107 of 2013, the three independent tax employee unions in Egypt - the General Tax, Sales Tax and Real Estate Tax unions – notified the Ministry of Interior of a planned rally in front of the Tax Authority on September 19, 2017. The rally was organized to protest the collapse of negotiations over the long-promised review of the incentive system. Although the unions fulfilled all the legal requirements for such gatherings, police arrested eleven union leaders from eight different governorates on September 17 and 18.

The leaders arrested are:  

·         Tarek Ibrahim Fathi Ahmad Hammam - known as Tarek El Kashef (General Taxes/Giza)

·         Mohamed Bassiouni Hassan Badr (General Taxes/Gharbiya)

·         Tarek Moustafa Koaib, (President of the Real Estate Taxes/Qalyoubiy)

·         Said Ali Gamei (Real Estate Taxes/Gharbiya)

·         Ayman Fathi El Sabbagh (Real Estate Taxes/Menoufiya)

·         Atef Fathy Mohamed Sayed (Real Estate Taxes/El Wadi El Gadid)  

·         Mohamed Abdel Hamid Hassan (Real Estate Taxes/Minia)

·         Mahmoud Mohamed Zeidan Gad El Karim (Real Estate Taxes/ Assiout)

·         Mohamed El Hendawi Said El-Ghatouli (Company of Electricity/Gharbiya)

·         Abd El Ghoneimi Qaddous El-Dous (Company of Electricity/Gharbiya)

·         Yaser Badry Mansour Ahmed (Tax Union/Assyout)

 In addition, Fatma Fouad, president of the Sales Taxes union was arrested on September 17 and taken to the headquarters of the National Security in Abbassieh. She was released the following day.

These attacks against fundamental trade union rights came only a few months after the ILO’s Committee on the Application of Standards noted that Egyptian law continues to be out of compliance with ILO conventions 87 and 98, both of which Egypt has ratified. The ILO urged Egypt to remedy the situation by passing the draft Law on Trade Union Organizations currently in parliament. In response, Egypt’s Minister of Manpower committed to passing the law; this has not yet been done.

The right of independent worker organizations to function without government interference or repression is internationally recognized and is a critical component of any democratic society. Your government’s action in arresting trade unionists for peacefully exercising their rights under the law does not support its commitment to freedom of association for all Egyptian workers. The AFL-CIO calls for the immediate release of the arrested workers and dismissal of all charges against them. We urge you to take immediate steps to bring Egyptian law into compliance with ILO conventions 87 and 98 and we will continue to monitor the situation for a just resolution.

Sincerely,

Catherine Feingold

Director, International Department

CF/jhl