To: The Minister of Labour in the New Cabinet

A Report on Labour Conditions
and Issues of Freedoms of Association

 

Ministers took the constitutional oath on Wednesday, the 3^rd of July 2024, and thereby the new government started to perform its work and deal with the many sophisticated and open files it has.

We are keen to present to the Minister of Labour in the new Government this report on the conditions of workers and trade unions, hoping and demanding that he works on the rectification of these conditions.

The country has been witnessing in the past two years escalating economic crises. External debt in the period from 2016 to 2022 witnessed an increase by 614% to reach 2.526 trillion pounds. While internal local debt in the same period increased by 109%, which is a 2.497 trillion pounds increase.

Total external and internal public debt amounted to 113% of domestic product at the end of June 2023. The ratio of debt burden that has to be paid to available revenues is 113% in the financial year 2023/2024. Indicators of debt service in the budget seem critical when they are compared to exports and general public reserves that define the state’s ability to perform debt service; as the ratio of debt used to finance deficit amounts to 90% (i.e. it is such debt is not for financing investments that add productive capacities to society).

However, the private sector – Egyptian and foreign – still refrain from investing due to monopoly practices of some state institutions. Basic inflation rate didn’t decrease. It reached a record high exceeding 35% in March 2024. Prices of basic goods and food more than doubled in an unprecedented manner in light of the devaluation of the local currency (the Egyptian pound), shortage in foreign currency, significant shortage in raw material, and continuous delays in the entry of imports that accumulate in ports waiting for the payment of tariffs to the extent that some of them get damaged creating a new crisis.

Instead of working on the development of productive capacities in agriculture and industry, the government declared that it formed a committee for the liquidation of assets to achieve a revenue of 20-25 billion pounds a year.

Moreover, the role of the state in providing basic services to its citizens clearly deteriorated. This was recently manifested in the adoption of a new law to regulate the granting of public utility concessions to establish, operate and develop health establishments. This Law allows investors to rent public hospitals and gives them the right to dispense with 75% of their staff.

This takes place in the context of a deteriorating spending on health; a shortage in the number of hospital beds (There are 1.1 beds per one thousand people in Egypt, while the international ratio is 2.8 per one thousand people). This also takes place within less than three months of the issuance of Decision no. 75 for 2024 to issue new regulations for public hospitals and health establishments that belong to local administrative units, and this actually increased the prices of services.

Moreover, the government reduced bread subsidy (bread is the main food of Egyptians) since the beginning of June, while it is about to further reduce subsidy on electricity and oil products effectively leading to eating up wages.

 

Cruel Working Conditions in the Private Sector

Workers of the private sector in particular suffer cruel working conditions. We understand that the current economic crisis has adverse impacts on Egyptian businessmen; and demand that these impacts are dealt with. However, we refuse their tendency to make workers bear the brunt of these crises and dimish workers’ rights in a way that effectively pushes them and their families to hunger.

 

Employers escape from bearing their social responsibility. They purposefully violate the law by employing workers without employment contracts or by using temporary employment contracts that they renew only when they wish so that they can get rid of workers without having to give them their due compensations and rights. Workers usually work for hours that exceed what is legally stipulated and in an unsafe working environment. Most employers are hostile to the right of workers to form and establish their own trade unions. This – coupled with legal and administrative obstacles - makes most private sector companies have no trade unions, and makes collective bargaining impossible.

 

Applying the Minimum Wage in the Private Sector

Workers of the private sector increasingly protested and demanded that the minimum wage of 6000 pounds be applied to them. This especially took place after the government responded to the protests of workers in companies of the public sector and their demands to have the minimum wage applied on them. The National Council for Wages convened, and the Minister of Planning and Economic Development issued Decision no. 27 for 2024 to establish the minimum wage for workers in the private sector. Article no. 1 of this Decision stipulates that the minimum wage in the private sector is 6000 Egyptian pounds starting from the 1^st of May 2024, and that micro enterprises which employ ten or less workers are exempted from this Decision.

According to the second article of the same Decision, establishments which go through difficult economic conditions that make them unable to pay the minimum wage may submit a request to be exempted from the minimum wage before the 15^th of May 2024, provided that this is submitted via federations in which these establishments are members.

Then, the Ministry of Labour issued a Periodic Bulletin and sent it to the Directorates of Labour stipulating the mechanisms of implementation of this Decision, and rules for calculating the minimum wage which includes the share of the employer in social insurance fees; as well as commission, percentage ratio, raises, in-kind benefits, grants, allowances, workers’ share in profits, and gifts.

 

In this regard, we have to point out the following:

• Calculating the share of the employer in social insurance fees leads to deducting around 720 Egyptian pounds from the value of the minimum wage referred to above, i.e. the minimum wage is actually 5280 pounds. Moreover, the amount of the minimum wage also includes all monetary elements of variable wage including in-kind benefits (clothes, meals, transportation services, etc), as well as the share of workers in profits that they get at the end of the year. So, the minimum wage is actually much less than 6000 pounds.

 

• Many commercial chambers and federations didn’t abide by the deadline for submitting requests for exemption from the implementation of the minimum wage. They demanded the extension of the deadline. It has to be taken into consideration that the minimum wage will not be implemented except after responding to all requests for exemption.
• All companies working in the garment sector (not the exporting companies only) applied for being exempted from the application of the minimum wage on the pretext that this sector is labor-intensive and that companies will not be able to fulfill its obligations towards workers.
• Many private schools also demanded to be exempted from this decision as well.

 

Irregular Workers

More than half of Egyptians work in precarious and unstable working conditions and for irregular and meagre wages. They also lack any form of social protection, which makes them more vulnerable in the face of economic crises and more likely to fall below the poverty line.

In a survey conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics on a sample of 23,864 households all over the country, it was found that more than 75% of Egyptian youth work in unstable and unsafe working conditions without insurance coverage that guarantee them protection in case of unemployment, injury, disease or reaching retirement age.

Informal employment is higher in rural than urban areas. Certain categories face more difficulties when they try to escape the trap of informal employment than others. They include women and youth in the age group from 15 to 29, as well as less educated people and poorer people.  

Women often face double discrimination in the labour market as their wages are less than the wages of men.

The Ministry of Labour established a committee and local advisory working group in each Labour Directorate to follow-up the employment and Care for irregular labour. However, this didn’t result in any tangible developments regarding the provision of the minimum level of legal protection for these workers. The desired outcomes may not be achieved without the development of legal provisions that respond to the complexities of labour relations in actual life and establish effective governmental and community-based mechanisms.

In fact, all the decisions of the Ministry of Labour remain ineffective. We didn’t see the work of any of these local advisory committees that follow up the employment and care of irregular workers. No significant steps were taken to register irregular workers, except during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in that crisis, only 1,600,000 workers were registered. However, the actual number of irregular workers is more than 13 million workers according to the most conservative estimates.

In spite of ministerial decisions against it, the employment of workers via labour contractors continued. Moreover, companies that undertake the sub-employment of workers were formed under the guise of security companies or companies for the provision of supporting services. The vast majority of these workers have no employment contracts and have no rights at all. Mechanisms adopted by the Ministry of Labour have very limited [or even non-existent] impact for several reasons, including the fact that the ratio of workers being registered and counted is very limited. Registration relies on workers themselves who don’t find any incentive to go through this hassle as benefits provided by the Fund for the Employment of and Care for Irregular Workers are so limited.

The government took a bundle of decisions in the beginning of last March to support social categories and strata that are suffering from the unprecedented impacts of inflation and rising food prices. These decisions included payment of five grants per year to irregular workers. However, these grants are only given to registered irregular workers and they are a minority as stated above. Moreover these grants are meagre and ineffective as the grant equals 500 pounds (the equivalent of around 10 US dollars), i.e. the total value of annual grants per one worker is around 50 US dollars.

 

Workers Bear the Brunt of Economic Crises

In fact, workers and people with low and fixed incomes in general bear the brunt of these suffocating economic crises. The government issues a bundle of these decisions to try to ease their impacts, including raising the minimum wage for workers in governmental institutions, administrative units and public sector companies to 6000 pounds; bringing forward the date of payment of raised insurance dues (pensions) to March instead of June; and adding more Additional aids. However, these limited measures were not enough in the face of rising prices of basic goods. Many households directly suffered from significant and clear reduction in their living standards, especially that they can’t resort to cheaper alternatives.

This led to frequent strike actions and labour protests since the beginning of the current year in different sectors demanding the increase of wages. These strike actions and protests revealed – once again – that there are no trade unions that are effective, enjoy the trust of workers and are able to negotiate on workers’ behalf. The “governmental” Egyptian Trade Union Federations (ETUF) is more of a government institution rather than a grass root organization. The ETUF monopolizes the representation of workers, although it is detached from their problems and doesn't adopt their demands. The overwhelming majority of private sector workers have no unions, and the majority of temporary workers in the government sector bodies are still not represented in trade unions.

Most strike actions and protests are conducted by workers in a spontaneous manner without having trade union organizations. Usually, there are no mechanisms for collective bargaining and employers (including government bodies) refuse to engage in negotiation with workers. So, such strike actions and protests are usually faced with several forms of repression starting from disciplinary measures against workers to formal accusations by the Public Prosecution, as well as detention of some of the workers in police stations or national security premises.

 

The Events of El-Mahalla Company

In the beginning, the government decided to increase the minimum wage to 6000 pounds for workers in government bodies. Issuing that decision was accompanied by emphasis on the fact that the political leadership is aware of the suffering of the people and willing to mitigate this suffering. So, it was just natural for workers of public sector companies, including the workers of Al-Mahalla Company for Textile, and workers of the private sector to see that it is not logical to deprive them from the implementation of the minimum wage decided by the government to its workers. This is especially logical if we take into consideration that the minimum wage decided by the government for people working in its institutions is definitely the minimum it deems necessary for workers - or actually humans - to meet their obligations and basic needs as well as those of their children. This is a right for all workers in Egypt.

So, events escalated in the company of Misr for Spinning and Weaving in Al-Mahalla Al-Koubra from the morning of Thursday, the 22nd of February 2023. On that day, around 3700 female workers in the garment factory gathered to express their protest of low wages. Then, workers gathered in Talaat Harb Square inside the Company on Saturday, the 24th of February, to demand the minimum wage stipulated by the government for its workers, and to declare a strike action that lasted for a week. They declared their commitment to peaceful legitimate means and excluded departments of exportation from the strike action. When members of the Union affiliated to the ETUF intervened trying to make workers disperse their assembly and their strike action, workers refused and expressed their disapproval of what they said.

Although workers were willing to negotiate their demands, the management of the Company and government officials refused to negotiate with them. The union affiliated to the “governmental” ETUF took a stance against the movement of workers and their strike action, and in the meantime workers were deprived of their right to form trade unions that are independent from the official union as this is prohibited for workers of the public sector companies. So, there was no one to represent workers. And although they demanded that negotiation is conducted with the representatives they freely choose, no collective bargaining was organized with workers at all.

Then, on Wednesday the 28th of February 2024, the decision of the Minister of the Public Sector minister no. 16 for 2024 which included increasing the minimum wage of workers in public sector companies to 6000 pounds. Although other demands of Al-Mahalla textile workers were not met, they decided to end their strike action and return to work as soon as they received a positive message from the government.

Nevertheless, workers of Al-MAhalla Textile Company were subjected during the period of their strike action to lots of pressure, threats and intimidation. More than 70 men and women workers were summoned by the National Security Apparatus, and most of them were detained for long hours without anyone knowing where they were taken or what was going on to them. Then, on the 29th of February and after workers were back to work, the National Security Apparatus detained 13 workers. Some of them were released two days later. However, Wael Mohamed Abou Zaid and Mohamed Mahmoud Tolba continued in disappearance until their families and friends were surprised when they appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution which issued a decision to detain them for 15 days pending investigations in case no. 717 for 2024. The two men were charged with the widely repeatedly used accusations of joining a group that was formed in violation of the law and publishing false information, news and rumours.

Although the strike action of workers of Al-Mahalla Textile Company had ended, the imprisonment of Wael Mohamed Abou Zaid and Mohamed Mahmoud Tolba continued for three more months before they were released on Sunday, the 26th of May 2024. Such cruelty was not justifiable at all. It seemed as if the government was trying to find anyone to blame for the strike action although the government was the only one to blame. It may also be an incomprehensible desire to take revenge on Al-Mahalla workers that was manifested in abusing two of them for no reason.

Workers and Unionists in Provisional Detention

Wael and Mohamed were not the only workers jailed on remand based on the same repeated charges that everyone knows are senseless (joining an organization that was formed in violation of the Law and dissemination of false information, news and rumours). There are other unionists who are still in prison and charged with these baseless charges. They include Sameh Zakareya who is a worker in the Public Ambulance Authority who is imprisoned pending investigations in case no. 2412 for 2022, and Ahmed Abdel-Fattah (the Deputy Secretary General of the Union of Workers in East Delta Company for Transportation and Tourism) who is imprisoned pending investigation in case no. 2124 for 2023, as well as unionist Shady Mohammed from Alexandria who was recently arrested and put in jail on the 29^th of April.

Other are Subjected to Pressures

Likewise, employees who were affected by Law no.73 for 2021 and complained about the termination decisions that were issued against them were subjected to several security pressures. Security forces dispersed an assembly of tens of them, and arrested 13 of them from the vicinity of the Journalists Syndicate on Saturday, the 1^st of June. They were then referred to the Prosecution which charged them with demonstrating without being authorized pursuant to Law no. 107 for 2013. They were detained for two days in Qasr Al-Nile Police station. They denied all charges pressed against them because they had sent a formal notice of demonstration to the Chief of Qasr El-Nile Police department more than one week earlier, and they also obeyed the orders of security forces to disperse.

It is worth mentioning that tens of thousands of employees in government institutions and bodies had their service terminated on the ground that they take drugs after conducting sudden tests based on Law no. 73 for 2021. Most of them question the validity of the results of tests conducted by committees in terms of impartiality, transparency and integrity.

Deterioration of Freedoms of Association

The demand for freedoms of association is still very far away. Trade union elections are conducted according to the provisions of Law no. 213 for 2017 which forces all unions to conduct their elections on the same date. Nominees are forced to submit many documents that are not justifiable. The electoral process is subjected to the supervision and intervention of the Ministry of Labour and its Directorates. Trade union elections held in 2022 witnessed flagrant violations of the right of workers to freely choose their representatives as stipulated by the Constitution, international labour conventions, as well as the provisions of the Trade Union Organizations Law no. 213 for 2017 itself. More than 2000 nominees who submitted their nomination documents and applications were deprived from their right to run in elections. Reasons for such removals varied from considerations of security apparatuses (which are mostly understandable and unjustifiable) and considerations related to men of the ETUF (i.e. the desire to get rid of candidates of independent unions or get rid other competitors for the boards of unions affiliated to the ETUF itself, and sometimes for mere personal or vindictive considerations).

It is worth mentioning that the Giza Court of First Instance decided in case no. 1184 for 2022 that Abdel-Raouf Mohamed Ahmed (who was removed from the list of candidates) had the right to have his name listed in the preliminary and final lists of candidates. This decision was upheld and became final by virtue of the decision of the Cairo Appellate Court (the Sixth of October City Department) in case no. 1395 for the 140th judicial year.

The decision stating that Abdel-Raouf had the right to be nominated to the election of the position of the president of the Union of Workers in Giza Ambulance Authority was based on the conclusion that the committee supervising elections violated the provisions of article 24 of the Executive Regulations of Law no. 213 for 2017 as it refused his appeal without providing any reasons. This is actually the behavior of all committees supervising elections as they removed hundreds of workers willing to be nominated and refused their appeals without providing any reasons.

In addition to unjustifiable removals, some workers who were willing to run in elections of boards in independent trade unions were subjected before elections to threats by National Security Apparatus. This actually took place with the Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in Ismailia, the Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in Kafr Al-Sheikh, the union of workers in the Clubs of the Suez Canal Authority, and the Union of Workers in the Ambulance Authority of Fayoum.

 

Such threats led workers in independent trade unions to refrain from applying for nomination for elections in order to avoid the huge price they would pay from their freedom or their right to work.

Examples include Tareq Koeib who was nominated for the presidency of the Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in Qalyobeya; Mostafa Sayed Abou Sabe’ who was nominated for the presidency of the Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in the Central Office of the Authority; Magdy Mohamed Ali who was nominated for the Board of the same union; all nominees to the Board of the Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in Qena; and Abdel-Aziz Soleyman who was nominated to the presidency of the Union of workers in Nile Linen Group.

Moreover, the General Committee supervising trade union elections (headed by the representative of the Ministry of Labour, and in which the representative of the “governmental” ETUF was a member) decided not to conduct elections in the unions of workers in the Company for Water and Wastewater in Qena and Qalyobeya, and the union of workers in Real Estate Taxation Authority in Qena.

 

Stopping to Register Independent Unions and Resolving Suspended Conditions

In the last two years, no progress was achieved regarding freedoms of association. Independent trade unions whose conditions were suspended didn’t manage to submit their documents at the Ministry of Labour and complete its legal conditions until now. The government had promised to end all suspended files, and a Committee was already formed pursuant to the Decision of the Minister of Labour no. 162 for 2020 to review all the situations and complaints of trade unions. Nevertheless, very few unions were registered.

 

As the new cabinet was formed and the former president of the ETUF held the position of the Minister of Labour, the ministerial committee was frozen and negotiations to solve the problems of the registration of unions had stopped. Several steps backward took place when it comes to freedoms of association. Directorates Of labour insist on receiving trade union documents without giving their representatives any proof of receipt claiming to wait for the instructions of the Ministry which may take month or even years. During this period of waiting, several trials to force intendent trade unions to join the “governmental” ETUF take place.

This does not only deprive workers from their right to form trade unions, but also completely violates this right. Workers will not try to establish their own trade unions, if they know that their attempts will end up in failure.

 

The following trade unions couldn’t register although their documents and procedures are complete:

• The Federation of Unions of Workers in the Real Estate Taxation Authority.
• The Federation of Unions of Workers in Tourism and Touristic Transportation
• The Professional Union of Workers in Cement Services in Helwan.
• The Union of Workers in the Education Department of East Mansoura.
• The Union of Workers in the Real Estate Taxation Authority in Assiut.
• The Union of Workers in the Real Estate Taxation Authority in Beheira.
• The Union of Workers in the Real Estate Taxation Authority in Dakahlia.
• The Union of Workers in the Real Estate Taxation Authority in Gharbia.
• The Union of Workers in the Real Estate Taxation Authority in Giza.
• The Union of Workers in the Real Estate Taxation Authority in Port Said.
• The Union of Workers in Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Cairo.
• The Union of Workers in Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Ismailia.
• The Union of Workers in Courts and Prosecution Offices in New Cairo.

Moreover, some trade unions that managed with great difficulty to be registered can’t perform their activities because government authorities (Labour Directorates) refuse to give them the documents they need to perform their work. This includes the Union of Workers in Drivers Services in Qalyobeya, the Union of Workers in Education in Qena, and the Union of Workers in Education in Qous.

Some unionists also face abuses on the part of the management especially in government institutions. This includes the dismissal of unionist Ahmed Abdel-Mordie, who was a member in the Union of Workers in the Adult Education Authority because of practicing his unionist activities.

In spite of the absolute right of the general assemblies of trade unions to decide their own affairs and freely choose their representatives, several trade unions find themselves in a bizarre situation as the elections of their executive boards were not held in the time determined by the decision of the Ministry of Labour. So, their statuses are still suspended. This applies to the Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation in Qena, and the Union of Workers in Real Estate Taxation in Qalyobeya.

 

The Union of Workers in the Clubs of the Suez Canal Authority and its President are Subjected to Flagrant Violations

One of the flagrant examples of government intervention in trade union affairs and violation of the right of general assemblies of unions to choose their representatives is what is happening with the Union of Workers in the Clubs of the Suez Canal Authority which is being subjected to flagrant violations as follows:

The Union of Workers in the Clubs of the Suez Canal Authority was established in February 2012 pursuant to the Freedom of Association Declaration issued by the Minister of Labour on the 12th of March 2011. It continued to work since then in spite of several obstacles it faced. After the Trade Unions Law no. 213 for 2017 was enacted, the Union’s legal status was regularized in March 2018 according to the provisions of the Law and it acquired legal personality.

In the year 2022, the Ministry of Labour issued ministerial decisions calling for elections of trade unions to be held throughout the country. Members of the Union of Workers in the Suez Canal Authority who wanted to run for the elections of posts of the president and board members of the Union were subjected to threats by security apparatuses that didn’t want some of these candidates to run in elections. This led them to refrain from nominating themselves to elections, thereby the elections of the board of the Union was not held at the time determined by the Ministry.

Many trade union organizations complained from obstructing the holding of elections therein because of administrative and security interventions. So, the Minister of Labour issued Ministerial Decision no. 1061 which allowed trade unions to choose boards for the steering of its work. So, the Union of Workers in the Clubs of the Suez Canal Authority held its general assembly meeting on the 10^th of August 2022 and took a unanimous decision to renew confidence in its incumbent executive board.

The Union submitted the minutes of the general assembly meeting and its decisions to the Directorate of Labour, but the Directorate refused to receive them. So, the Union submitted a memo to the Ministry of Labour attached thereto the minutes and the signed attendance list of the members but it didn’t receive any response from the Ministry.

Then, the Union was astonished on the 5^th of March 2024 that the Labour Directorate submitted a report to the management of the Suez Canal Clubs (the employer) stating that the Union has no approved board. The President of the Union received something like a warning that the Union does not exist as it has no approved board. Thus, the employer stopped any contact with the Union. The work of the Union was frozen. The President of the Union, Karam AbdelHaliem, was referred to a disciplinary investigation on the pretext that he unlawfully claims to be a president of a union and that he represents a non-existent organization.

The Union of Workers in Al-Nasr Company for Spinning and Weaving (Al-Shourbagy)

On the 22^nd of June 2021, the general assembly of the company of Misr Helwan for Spinning and Weaving decided to merge three of its companies (Misr for Equipment’s of Spinning and Weaving, the Egyptian Company for the Spinning of Wool and Cotton and Al-Nasr Company for Spinning and Weaving [Al-Shourbagy]). The merging process was confined to the administrative merge, while workers of the three merged companies remained to work in their original companies.

On the 6th of April 2022, Ministerial Decision no. 45 for 2022 was issued stating the dates and timetable of trade unions elections. According to that timetable, the elections of the Union of Workers in Al-Nasr Company for Weaving and Spinning (Al-Shourbagy) were held on Monday, the 16th of May 2022. It has to be noted that this is a union that is affiliated to the “governmental” ETUF. Workers elected an administrative board that started its activities as soon as it was elected. However, workers later were surprised that the Federation of Unions of Workers in Weaving and Textile Industries (in which the Union of the Workers of Al-Shourbagy is supposed to be a member) decided to dissolve their union and address the management of the Company of Misr Helwan which in turn decided to move the members of the Union from Al-shourbagy Union to the Union of Workers in Misr Helwan for Weaving and Spinning.

The Federation of Unions of Workers in Weaving and Spinning Industries (which is affiliated to the ETUF) based its decision to dissolve the Union of Workers of Al-Shourbagy on article 23 of the Trade Union Organizations Law no. 213 for 2017 which stipulated in paragraph two thereof that “in case the establishment in which the office of the union is merged into another establishment, the membership of the worker in the union is moved to the union of the establishment in which his/her establishment was merged, and s/he should enjoy the same benefits and services available in the union s/he was moved to starting from the date of transfer.” However, there are a number of remarks on this matter:

• Article 23 of the Trade Unions Law no.213 for 2017 is one of the flaws of the Law that we demand to be amended. This article decides that a worker should be automatically moved - without expressing his/her free will – from one union to another, which is a violation of the freedom to join unions and withdraw from them.
• The decision of the Federation to dissolve the Union of Workers in Al-Shourbagy and move its members to another union is a clear violation of article three of the Executive Regulations of the Trade Unions Law which stipulates that workers – without discrimination – have the right to form trade union organizations, to freely join them, or withdraw from them according to rules stipulated in these Regulations and in the bylaws of these own trade union organizations; as well as article four which stipulates that every trade union organization has a legal personality that is independent from other unions, and that unions at the lower level have the right to join a union in the higher level, withdraw therefrom or practice its activities alone without joining any other union.

So, the Union of Workers in Al- Shourbagy has a legal personality that is independent from the Federation of Unions of Workers in Weaving and Textile Industry and no one can dissolve it except its general assembly.

• In spite of the critique to article 23 of the Law, its purpose was to guarantee the rights of workers who were unionized in an establishment that no longer exists rather than to force them to move their membership. This article is to be put into effect only in the case in which the establishment in which the union exists merges into another establishment. However, in the case of the union of workers in Al-shourbagy the establishment still exists and workers still work in its factories. Administrative merging does not deprive those workers from their right to keep their own organization that is independent from the Union of Workers in the Company of Misr Helwan for Weaving and Textile in which their company was administratively merged.

 

• What is shocking in this context is that the Federation of Unions of Workers in Weaving and Spinning Industry addressed the management of the company of Misr Helwan for Weaving and Spinning and that the management issued a decision to move the membership of the workers of Al-Shourbagy to the Union of the Workers of Misr Helwan. In order to complete this absurd situation, the management of the company seized the office of the union and all its belongings. Does the management has the authority to decide in a matter that is considered a trade union affair like this?

Failure of the Mechanisms of Social Dialogue

Social dialogue is considered one of the necessary conditions to the balance of society, to the stability of labour relations and to creating an environment conducive thereto.

Article 13 of the Constitution of Egypt stipulates that the State is obliged to protect workers' rights and strives to build balanced work relationships between both parties to the production process. It shall ensure means for collective bargaining, protect workers against work risks, guarantee the fulfillment of the requirements of security, safety and occupational health, and prohibit unfair dismissal, all as regulated by Law.

ILO Convention no. 98, signed by the government of Egypt in 1954, stipulates that governments are obliged to encourage voluntary collective negotiation by establishing adequate machinery to guarantee freedom to organize and measures to encourage collective bargaining.

 

The Decision of the Prime Minister no. 1027 for 2014 was issued to establish the Supreme Council for Social Dialogue. It was amended by Decision no. 799 for 2018. However, rules of participation in the Council and mechanisms of its work still restrict its effectiveness as a mechanism of dialogue that allow interaction and negotiation between different visions and positions of social partners. This includes the deprivation of an important labour collective (the Solidarity of Trade Unions Federation “under establishment”) from representation in the Dialogue and negotiations about the draft Labour Law, although it is a very important labour issue.

It is worth mentioning in this regard that the Labour Committee of the House of Representatives refrained until now from holding hearing sessions with workers, concerned parties and stakeholders regarding the issuance of a balanced labour law that guarantees the rights of workers.

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So, some people ask what workers want from the new government and the new Labour Minister. The answer is simply that workers need the above-mentioned conditions to be dealt with. Workers want the removal of all legal and administrative constraints and restrictions that prevent them from practicing their right to freely form their own trade unions. Workers want that wages are suitable to prices, and that the minimum wage is annually adjusted pursuant to a law that is binding to all parties, provided that it is fair enough for them to meet their basic livelihood needs and that it is regularly revised according to inflation rates. Workers want a Labour Law that guarantees job security and fair wages, as well as their right to strike without restrictive conditions. Workers want the Social Insurance Law no. 148 for 2019 to be amended, the legal and social protection of irregular workers to be guaranteed, and first and foremost the imprisoned workers to be freed. They want machinery of social dialogue and negotiation to be effectuated so that they may be represented via their true and effective organizations.

 

The Solidarity of Trade Unions Federation

The Committee to Defend Freedoms of Association and Labour Rights

The Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services