#SupportUniversalWorkers .......Call for solidarity

Press Releases
Thursday, May 12, 2022 - 17:59

 

Yesterday, the management of the company of Universal Home Appliances submitted a report to the Labour Bureau of the Sixth of October City as a preliminary step to refer them to the Labour Court to take the procedures of dismissing the members of the administrative board of the Union and the unionist representatives of workers in the Company. The Company also filed a report against them, administrative no. 2453 for 2022, at the Second Police Station of the Sixth of October City. The Union was established at the end of April. These workers are:

1) Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Al-Mossalamy – President of the Administrative Board of the Union  

2) Abdullah Youssry Mohamed

3) Sayed Abou El-Seoud Ahmed Mahmoud – Vice-President of the Administrative Board of the Union

4) Essam Abdel-Attie Abdel-Moteleb Ali – General Secretary of the Union

5) Ashraf Mohamed Ali Mohamed Ali – Assistant Secretary General

6) Mahmoud Ahmed Mahmoud Haridi – Assistant Treasurer

7) Ahmed Mostafa Ahmed Mohamed – Member of the Administrative Board of the Union

8) Saad Talal Abdel-Fattah Al-Askari – Member of the Administrative Board of the Union

9) Al-Sayed Ahmed Ahmed Mohamed Khalaf – Member of the Administrative Board of the Union

10) Ahmed Abou El-Fotouh Ahmed Badawi -  Member of the Administrative Board of the Union

11) Ashraf Gameel Mohamadi

12) Emad Kamal

13) Ayman Hashem Hashem  

14) Mohamed Kamal Rashed

15) Mohamed Ali Mahmoud

16) Mohamed Magdy Ahmed

17) Hassan Salem Gaber  

18) Mohamed Ibrahim Salem

19) Sayed Mohamed Youssef

20) Mohamed Ibrahim Al-Sayed

 

Members of the Administrative Board of the Union held a meeting yesterday with the management to discuss many things; primarily among them the payment of delayed financial dues and wages of workers according to what was agreed upon in the Collective Agreement signed last October which the management of the Company repeatedly tried to repudiate. The meeting was not successful because the management insisted on not paying monthly wages in one payment but rather in two or three installments. It is worth mentioning that delayed payments for workers are still suspended since last September, in addition to tens of months of hazard pay and incentives that are not paid until now.

The meeting ended with the refusal of the Union, as a representative of workers, to the proposal to pay the wage of the month of April in two installments. Then, workers were surprised that the Company announced an administrative publication that the wage of April would be paid in two installments: the first installment on the 19th of May and the second one on the 31st of May. Workers completely refused this, and declared their insistence of receiving their full wage and submitted a collective complaint at the Labour Bureau.  

Today, Wednesday the 11th of May, more than 150 workers went to the Labour Bureau of October to file individual complaints so that they receive their dues. There, members of the Union were surprised that the management of the Company filed a report against them accusing them of inciting workers to go on strike and demanding their referral to court as a preliminary step for firing them.

It is worth mentioning that the management of the company of Universal Home Appliances has repeatedly delayed the payment of the financial dues for workers, who amount to approximately 3500 workers. This led workers to launch several strike actions in the preceding years until a collective labour agreement was signed under the patronage of the Ministry of Manpower and the Federation of Unions of Workers in Engineering, Metal and Electric Industries last October. Most important terms of that agreement were:

  • The management of the Company was to pay the salary of the month of August for workers on Sunday, the 10th of October 2021.
  • The management of the Company was to pay the rest of the payment of the month of July to workers who didn’t receive the full wage of that month (administrative and technical personnel) on Tuesday, the 12th of October 2021.
  • The payment of the wage of the month of September 2021 on two installments (the first one on the 20th of November 2021, and the second one on the 25th of December 2021) to all workers of the Company.
  • The regular payment of monthly incentive to all workers of the Company during the period from the 25th to the 30th of each Gregorian month.
  • The Company was committed to the payment of monthly salaries in full and in one installment to all workers starting from October 2021. Payments have to be made within the first ten days of each Gregorian month at maximum, and after thirty days of operation; provided that the special incentive is paid in the dates determined in previous items.
  • Starting from January 2022, the Company was committed to pay delayed monthly incentives for the months of April, May, August, and September 2021 according to a two-month scheme (one delayed month + one new month).

The Company violated that agreement leading worker Assem Afifi to end his life in February because he could not fulfill the needs of his family. Workers became angry after that horrible incident, and the management reiterated its promises to resolve the crisis but it didn’t.

Violations committed by the management of Universal against its workers are no longer an isolated case, but a recurrent phenomenon in many companies in the private sector because of the evident bias of state policies to businessmen at the legislative and executive levels. It is worth mentioning that the Managing Director and the Executive Manger of the company of Universal Home Appliances is Mr. Ahmed Youssry Qotb, member of the Senate and leader of the Party of the Future of the Homeland (Mostakbal Watan) in Giza. He should have respected the integrity of his legislative position and the duty to defend the rights of citizens rather than violating or circumventing them.  

That arrogance on the part of the management of the company of Universal towards workers who demand their legal rights comes amid an escalating economic crisis that workers bear the most heavy burdens thereof.

#SupportUniversalWorkers

CTUWS

11 May 2022

 

 

 

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