Socio-Economic Consequences of Pandemic COVID-19
On the Status of Egyptian Workers:
Increased Unemployment with Loss of Jobs
Under the circumstances witnessed worldwide since the spread of Coronavirus in every country, the pandemic social and economic damages will obviously have an important impact at both national and global levels. This one of the results from the set of adopted preventive measures to counteract the virus such as isolation, quarantine, social distancing, prevention from travelling, total closure of all State institutions including schools, universities, companies and factories, leisure commodities and touristic firms; these measures had a negative effect on all economies over the world and the global system entered in a stage of stagnation influencing in turn the social and economic status of people, including in Egypt. Undoubtedly, the present crisis will affect everybody despite the variety of its intensity among countries according to their economic and political status.
In order to face the current crisis, the Egyptian government issued a set of measures at the economic and health levels which affected the society as a whole, especially workers[1] and more specifically workers in the private sector and non-organized sectors; this led to the deterioration of their own living conditions and that of their families with the huge loss of jobs. Actually, the main reason behind this degradation was due to the coercive measures and decisions adopted by business employers: termination and collective firing of workers in some institutions; it also included abstention from disbursing salaries or reduction of salaries while forcing workers to provide the same hours of work as before the pandemic; in many cases employers refrained from implementing the preventive measures prescribed by WHO and confirmed by the Egyptian government according to the international labor standards and to the Egyptian Labor Law 12/2003 stating the rules of professional security in general and those to be specifically applied in epidemic circumstances. Therefore, workers lacked the basic requirements of health and legal protection as illustrated by the numbers of those contaminated and deaths in their ranks.
The crisis had also a drastic effect in the sector of medical services considered by the State as the first line of defense against the virus and the main cornerstone in the global fight to overcome this fatal pandemic. Providing adequate protective and preventive measures to medical teams should have represented a national strategic goal in delivering close protection; hospitals are actually a notorious center for the reproduction of the virus, exposing thus medical staff to increased risk of contamination; on the other hand, the society is in dire need for the humanitarian services provided by this staff; however, the poor conditions of medical facilities, limited allocations to the health sector, and inappropriate means of protection (such as the provision of sufficient masks and adequate sterilization of hospitals) resulted in number of infections and deaths among physicians, nursing, first aid rescuers and technical support staff.
In the same context, the crisis revealed the status of workers in the informal sector estimated according to the Central Agency of Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) to around 5.6 million with 277,000 workers on a daily basis, 233,000 seasonal workers in governmental institutions, in addition to 609,000 seasonal workers in other settings, and 3.7 million working on irregular base in the private sector; all these categories were confronted with enormous challenges due to the closure of leisure and touristic facilities besides street vendors affected by the closing of open-air markets, in addition to the eternal problem of domestic workers that took a new dimension with the pandemic as the majority of Egyptian households got rid of them by fear of being contaminated; this happened without any material retribution and reconfirms the fragility of their legal and social status. Therefore, Coronavirus crisis unveiled the degrading living conditions of the entire informal sector beginning from poverty, unemployment, reliance on charity and culminating with the exorbitant price of accessing health services combined with lack of legal protection. Actually, both systems of social and health security cover only workers in the formal sector, totally ignoring those falling outside this classification not only in times of crises but generally speaking even before the current pandemic. This is to say that the virus came to reveal their poor conditions and absence of basic means of protection. Meanwhile, ministerial decree 776/2020 announced the creation of a council responsible of collecting data about the workers affected from COVID-19 economic consequences; however, many workers failed from registering their data within the ambiguity about who was/was not targeted by the decree.
According to its methodology of work, CTUWS decided to identify and document the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on the lives of workers in the most damaged sectors, i.e. the private sector with its industrial and service-providing components, tourism, the health sector/informal sector. As a first step, the purpose was to understand and analyze the crisis in a general context at the national and global levels, as well as its direct and rapid outcomes.
Accordingly, CTUWS team of monitoring and documentation developed the present report seeking in addition to examine the status of women workers under this situation. The report aims at understanding the nature of the current period, the impact of measures and decisions adopted by the State, the decisions of business owners including the attitude of private hospitals, and the role played by civil society organizations (CSOs) and private initiatives. The important issue to be addressed now is how State institutions are preparing themselves to surmount the crisis and its negative effects primarily for workers and the most fragile social categories; this should entail the development of a strategy by all stakeholders to provide strict and rapid solutions leading to the achievement of social justice, professional and health security. According to the best scenarios developed by experts, the economic stagnation will last at the global level at least from five to six years.
Thus, what we need today is an effective honest re-evaluation of the past period's pros and cons, redirection of the trajectory, and inclusion of the civil society (CSOs, political parties and workers' trade unions) in the process.
CTUWS
October 14 2020
In line with CTUWS working methods based on its mandate to provide support and capacity building to workers and their trade unions, the first identified objective since the emergence of COVID-19 was to monitor and document the consequences of the pandemic and the threat on workers' status and lives, with focus on the most affected categories: the private sector with its industrial and service-providing components, tourism, the health sector/including private and governmental sector.
Tools used in the report:
The report was prepared by the following teams
Our world of today experiments an unusual and exceptional situation that will undoubtedly create an important turning point for all countries, not only because of the virus danger, but also for its impact at the social and economic levels directly affecting all international interactions; actually, the widespread pandemic worldwide forced all countries to adopt a set of preventive measures: isolation, quarantine, social distancing, and stopping travels. This affected negatively the global economy that went through a state of stagnation and consequently, the emergence of an unexpected global economic crisis reaching everybody. The crisis was harmful in terms of production, aid and supply, air transport, low international demand of products, isolation inside countries either through quarantine or curfew imposition; such situation affected the sectors of finances, air flights, transport, and tourism, causing disastrous losses among them.
Experts are unable until now to identify the size of negative changes, the devastating repercussions of the pandemic globally before the release of final statistics about the numbers of victims and identification of the specific duration of its impact on the global economy. However, it is clear that as long as the virus remains out of control, its effects will be higher and more dangerous, especially for developing countries and the Arab region. Economic experts predicted that the average share of income per capita will decrease by 3.6% causing the fall of millions under the line of poverty; in the same context, the international economic institutions looked at 2021 situation with cautious optimism as a natural result of the state of uncertainty about the future in case the pandemic remained out of control until the end of 2020.
In April 2020, IMF "World's Economic Outlook" report projected that the global economy would contract sharply by -3 percent in 2020 while a later report projected that the global growth would be at -4.9% in 2020, i.e. 1.9 percent below the April projection. According to another report about third quarter of 2020, the economic growth is expected to be slower than previously forecast, and in 2021, global growth is projected at 5.4%, adding that "the adverse impact on low-income households is particularly acute, imperiling the significant progress made in reducing extreme poverty in the world since the 1990s".
WB projections expect deep repercussions on the global economy due to the slow-down of activities during the period of general isolation; the Fund recommended the States to ensure the availability of sufficient resources for health care systems, and called the global community to grant financial aid to the countries with limited capacities in the field of health care. The Fund also projected that Coronavirus will lead to shrink the global economic product by 5.2% in 2020 despite unprecedented financial aid, and that it will push around 100 million people into extreme poverty showing a more pessimist stand than its previous estimate of 60 million people.
David Malpass, president of the World Bank Group, declared that it is the poor who were the most affected worldwide by the pandemic and the processes of closing the economic space; he added that we are facing a new reality and unprecedented challenges requiring huge efforts to overcome the crisis.
Along with the same line, UN Economic and Social Council for West Asia (ESCWA) warned that the Arab region would lose at least 1.7 million jobs in 2020, and unemployment rate would increase by 1.2 %; the organization added that unlike the global financial crisis of 2008, the Corona pandemic is damaging employment across all services, especially the services sector.
The United Nations announced that COVID-19 will highly increase unemployment worldwide, leaving 25 million without jobs which will result in the reduction of workers' income. A research about the economic impact of COVID-19 on the black continent conducted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) indicates that the economic growth will be highly negatively affected, and in case the crisis is reduced during the forthcoming months, the projected economic growth in Africa will decrease from 3.2 to 1.8% in 2020; however, if the crisis extends after end of the summer, the continent will witness for the first time since decades, a state of economic recession of around 2.6 % by the end of 2020. The study adds that since day one, an initiative was launched to invite the global community providing immediately to the continent a support of about 100 billion US dollars including 44 billion to cancel the 2020 interests on debts for all African countries. It also clarified that if the impact of the crisis would extend until next year, the global community should support Africa with another 50 billion dollars for the process of economic building and economic reform.
As of ILO, it considers that the Arab States and Europe are the most regions affected at the economic level by pandemic COVID-19; the international organization also estimates that the labor force worldwide lost during the first nine months of 2020 10.7% of their income due to the virus; this percentage representing 3.5 billion dollars.
According to the Middle East News agency (23 September 2020), ILO added in the report that Coronavirus pandemic have caused a "massive" drop in labor income and a fiscal stimulus gap threatening to increase the breach between rich and poor countries. The same report indicates that the biggest drop was in lower-middle income countries where the labor losses reached 15.11% with the hardest hit region in the Americas at 12.1%. ILO Monitor: "COVID-19 and the world of work", sixth edition says that the global working hours losses in the first nine months of 2020 have been "considerably larger" than estimated in a previous edition of the Monitor; the revised estimate of global working time lost in the second quarter of year 2020 compared to the fourth is of 17.3%, equivalent to 495 million full time equivalent jobs based on 48 working hours per week, whereas the earlier estimate was of 14%, or 400 million full time equivalent jobs. The report expected for the third quarter of 2020 global working hour losses of 12.1%, i.e. 345 million full time equivalent jobs. Global working hour losses are projected to amount to 8.6% in the fourth quarter of 2020 corresponding to 245 million full time equivalent jobs. This is an increase from ILO's previous estimate of 4.9% of 140 million full time equivalent jobs. The report adds that one reason for the estimated increases in working hour losses in developing and emerging economies, especially those in informal employment, is that they have been much more affected now than by previous crises. It also warned that an international economic crisis would arise if governments didn't take prompt measures to protect workers from the pandemic repercussions, and called for urgent, organized and wide measures to protect workers at the work place, activate the economy and support jobs and incomes.
ESCWA also predicted than over 8 million of Arabs will join the ranks of the poor, warning that the number of those suffering from malnutrition will increase by two million and the classified as poor in the region will amount to 101.4 million beside 52 million suffering from malnutrition.
A UN study about the financial and human cost of the pandemic alerts that the levels of poverty in the world will amount to half a billion, i.e. an estimate increase in the number of people affected by poverty around the world ranging between 400 and 600 million; it is the first time that poverty has increased globally in thirty years in such a rate; according to the study, the probable impact of the virus poses a real challenge to the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) of ending poverty by 2030. Professor Christopher Hoy, from the Australian National University, indicates in the study that "the economic crisis is potentially going to be more severe than the health crisis", and he foresees that by the time the pandemic will be over, half of the world population amounting to 7.8 billion will live in poverty and 40% of the new poor will likely be concentrated in Eastern Asia and the Pacific region, and in other regions such as the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 could result in poverty levels similar to those recorded thirty years ago. Co-author, Professor Andy Sumner of King's College London said "our findings point towards the importance of a dramatic expansion of social safety net" adding that this should be achieved the soonest for developing countries by drawing much greater attention to what the international community can do to help.
In an analytical study, the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reiterates that the shock provoked by Coronavirus will lead to economic stagnation in some countries and decrease the global annual development for this year to less than 2.5%; in worse scenario, we will witness a deficit in the global income amounting to two billion dollars requiring the elaboration of coordinated policies to avoid the collapse of the world economy.
The most debatable questions currently raised by economists are: what will happen to the global economy from mid to long term? Will the world go through a state of stagnation followed by a sudden resurgence as soon as the virus becomes under control, or will the world witness a slow ascending recovery for number of forthcoming years? These questions are quite pertinent, especially that WB report mentions that the crisis has severe effects on the labor force worldwide regardless the place of residency or the sector of employment; it added that the crisis motivated by the pandemic is expected to abolish 6.7% of the overall global working time during the second half of 2020, i.e. the equivalent of 195 million full-time jobs including five million in Arab countries; on this base, the report called for the adoption of policies focusing on the provision of urgent aids to companies and workers in order to protect their living income; this includes vital fields of work in the economic sector, specifically the more affected than others, pointing out that the most damaged services and factories employ large numbers of informal workers with low wages, limited access to health services or to the security nets provided by governments. The report affirms the necessity of adopting urgent policies without which workers will face the danger of falling into extreme poverty and joining the ranks of the unemployed; they will also be confronted with great difficulty to return to their previous jobs due to the new trends that arose in the field of work during the crisis and led to produce changes in the labor market's requirements, creating thus need for better skilled workers.
A study conducted by the National Institute of Planning, affiliated to the Egyptian Ministry of Planning, about the impact of Coronavirus on the country economy and the various economic sectors indicates that 824 thousand Egyptians are exposed to the loss of jobs since the beginning of the crisis until the end of current fiscal year 2019-2020; the study predicts an increase in the rate of unemployment if the crisis would last until end of 2020 and, consequently, 1.2 million people will lose their jobs. According to the study, this is due to the ascending number of unemployed, the rise of inflation rate, and the recession of earning levels. Available indicators refer to three possible scenarios about the impact of poverty on the current crisis; the first "optimistic" scenario is that the rates of poverty will reach 38%, i.e. growing by 5.5% and will lead to add 5,6 million of poor during 2020-2021; the second "medium-mild" scenario is that the rate of poverty will reach 40.2%, i.e. affecting 7.7 millions of individuals for the same period; as of the third and more "pessimistic" scenario, it considers that the rate of poverty will exceed 44%, meaning a new rise in the number of the poor to around 12.5 million. Actually, per capita share from the gross domestic product is below 1% and leads to increased poverty by 0.7%; in addition, the escalation of unemployment by 1% results in the rise of poverty rate to around 1.5%; moreover, a 1% increase in the rate of inflation will raise the percentage of poverty by around 0.4%.
The international labor standards recommend specific guidelines ensuring decent work conditions in times of crises that are applicable to COVID-19.crisis. Recent ILO Recommendation on "Employment, Decent Work for Peace and Resilience" (205/2017) emphasizes "the need to ensure respect of all human rights and the rule of law, including respect of fundamental principles and rights at work", highlights the importance of "stabilizing livelihoods and income through immediate social protection and employment measures"; and refers to the necessity of "taking measures, as appropriate, for the economic reintegration of persons who have been affected by a crisis". Therefore, when a worker is infected by Coronavirus during work, this can be considered a professional injury deserving financial compensation and medical protection. ILO Convention on "Employment Injury Benefits" (121/1964) stipulates that "National legislation concerning employment injury benefits shall protect all employees" and "secure to the persons protected the provision of the following benefits: medical care and allied benefits in respect of a condition; cash benefits; periodical payments; indemnity for unemployment; the cash benefit in respect of the death of a breadwinner shall be a periodical payment to a widow, a disabled and dependent widower, dependent children of the deceased, and funeral benefit". ILO Convention on "Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment" (168/1988) as well as the Convention on "Protection of Wages" (95/1949) confirm that "benefits shall be provided in the form of periodical payments".
In Convention on "Termination of Employment" (158/1982), we read: "the employment of a worker shall not be terminated unless there is a valid reason connected with the capacity or conduct of the worker or based on the operational requirements of the undertaking, establishment or service" and "when the employer contemplates terminations for reasons of an economic, technological, structural or similar nature, the employer shall: a) provide the workers' representatives concerned in good time with relevant information including the reasons for the terminations contemplated, the number and categories of workers likely to be affected and the period over which the termination is intended to be carried out; b) give, in accordance with national law and practices, the workers' representative concerned, as early as possible, an opportunity for consultation on measures to be taken to avert or to minimize the adverse effects on any termination on the workers concerned such as finding alternative employment". In line with the previous Convention, ILO issued the Recommendation on "Termination of Unemployment" (166/1982) that reconfirms the importance for all parties concerned to minimize as far as possible termination of employment for the reasons enumerated above ("…without prejudice to the efficient operation of the undertaking, establishment or service, and to mitigate the adverse effects of any termination of employment for these reasons on the worker or workers concerned"); the Recommendation encourages also the competent authority to "assist the concerned parties in seeking solutions to the problems raised by the terminations contemplated". Returning back to Convention 95/1949 stipulating that "wages should be paid regularly", we note another clause indicating that "upon termination of a contract employment, a final settlement of all wages due shall be effected in accordance with national laws and regulations, collective agreement or arbitration award or, in the absence of any applicable law, regulations, agreement or award, within a reasonable period of time having regard to the terms of the contract".
In ILO document about international labor standards (ILS) and COVID-19 (23 March 2020), Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General refers to the role of international organization in maintaining a system contributing in implementing ILS and "promoting opportunities for all to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity".
Actually, ILS are a useful tool for the measurement of decent work in terms of safety and health, protection of certain categories of workers, working arrangements, non-discrimination, social security, wage and employment protection, small and medium enterprises' protection. Abiding to these guiding standards contributes to a culture of cooperation at the workplace in order to develop policies than are human-centered towards the crisis raised by the pandemic. This culture is essential to establish the necessary pillars preventing everybody to fall in the dilemma of the work conditions during and after the crisis. These ILS are reviewed and developed periodically to respond to the changing patterns in the world of work for the purpose of protecting workers while taking into account the needs of sustainability for enterprises. In this context, it is imperative to adopt urgent and coordinated measures on a wide scope in the following main streams: protection of workers at the work place, encouraging employment and economic development, and supporting jobs and incomes; these streams include the widening of social protection, paid holidays, supporting the retention of employees by reducing working hours, and other benefits, financial and tax exemptions including for small and medium enterprises.
In light of the standards referred to in ILO document, it is legitimate to ask ourselves about the conditions of Egyptian workers since the eruption of the pandemic in the country until now. In order to answer this question, let us examine the following facts:
It is important to note that on 11 May 2020, WB executive committee agreed to lend Egypt 2,772 billion dollars through the system of rapid loans in order to contribute alleviating the economic and financial impact of COVID-19; in this context, the State declared that this new disbursement will support its efforts to respond to the repercussions of the virus, help the Egyptian economy keep the gains achieved by the program of economic reform and allow the Emergency Fund as was stated by the government to redress the needs of the urgent balance of payments, support the most affected sectors and the most needy social categories as well as important services like health, and increase the spending on social care.
Despite limited possibilities and the difficult conditions surrounding their freedom of action, they achieved the following:
While the government adopted number of preventive and protective measures, some big businesspersons released declarations adverse to these measures, confirming the importance of sustaining the production process by resuming work whatever were the repercussions of the pandemic on workers; others requested the reduction of the labor force and decrease of salaries; this provoked a state of anger and denial among the society reaching the point of launching campaigns to boycott the products of some companies as a form of protest against such stands and abstention of the private sector from granting donations to the health sector.
In this context, some declarations reproduced by the press and the social media included the following:
Thus, the crisis proved clearly that each social stakeholder has a role to play, either in periods of crisis or in normal periods; it indicated also the importance of having a strong civil society that should be dealt with as a partner and not as an opponent; finally, it showed that the solution for achieving social justice and equality securing social stability is in promoting the social dialogue and the participation of all parties.
The crisis resulting from Coronavirus revealed the size of problems prevailing in the Egyptian health sector ranging from the poor financial allocations for this sector insufficient to meet its basic needs, the deteriorated quality of services provided in public hospitals lacking the primary requirements of health care, and most importantly the significant shortage in the number of medical doctors and nursing staff; this is due to emigration outside the country in order to find better professional and human working conditions, or resort to the private sector as a consequence of the low salaries incompatible with the efforts deployed. Before the beginning of the crisis, the Ministry of Health attempted to redress the situation through issuing a law in 2019 to raise the fees of newly graduated doctors working in university hospitals to 2200 pounds monthly. According to the Syndicate of Medicine president, this raise that was applied six months before the pandemic resulted on imposing additional tasks on the shoulders of all these newly graduates, i.e., the law granted a raise against increased commitments and responsibilities.
In this context, Coronavirus unveiled the size of decline in the status of health staff that were referred to as the first line of defense to fight the pandemic spread; while everybody was confined inside houses, all the health staff including doctors, nurses, rescuers and others were mobilized in a war to combat the fatal epidemic, spending multiplied efforts often depriving them from sufficient sleeping hours in order to provide care to the patients. The life of all these was exposed to danger while they were not equipped with the adequate means of protection during the practice of their mission. Since the increase of COVID-19 damages, news circulated about the collapse of many workers in the health sector due to contamination while performing their duties; nevertheless, these information remained ambiguous with the absence of any formal statement by the Ministry of Health concerning these cases similarly to its daily communiqués about the general numbers of infections, deceases, and recovery with no specific mention of the health staff which provoked anger among the sector and a feeling of being neglected by their own Ministry. Under these circumstances, the Syndicate addressed a letter to the President of the Republic requesting to increase the ridiculously low indemnity against contamination amounting to 19 pounds monthly. The letter mentioned that "doctors stand in the first line of confrontation with the fatal virus, and are the most exposed to contamination due to their inevitable presence among patients; they are fulfilling their responsibility despite repeated exposure – and their families – to the danger of infection resulting sometimes in severe injuries leading to death for many of them". This statement raised a public appreciation of their role; however, they still do not obtain the sufficient means of protection from contamination or fair working conditions regarding a decent scale of income. Meanwhile, they face harsh situations in dealing with the crisis, either by being obliged to work in quarantine hospitals where they are exposed to big dangers unmet with concern on behalf of the Ministry, or granted financial indemnities for the efforts and dangers encountered on a daily base. Besides, they suffer from the acute lack of basic medical equipment and tools for the necessary analyses to detect the virus; in addition, patients are crowding in the primary help reception halls, increasing thus the chances of contamination. Most importantly is the lack of sufficient preventive tools to protect all the health staff.
Within this situation, the general trade union's president of workers in health sciences declared that around one hundred members were detected Coronavirus positive, with 13 health technician contaminated in the governorate of Luxor, one technician of laboratory and another of radiology deferred to Armant Hospital, the vice-president of the sub-trade union in Luxor infected during work and passed on the virus to his mother and sister.
The first case of death from Coronavirus beginning of April was Dr. Sonia Abdel Azim from Daqahlia, followed by the vice-dean of Qasr El Aini Faculty of Medicine Dr. Hesham El Saket, then Mohamed Abdallah El Mahsenawi member of the medical staff in El Neguela quarantine Hospital. A succession of cases followed in the ranks of medical staff: seventeen members of the health staff in the National Center of Cancer were identified positive creating a state of panicking from Coronavirus extending to the patients; according to the collected testimonies, contamination was due to the stubbornness of the Center's administration and refusal of making the PCR test to a member of the nursing staff who had been infected by a girl under treatment in the hospital. This applies to all doctors working in hospitals due to the lack of health prevention equipment such as sterilizers and anti-virus masks in all governmental health enterprises. This is added to the neglect by hospitals' administrations of WHO recommendations including the PCR test for all health staff before leaving the work place; consequently, 90 doctors were affected and five died as declared by the general Syndicate of Medicine. On 25 April 2020, some sources in the Ministry of Population and Health revealed that El Neguela quarantine Hospital would stop receiving new Coronavirus cases in the governorate of Marsa Matrouh, decision due to the infection of 22 members from the medical staff besides the isolation of thirty doctors, nurses and technicians who were interacting with four identified contaminated colleagues in the educational Hospital "El Ahrar" in the city of Zaqazig, Sharkia governorate. In addition, five departments were closed in the University Hospital of Mansoura after the discovery of nine cases of COVID-19, they included Dr. Manar Sami and her husband Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim, Dr. Abdel Rahman El Shafei and six others as a consequence of their interaction with a physician curing an outside patient; Omar Mohamed, radiology technician in Luxor, was contaminated with his twin children as well as two doctors from the University Hospital in Aswan that decided to suspend work in five departments until having a census of all those interacting with these cases, including medical staff, workers and patients to take the necessary measures for each case. In this respect, WHO representative in Egypt declared that the percentage of injuries in the medical sector amounts to 13% of the overall cases in the country (Al Shorouq newspaper, 13 April 2020) representing a high percentage among the total number of cases in the country. On 12 April 2020, the Faculty of Medicine administration and the Menoufia University hospitals suspended work for two weeks in the department of physiotherapy and rehabilitation after the infection of one of its technicians. Next day, the team of preventive medicine in the health directorate of Alexandria decided to close Mar Morcos Hospital for fourteen days to sterilize all its departments, entrance and exit doors with home confinement of all workers during fourteen days after the discovery of a case who was transferred consequently to one of the quarantine hospitals. In "El Bakri" Hospital, doctors requested repeatedly the provision of protection means for the medical staff, especially after transforming the hospital located in Cairo into a quarantine venue for patients of Coronavirus. In an official statement dated 15 May 2020, doctors declared that some positive cases have appeared among the staff in the previous week affecting physicians, nurses, and employees in the administrative department; these included: two employees respectively responsible of keeping the registers of resident doctors, as well as specialists and advisors; the head of pharmaceutical department, the head of the anti-contamination department, gynecological, intensive care, and general surgery doctors, nurses in intensive care and a worker in the hospital were also contaminated. Consequently, everyone working in the hospital interacted with cases of COVID-19. The statement indicated also that all physicians demand the provision of proper protection equipment (PPE) such as highly efficient masks (N95), and yellow or white isolating suits; they requested in addition that training be provided for all doctors and workers on the right use of protection equipment as the overall number of infected among physicians only amounted to 3000 until 16 August 2020 with 169 deaths according to the declarations of Dr. Ibrahim El Zayyat, board member of the General Syndicate of Medicine.
In the same context, medical doctors appealed incessantly the Egyptian Ministry of Health through social media and the electronic portal of their Syndicate to elaborate a health protocol according to the international standards for the protection of physicians to be implemented by all hospitals of the country; they claimed the urgency to surmount the shortage of necessary medical equipment for the prevention from the virus and limit its prevalence among health staff. Nevertheless, the Ministry response was to deny the false rumors propagated by doctors about the lack of adequate equipment in governmental hospitals or absence of the necessary preventive measures; furthermore, the Ministry took coercive measures towards doctors and their supporting teams under the pretext that they put obstacles before the achievement of desired good performance while working. Thus, after the spread of COVID-19 in one of the hospitals, the General Authority of Health Care issued its periodical memo number one about the current pandemic crisis defining the arrangements that should be implemented in hospitals to counteract the diffusion of the virus among doctors; these arrangements included the division of work between medical staffs by rotation during the month, i.e. each team would work two consecutive weeks then self-isolating for the two following weeks. This decision was criticized by the Syndicate of Medicine considering it antagonist with the family life of doctors besides exposing them to dangers due to the lack of decent housing for those obliged to remain in hospitals during two consecutive weeks. The memo indicated also that corrective measures would be taken against any physician or member of the nursing staff that will be contaminated because this negatively impacts the proper working process and presupposes a contravention of the preventive measures. How can we imagine that citizens would be punished if they were contaminated, especially if this applies to people who expose themselves to dangers in order to protect the public health of citizens and are consequently more vulnerable than other? In the same line, Sharqia directorate of health deferred a doctor to investigation after he had posted in the social media a video where he complains from the extreme shortage of prevention equipment, mentioning specifically the lack of masks when dealing with suspected cases; the directorate measure was considered illegal by the Syndicate, aiming at hiding the degraded health condition in governmental hospitals. Along with this, an Egyptian doctor requested the Ministry of Health to effectuate corona tests every two weeks for all workers in the health sector and apply the test to any citizen complaining from dyspnea; in parallel, an Egyptian nurse called the Ministry of Health to send delegations to hospitals in order to ensure the availability of sufficient protection equipment indicating her fear to have been infected herself. On the other hand, Wael Sarhan, president of the general trade union of workers in the Authority of First Aid Rescue and Ambulances declared that COVID-19 caused 13 deaths and 220 infected among workers since the rise of the virus in the country, clarifying that these figures include both rescuers and ambulance drivers. He added that fifty families of these were contaminated with one case of death. He also noted that the rate of infection in this category of workers is the highest among the health staff if compared with their percentage in the entire health sector. He requested to transform all ambulances along with the protocol applied for Corona ones with the same medical equipment, together with abolishing paid, emergency or non-rescuing services.
On another note, nurses in "Imbaba Hospital for Tropical Fevers" and Coronavirus cases organized a sit-in of protest against the scarce provision of prevention equipment, especially after the contamination of one of them; during the sit-in, nurses complained from doctors abstaining from contact with patients, leaving the burden of facing the danger on their shoulders. The Syndicate of Nursing announced the sixth case of death on 13 May with the decease of nurse Sohair Helmy who was working in the unit of burns in "Demerdash" Hospital, after her delegation to "El Obour" quarantine Hospital where she contracted the virus; death of nurse Attiyat Mohamed Arboud was the fifth case while working in "Damanhour Respiratory System" Hospital allocated to the isolation of cases suspected to hold the virus in Beheira governorate.
The present scene regarding the failure of Egyptian governmental hospitals and repeated contamination of health staff is a natural consequence of the policies that reduce financial allocations to the health sector in the public budget in order to increase spending on other sectors; actually, during the current financial year allocation to the health sector amounted to 2,24% which is lower than the percentage prescribed in the Constitutional Article 18 of 2014 which stipulates that the State commits itself to spend not less than 3% of the National Product on health with gradual increase until the percentage becomes compatible with international standards.
In conclusion, we have presently to combat the pandemic and focus on the priorities in a scientific way. In doing this, the State has to revise the health budget, including salaries of physicians and nursing staff, allocate those a decent indemnity against contamination compatible with the size of risks they have to face in order to encourage doctors working in the governmental sector abstain from emigrating abroad or escaping to the private sector. There is also urgency of applying the set of comprehensive health security measures that proved to be efficient during the crisis; it is also imperative to reform the health system along with the new system of health security that will be applied all over the country within the next five years; This will limit the Ministry of Health role to that currently played by the preventive health sector in fighting epidemics, protecting health as to reach a comprehensive health coverage as well as ensure that the considerations of equality and social justice are taken in consideration in the design of the health system along with WHO recommendations in 2020. The crisis we are going through confirm the fact that health is a basic human right, and that the success of efforts in this regard rely on the protection of all social categories, and this is where the State has to play its role.
Table showing the number of contaminated and deceased
Among health staff between March 15 and September 15 2020
Overall number of contamination among physicians | Over 3000 according to Dr. Ibrahim El Zayyat, board member of the General Syndicate of Medicine (16 August 2020) |
Overall number of contamination among nursing staff | Over 4000 according to social media, accuracy of data checked |
Overall number of contamination among health technicians | 100 cases |
Overall number of contamination among workers in the Authority of Ambulances | 220 cases |
Overall number of deaths among physicians | 166 cases |
Overall number of deaths among nursing staff | 41 cases until 21 July 2020 according to the trade union of nursing |
Overall number of deaths among health technicians | 28 cases |
Overall number of deaths among workers in ambulances | 13 cases |
It is important to note that the data included in this table is based on the declarations of the Syndicate of Medicine, the general Authority of First Aid Rescue and Ambulances and the general trade union of workers in health sciences until 15 September 2020; as of the nursing staff, despite the increase of its size by 3.5% during the last three years according to the head of the nursing trade union with an overall staff amounting to 221,06 thousand, there is not regular data issued from the trade union regarding the percentages of contamination and deaths; therefore, we relied on data collection and monitoring information published on electronic sites, especially for the cases of contamination; Dr. Kawthar Mahmoud, head of the trade union of nursing had clarified in an interview with El Youm El Sabe' newspaper published on 21 July 2020 that the number of victims among the nursing staff reached about 41 and the amount disbursed for indemnity amounted to 820 thousand pounds; she added that the trade union had decided to disburse twenty thousand pounds in the cases of death and two thousand pounds for contamination and declared that there was no precise account of the cases of infection. Dr. Mohamed Badawi, vice secretary general of the federation of medical professions, and secretary general of the dentistry trade unions, announced that the number of indemnity to the amount of twenty thousand pounds – according to the federation decision – covered over 1000 cases, i.e. the disbursement reached a total of twenty million pounds. Dr. Mohamed Abdel Hamid, treasurer of the Federation and of the Syndicate of Medicine, declared that the Federation didn't receive any request of disbursement for death indemnity set at 50,000 pounds while the number of victims reached 125 according to the available information; he pointed out that the Federation had effectively disbursed compensations for over 600 members although the number of applicants exceeds this figure by 4 to 5 times; however, the papers of those are still under examination and some applications needing to be completed. Dr. Ahmed Ezzat, treasurer of physiotherapy trade union, stated that the number of infections goes over 250, with three deaths according to the numbers they were able to enumerate; he noted that the trade union does not pay compensations either for contamination or death, but supports its members by paying them an anti-corona indemnity amounting to 2000 pounds which were disbursed for over twenty members, i.e. disbursed overall amounting to 40 thousand pound. Along with the same trend, Dr. Hussein Abdel Hadi, treasurer of the Dentistry Syndicate, declared that they had received no requests regarding the 50,000 pounds for the five Coronavirus victims among dentists.
Head of the Teachers Syndicate declared that the number of COVID-19 positive cases that applied for compensation amounted to 35 who were paid each ten thousand pounds, i.e. a total of 350 thousand pounds was disbursed.
Looking at the overall amount expended until 21 September 2020, we found that it reached 21 million and 210 thousand pounds while some syndicates declared they did not possess enough information about the infected cases, meaning that the obtained numbers of infected might be by far beyond the reality; however, the data between our hands is a strong indicator about the huge number of victims, especially among the health staff.
Statistics estimate that the number of non-organized workers in the informal sector (including workers on a daily base and seasonal workers, with the exception of agricultural workers) represents around 55% of the labor force in Egypt, i.e., the biggest portion of those contributing in the economic process. Since 2004, the number of non-organized workers registered in the files of Social Security Authority was reduced to around 900,000 while it amounted previously to five million and 700,000 according to a report released by the Ministry of Labor Force in 2017. As well known, the Ministry does not possess a data base of workers on a daily base, especially with regards to the sector of construction and building that includes 35 thousand entrepreneurship companies employing around 3.5 million of permanent workers covered by social security; in addition, twelve million are working on a seasonal base in this sector, and therefore not affiliated to a specific company and uncovered by the umbrella of social security. On the other hand, the Ministry of Labor Force collects the amount of 4,5/1000 of the overall benefits of these companies in favor of seasonal labor; actually, no entrepreneur in Egypt can skip from paying these amounts because the condition of working for a governmental or private party is to possess a receipt of payment from the Ministry. In this context, the president of the construction and building entrepreneurs declared that the decree of establishing an account for seasonal labor was issued in 2006 and implemented in 2011; according to its executive regulation, the amount stated above is to be collected from both governmental and private projects. He added that the size of money in the account of seasonal workers at the Ministry amounts between 5 and 6 million pounds as the annual amount collected is around 700 million pounds. CAPMAS report issued in 2019 shows that the overall number of workers is of 27 million with 2.8 million economic companies; the report indicates also that one million are working in the economic enterprises belonging to the State, 8.3 million in the private sector, and over 13.5 million outside economic enterprises. In addition, 97% of the overall businesses employ less than ten workers. The report mentions that the number of non-organized workers - either seasonal or on a daily base – without social security coverage .amount to 14 million while workers insured in enterprises amount to six million; and those with work contracts outside enterprises account to 1.8 million. The report outlines that fishing is the profession occupying the highest rate of participation in economic activities with around 6.5 million workers, while the sector of construction and building includes 3.5 million workers followed by wholesale and retail trade with three million workers, finally the real estate sector employs 29 thousand workers. According to the data mentioned above, and due to the absence of their inclusion in the official registrars of the State these workers face the following problems:
On the other hand, the main sector informally employing women workers is that of health and social services with 17% of female labor; women in this sector are not covered by health or social security, and their working conditions are incompatible with the terms of the Law regarding working hours, minimum wages, and professional security; most importantly, the State does not possess accurate data about them as they are not ensured under social security.
A large size of the labor force is concentrated in the sectors of construction and building, real estate activities, water sewerage and recycling; these sectors have witnessed important growing developments during the past years: the sector of construction and building achieved an overall revenue of 214.6 billion pounds during financial year 2017-2018 compared to 195.1 billion for the previous year with a growth percentage of 10%; the sector of real estate activities achieved an overall revenue of 371.7 billion pounds in 2017-2018 compared to 358.5 billion in the previous year with 3.5% growth; as of the water, sewerage and recycling sector, it achieved an overall revenue of 20.8 billion pounds in 2017-2018 compared to 20.2 billion in the previous year with a growth rate of 3.2%. Therefore, the sector of facilities have achieved in 2017-2018 only an overall national product of 607.1 billion pounds compared to 573.8 billion in the previous year with a growth of 5.8%, contributing thus in financial year 2017-2018 by 16.9% of the overall national product; this percentage is quite high for a single sector; consequently, the real estate sector – and all its labor force - becomes one of the most affected sectors by the pandemic; therefore, the cabinet issued on 11 April 2020 the decision of resuming full work capacity for the sector; such decision raised a general controversy among the sector due to the fear from the pandemic in absence of the provision of professional safety and implementation of health rules, lack of regular analyses, absence of daily sterilization of offices and used tools, besides the huge challenges facing workers in the entire informal sector. Under these deteriorated conditions, the Coronavirus emerged to worsen their situation and living conditions. Actually thousands of non-organized workers lost their jobs as one of the pandemic consequences and the preventive measures adopted by the State to limit the expansion of CIVID-19 including the closure of leisure, and touristic settings, as well as open-air markets that deprived street vendors from their means of income with their majority uncovered by social, health or unemployment security protection. There is also the eternal problem of domestic workers who are excluded from the protection of both current Labor Law and draft new Labor Law under discussion, exposing them to severe living conditions. We also note the issuance of some official decision that were not actually implemented; this happened with the ministerial decree Number 776/2020 about the establishment of a committee responsible of collecting data regarding the labor force affected by the economic repercussions of the pandemic. The decision led to a state of chaos as many workers were unable to register their information besides the ambiguity concerning who was or was not addressed by the decision. Within this context, the Ministry of Labor Force announced that it will disburse a grant of 500 pounds as an exceptional assistance for the non-organized labor registered in its data base and will open the door to unregistered workers to register through an electronic link; however, the link is perpetually not working. This illustrates the incompetence of the electronic infrastructure in this Ministry, and consequently the impossibility to activate the decision, leading to the deprivation of the supposed beneficiaries; moreover, vagueness and confusion are prevailing among citizens, especially that the decision concerns a wide category of non-organized workers who will not be able to benefit from the grant representing despite its modesty the only source of income to meet solely the daily needs of nutrition for them and their families; and this is simply due to the incapability of registering.
The field of tourism is the most prominent sector affected economically by the pandemic and its duration; this is exacerbated by the declarations confirming that the recovery of the sector will last between 10 and 34.9 months after end of the crisis, i.e. at the average of 19.4 months; such period is too long for a sector that represented recently around 12% of the overall national product and produced around one billion dollars monthly. Actually, tourism witnessed a noticeable progress in the rate of revenues during past years with an overall of 13.3 billion dollars in 2019 compared to 11,6 billion in 2018 with a growth rate of nearly 12.5% and an increase of 67% compared with 2016 where revenues amounted to 2.5 billion dollars only according to the declarations of the Central Bank of Egypt. It is worth mentioning the declaration of the "Alliance of Workers in Tourism" on April 6 that all touristic and hotel facilities received a letter from the Ministry of Tourism indicating that an agreement was concluded with the "Egyptian Federation of Chambers of Tourism" stating that the labor force wouldn't be exposed to exclusion or termination in order to retain skilled and trained workers. In the same time, several exhibitions and important conferences that are usually booked the preceding year were canceled; this practically means that tourism will likely lose probable agreements for next years, as declared by Mohamed Ma'it, Minister of Finances to the website "Enterprise". Therefore, the sector was exposed to an important crisis described by the International Organization of Tourism to be the most severe one over the past twenty years as it was highly affected at the economic level, especially for workers whose number is officially estimated to reach three million Egyptians; according to formal statistics, around 200,000 of these workers lost their jobs due to the preventive measures declared by the State since the beginning of the crisis; these measures included the closure of hotels, companies, restaurants, bazars, and coffee shops. In addition to thousands of workers on a daily base in touristic services; the president of touristic guides' trade union declared that 60% of workers in this field are free-lance, i.e., paid on a daily base, and they are the most affected by the crisis; while they were effectively working before the pandemic, many of them will find themselves without jobs if the situation would last for long, because any owner of a touristic enterprise won't be able to pay salaries more than two months without obtaining revenues; meanwhile, some businessmen in the field of tourist adopted prompt measures including:
Following are the cases monitored and documented by CTUWS confirming the above measures applied by business owners in this sector since the spread of Coronavirus until 15 September 2020.
According to social media and to the information released by the Forum of Dialogue for Development and Human Rights on its website "Watani", the worst affected governorates were the Red Sea that registers 59% of workers' complaints, followed by Cairo with 21%, Giza with 13% and South Sinai with approximately 8%.
Therefore, workers are the biggest losers, disoriented between the contradictory opinions declared by the chambers of tourism and the government; while the five chambers of tourism (companies, hotels, touristic facilities, diving and touristic gadgets) requested from the government to assume the salaries of workers through the Emergency Fund affiliated to the Ministry of Labor Force, especially that the touristic sector contributes by 2% of its budget, the government demanded the chambers of tourism to endorse their responsibility towards their members during the present crisis affecting the tourism sector; the government maintains that these entities possess immense amounts exceeding 900 million pounds in addition to their share in the Fund for Pilgrimage; the government asserts that they are capable of giving support to members during the current period; moreover, the government claims that the amounts mentioned before belong to the members and the role of boards is to protect the interests of companies, hotels and all workers in the sector. In parallel with this debate, the Emergency Fund president (position occupied by the present Minister of Labor Force) declared that 250 thousand workers applied for aid from the Fund.
In the context of the governmental decision to stop air flights, the national company "EgyptAir" predicted that its losses would reach 2.25 billion pounds; in addition, the company had already lost 200 flights weekly with the decision of several countries to halt their flights to Egypt after the emergence of Coronavirus; international and regional reports indicate disastrous losses in this sector due to the size of air trips stopped between countries worldwide, estimating that the damages in revenues by the end of the year would exceed 250 billion dollars globally, including 23 billion for the Middle East region alone equivalent to 39% of this industry benefits; according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) the reimbursement of tickets has increased by 75% in the Middle East during the period February 1st till mid-March with cancelation of 16,000 flights in the region since end of January; this resulted in concrete damages worldwide for aviation companies estimated at 7.2 billion dollars until 11 March 2020 with predictions to reach 250 billion dollars by the end of 2020; IATA also indicated that the Egyptian aviation companies are expected to lose around 1.6 billion dollars as a consequence of the predicted decrease in the number of travellers by 9.5 person; this in turn is threatening 205,560 jobs in the sector besides the danger of an important deficit for the Egyptian economy in 2020 (2.4 billion dollars). Despite the lack of statistics, news disseminate in the social media confirm that hundreds of workers in aviation companies have lost their jobs with collective termination taking place mainly in the field of services and lower administrative positions.
Despite all the declarations of State responsible about the necessity to retain the labor force, abstain from reducing salaries, and apply all the preventive measures at the work place, decisions adopted by business owners were contradictory, totally ignoring the Labor Law and international conventions. The following cases detail the extreme damages encountered by workers rapidly impacting their socio-economic status:
Mr. Abu Bakr filed a complaint at the police station to document the fact and went to file another complaint at the labor bureau; however, he discovered that the latter was in vacation for Coronavirus. He also registered his complaint on the site of the Cabinet allocated to citizens' grievances which deferred it to the central committee of labor force;
In several settings, workers protested against businessmen exploitation of the crisis to violate their rights:
The first cases of infection were discovered in Egypt beginnings of March, with twelve workers infected on a touristic boat cruising between Luxor and Aswan in Upper Egypt; actually, there were tourists from various nationalities on board of the boat and this discovery marks the announcement of the pandemic emergence in the country.
In this context, CTUWS monitored an important number of contaminations and some deaths in various work sectors and settings as well as the attitude of companies administrations that ranged between: implementation of preventive measures, granting workers leaves of confinement, neglect of the facts and determination to pursue work despite the risks resulting from such decision;
Actually, since the beginning of the crisis decisions and statements of the Company's administration were contradictory and unstable; on March 28, a decree was issued to operate through a single shift from 8 am until 5:30 pm and reduce the number of workers in the shift at the rate of three full time working days weekly for each worker; in addition, the number of employees in the various department was reduced with full pay secured to everybody. On April 5, the decision to totally close the factory was adopted; later on, the administration declared through its official webpage that the decision of lockdown was untrue, expressing doubts about the results of Coronavirus tests made to the deceased worker and confirming that he was not infected as the tests of his family members and interacting people were negative, while tens of cases appeared lately between workers from various villages and towns of Menoufia;
The status of women is closely linked to the consequences of the pandemic previously mentioned for all workers; however, it is possible to assert that women are the biggest losers from the crisis; when they call for their rights, the usual answer is: "it's never a good time to talk about women's problems when people are experimenting conditions of war or crises; and our priority now is to overcome the present one", while 2020 was expected to celebrate 25 years after Beijing Platform of Action and represent a clear transition in achieving gender equality. Nevertheless, the crisis pushed important numbers of women to work under severe conditions resulting from the economic stagnation, impacting negatively the income of most families, and creating enlarged size of women-headed households; numerous women were exposed to losing their jobs in the context of the preventive measures adopted to surmount the crisis; actually, with COVID-19 widespread, the few limited progress achieved during previous decades were exposed to backlash as the pandemic unveiled the weakness of socio-economic systems leading to strongest unjust repercussions on women in all fields of life from health to paid/unpaid work outside or inside the house backed by precarious social protection. This resulted in amplified negative effects as women in majority are employed in unsafe jobs and live in conditions close to poverty; according to official statistics, nearly 55% of women are in the service sector compared to 44% of men; this is one among the most impacted sectors that was directly affected at the economic level from the preventive measures adopted by the government. In the context of the growing socio-economic pressures linked to the restriction of mobility, imposed measures of self-isolation, new numbers of women were obliged to join the non-organized sector that considerably violates both women and men rights with lack of coverage by social and health protection; however, women are the most affected because these two systems protect only regular workers until the age of retirement, neglecting the protection of informal categories or those who exceeded the age of retirement and women represent actually a large part of the two categories. The umbrella of social security or health schemes applies only to workers in the formal economic sector, without extending to the informal one or unpaid domestic services provided by women for the household; additionally, most fields occupied by women in the service sector (food, hospitality and tourism) are projected to be severely affected economically by the preventive measures; consequently, women are highly exposed to harmful risks. Thus, the pandemic created a severe crisis with socio-economic repercussions requesting to be rapidly addressed in accordance to their size and importance; however, such reaction wouldn't be fruitful if it doesn't take into account the important threats especially impacting women workers; The Lancet journal, among the world's oldest and best-known general medical journals, has warned in its edition dated 14 March 2020 that "policies and public health efforts have not addressed the gendered impacts of disease outbreaks. The response to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appears no different"; according to the same source, the journal was "not aware of any gender analysis of the outbreak by global health institutions or governments in affected countries or in preparedness phases", it adds that recognition of the different effects of the outbreaks is a fundamental step to understand the various impact of health emergency on different individuals and communities and consequently adopt effective, equitable policies and interventions.
Several facts confirm that Coronavirus expansion in 175 countries was more severe for women than men; this is particularly evident with women standing in the first lines of confrontation as they represent 70% of health service providers in 104 countries, with a majority in the nursing sector according to WHO data; this refers to a higher risk for nursing staff dealing with Coronavirus cases who are for longer periods in direct contact with infected patients. We witnessed concretely this situation in Egypt since the beginning of the crisis with contamination of women in health services including physicians, nurses, health technicians and administrative employees; WHO data indicate that women workers in this sector receive salaries lower up to 11% than their counterpart males. Following is an explanatory graphic about the statistics of women and men percentages in each health field
On the other hand, unpaid labor provided by women is not recognized by the society despite its important role; according to UN Women, women assume increased unpaid tasks within the preventive measures as they shoulder globally 75% of domestic work and family care responsibility; ILO figures confirm also the hassle endorsed by women: 76.2% of overall hours devoted to unpaid care are undertaken by females, i.e. around three times more than males allocation to similar works; therefore, the suspension of classes in schools represents a higher multiplied physical and psychological pressure on women as they are primarily responsible of children. While the reason behind imposing quarantine was to reduce the potential risks of contamination, women do not fully benefit from this measure; actually, social culture considers that it is women's responsibility to undertake shopping for the household; according to a research study conducted in 2019, the percentage of women responsible of this duty reaches 80% in some countries and consequently the possibilities of exposure to risks augment through interaction with contaminated people; however, this reality didn't raise reactions from governments who persist to differentiate between gender and health issues and avoid to mainstream the gender dimension in all fields. This was confirmed by ILO stating that COVID-19 will represent the highest burden for women who bear the socio-economic consequences doubly than men.
The Arab Women Organization predicted that the pandemic would increase the number of women-headed households; it would also lead to abolish women's labor in marginal professions, such as those paid on a daily base like domestic workers, women in the agriculture or street vendors although their work is helping to feed entire families. According to CAPMAS and to the statistics of National Council for Women, the percentages of women workers in Egypt are distributed between 18.1% heads of households, with 40.9% of the overall number of non-agricultural labor force engaged in informal jobs, 33.9% of women's labor refer to low quality of works, 6.7% are in the industrial sector, 36.4% in the agricultural sector, 56.8% in the sector of services, in addition to 42.4% who are medical doctors and 91.9% of nurses affiliated to the Ministry of Health,73.1% of the female nursing staff work in private hospitals and other health facilities. Coronavirus repercussions are expected to affect all these categories, including the health sector with its hospitals and health facilities in the private sector. Beside, these women are mothers responsible of providing care to their families and overwhelmed by both domestic and outside work pressures; however, the State policies do not respond adequately to their need for protection, either for the health sector or other sectors, particularly those in the informal sector. This was illustrated by the Central Bank statement dated 22 March 2020 about the measures to neutralize the expected impact of Coronavirus; the communiqué stipulates that credit interests were spontaneously postponed six months for individuals and companies with the condition of abstaining from imposing any additional dues on these late payments; in addition, the Minister of Trade and Industry declared on 17 March 2020 that the Authority of medium, small and micro enterprises affiliated to his Ministry promises to support small projects to face the expected effects of the pandemic; however, financial firms refused to fund micro projects owned 90% by women or treat them equally with the other enterprises benefitting from the delay. A report published by El Mal newspaper published textually the oral notice addressed to request micro enterprises owners to pay the installments of monthly loans' interests due to credit companies and associations; some of the contacted owners clarified that financial institutions refuse to implement the Central Bank decision pretending that micro projects were not included; in the context of the current crisis, the State should have given priority to protect the weakest categories, or at least granting them equal treatment by issuing an unequivocal decree postponing dues spontaneously in addition to granting them all the additional benefits granted to other borrowers. According to the Egyptian government report, the majority of current beneficiaries from funding of micro projects are women who were purposely targeted by the State in the context of the national strategy to empower women; actually women-headed households amount alone to 3.3 million, indicating that these women and their families should be prioritized in the State policies aiming at protecting Egyptians from Coronavirus with specific focus on the poorest; this also raises the problem related to domestic workers and similar categories of workers; we noticed here that many families have fired them as a precautionary measure against the pandemic, exposing these to extremely harsh living conditions. While we consider that families employing domestic workers should have given them paid leave until the end of the crisis, there is urgency to amend the Labor Law that should include this category under its umbrella; actually, it is possible to exclude the chapter about work place inspection and judiciary arrest in their case to avoid protests about the necessary integrity of households and ensure their other rights such as decent salaries, working hours, days-off and social security protection.
On another level about the impact of COVID-19 and poverty rates, UNCTAD has published a working paper which introduction indicates the necessity of taking in consideration gender gaps when addressing the virus; otherwise, women would bear a heavier price than men. In the same line, the secretary general of Britain workers' trade unions, declared that women workers were leading the war against Coronavirus; however, hundreds of those are stuck with miserable level of salaries and unsecure jobs. According to Sam Smithers, executive director of Faucet Philanthropy Association concerned with gender equality in the UK, gender equality at the workplace will witness a backlash for decades as a consequence of the crisis is there were no governmental interventions to avoid this happening. A research conducted by London University Centers of Financial Studies and Education concluded that mothers are the most likely to lose permanently their jobs at a percentage as high as 47%, or forced to be on leave by 14%; in parallel, the sectors of hospitality and wholesale and retail which employ important numbers of women would be highly affected; along with this, Sarah Rayes, head of research and policies department in the group of women-budgets in the UK, specified that women went through the crisis in a state of economic deprivation which raises concern about the pandemic impact on their incomes and access to job opportunities leading thus to increasing gender-gap, especially in wages. A recent study published by the United Nations on 4 September 2020 indicated that Coronavirus is likely to push 47 million women into poverty; another study conducted by UN Women and UNDP showed an increase in the rates of poverty among women by 9.1% while before the pandemic, this rate was expected to reach 2.7% between 2019 and 2021. It is true that the crisis will impact the percentage of poverty worldwide; however, women will be affected unequally, especially women at the reproductive age. According to the study, there will be 118 women against 100 men in the age bracket 25-34 falling under the line of extreme poverty (1.90 dollars or less daily); it is also projected that in 2030 the gap will raise to 121 women against 100 men; moreover, data shows that the global health crisis will lead 96 million people by 2021 to fall into extreme poverty with 47 million of women and girls among them; she added that the various evidences of gender inequality should encourage now the adoption of rapid policies putting women in the heart of the efforts to recover from the virus. Therefore, she proposes that each set of measures and budgets allocated to the pandemic should include mechanisms and protective legislations for women, practically meaning the following measures:
Fourth axis: Analysis of the crisis and its repercussions
This analysis is based on the monitoring conducted among the most affected work sectors and collected available data and information regarding the socio-economic damages resulting from the pandemic; additionally, it relied on measures and decisions adopted by the State and business owners are part of the analysis as well as civil society and personal initiatives' role; actually, all these represent indicators contributing in assessing the present situation and the competence of efforts to alleviate the crisis. The analysis of all these factors is indeed the starting point for a required scientific approach in this stage helping to understand the negative consequences and weaknesses pertaining to the State policies, health systems, legal and economic institutions.
In fact, the effects arising in some specific sectors witnessing a drastic diminution of employment and detailed in previous chapters, do not justify the violations and harms of workers' rights in the entire governmental apparatus where monthly salaries were reduced to be limited to the basic wages without any side benefits or incentives; in addition, motherhood and childhood care leaves were temporarily abolished, strongly affecting the strength of women workers.
On the other hand, the monitoring process revealed that the less harmed categories included high skilled workers in the field of communication and information technology, as well as on-line sales. Instead of receiving complaints from those, we were informed that the rates of employment and salaries had increased in these fields. This requires a reflection about the qualifications needed in the future labor market and the changing concepts regarding flexible work that need in turn the adoption of protective legislations regulating long-distance work.
In the same context, indicators show that the most prominent changes produced by the pandemic refer to households' daily income, and the diminution of living levels resulting from companies' owners decisions of collective termination, reduction of salaries or abstention from disbursing wages, added to the lockdown of enterprises; for example, indicators related to the private sector show that over half of workers (55.7%) are working less than usual before the crisis, 22% work intermittently, and 18.1% have become unemployed; moreover, fourth of workers mention a steady salary during the pandemic, on the contrary 73.5% indicate a decrease and only 1% mention an increase. In parallel, CAPMAS expects that 46.5% of households' incomes will remain steady by 51.1% in urban areas against 43.3% in rural ones; CAPMAS also predicted that incomes will decrease especially in rural areas by 52.3% against 43.3% for urban areas; projections indicated in addition that half of households borrow from others and around 17% rely on philanthropic donations; in the meantime, nearly 5.3% of households benefitted from the grant for non-organized labor in case insufficiency of income was proved. According to CAPMAS report 60.3% of the sample explains the regression of incomes by governmental preventive measures, 35.5% by unemployment, and 35.5% justified this by the decreased demand of their productive activity.
As of the health sector for 2018, CAPMAS estimated the number of governmental hospitals at 691 with a capacity of 95,683 beds and 91,316 physicians in the governmental sector; on the other side, private hospitals account to 1175 with a capacity of 35,320 beds and number of physicians amounting to 29,290. These figures are not solely related to Cairo but to the entire country reflecting incompatibility with the size of Egyptian population exceeding one hundred million, especially in times of the severe current crisis, either in terms of beds' capacity, or overall number of medical doctors for both sectors; moreover, the data related to the health private sector cannot represent a real indicator of the entire health sector size as its contribution during the pandemic was solely addressed to the rich capable of spending 20,000 pounds by day; this also necessitates to be revised for a health system where chances of the poor are to die while rich recover; it is especially imperative in a country with rates of poverty escalating to 32.5% in 2018 before the crisis compared to 27.8% in 2017 and most of them uncovered by social and health security schemes being outside of the formal sector.
International Food Policy Research Institute conducted a measurement of the economic impact of Corona pandemic; their research predicts for Egypt that the gross domestic product will drop between 2.1 and 4.8% during 2020. According to the rates of poverty in Egypt by using the national lines of poverty (which are defined by each country according to its own characteristics on the base of a set of nutrition products and their price levels), the line of extreme poverty has increased from 16.7% in 1999-2000 to 32.5% in 2017-2018, i.e. almost third of the Egyptian population is falling under the line of extreme poverty and the number of poor increased during the same period from 10.6 million to 31.3 million with 20.7 million additional poor between the two dates.
A recent study published by the United Nations indicated that Coronavirus is likely to push 47 million women in poverty; another study conducted by UN Women and UNDP showed an increase in the rates of poverty among women by 9.1% while before the pandemic, this rate was expected to reach 2.7% between 2019 and 2021. It is true that the crisis will impact the percentage of poverty worldwide; however, women will be affected unequally, especially women in the reproductive age.
By 2021, there will be 118 women against 100 men in the age bracket 25-34 years old living in extreme poverty (less than 1.90 dollars daily) and the gap is expected to become 121 women to 100 men by 2030, in addition to the increase of people living worldwide in extreme poverty to 435 million; this comes in accordance with the economic measures adopted by the State within the program of economic reform that sought to reduce the size of subsidies for goods and services and rationalize governmental expenditures; these policies resulted in unprecedented rates of inflation. As of the categorization of poor, official data shows that they include 43% of workers in private sector enterprises, and 19% of workers in the governmental/public sector; with 37.6% people under the line of poverty belonging to temporary labor.
Unemployment is considered one of the main channels conducting to poverty; number of unemployed is expected to rise in Egypt either due to the loss of jobs, reduced available opportunities of getting jobs as a consequence of the recession in the economic performance generally, and particularly with the reduction of foreign investments; here we can refer to the two most categories exposed to loss of jobs: first are self-employed workers without relying on others, and the second category includes workers in the informal sector, with great interferences between the two. According to the labor force census of 2018, self-employed amounted to three million representing nearly 11.5% of overall labor force; there is no available accurate data for those in the informal sector; the economic census of 2017-2018 indicated that workers in the informal private sector outside enterprises reached about four million representing 31% of workers in the private sector while workers in outside enterprises accounted to 11.7 million i.e. 45% of overall workers according to the Ministry of Labor Force declarations; however, ILO estimates that there are 16.5 million of workers in the informal sector representing 63.3% of overall labor force in Egypt; this is a high percentage which might not be quite accurate, especially that it exceeds that of many countries such as China and Brazil. The indicators of some estimates consider that the present crisis might lead to add between 336,000 to 1.3 million of unemployed compared to the last quarter of 2019 including alone 2.3 million without jobs; these calculations practically mean that the average rate of unemployment could be up to 11.5% in 2020. The estimates of the Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development consider that those exposed to lose their jobs by end of 2019-2020 are 824,000 workers in case the crisis was lasting until end of 2020; therefore, the number might amount to 1.2 million persons, in the majority belonging to the sectors of wholesale and retail trade, transports, storage, transformative industries, domestic services, and tourism; in addition, this applies to the labor force returning from abroad especially from Gulf countries specifically those affected by COVID-19 and who will find a market unable to absorb them.
In the same context, CAPMAS indicators for the second quarter of 2020 (April-June 2020) show that the rate of unemployment represented 9.6% of the overall labor force against 7.7% in the first quarter of the year with an increase of 1.9% and of 2.1% compared to the similar quarter of the previous year; this resulted in 2.574 million of unemployed with 1.934 million males and 640 thousand females compared to 2.236 million in the first quarter of the year and an increase of 338 thousand of additional unemployed with augmentation of 480 thousand from same quarter in previous year; the rate of unemployed males accounted to 8.5% of allover men workers while it was of 4.5% in the first quarter of the year and of 4.2% in the similar quarter of the previous year; rate of female unemployment amounted to 16.2% for total women workers while it was of 21.95% in the first quarter of the year and of 22.4% in the similar quarter of the previous year; rate of unemployed in the age bracket 15-29 years old was of 60.4% during the referenced quarter against 68.5% in 2020 first quarter; the rate of unemployment increased in urban areas to reach 12.5% of overall labor force while it was of 11.1% during the precedent quarter and 9.3% in the same quarter of previous year; the same applies to unemployment rates in urban areas with respectively 7.4%, 5.1% and 6.1%.
On the other side, unemployment decreased for graduates of middle, over middle, university and post university levels to reach 69.2% instead of 85% during first quarter of the year. CAPMAS data indicates that 61.9% experienced the following changes in their lives:
TABLE I: OVERALL MONITORED CASES OF VIOLATIONS INSIDE COMPANIES
# | Company | Type of violation | Nbr of workers | Date of violation in 2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Gas for Tourism | Open-ended unpaid vacations | 600 | March 2020 |
2 | Gouna for touristic development | Termination and unpaid vacations | 700 | March 2020 |
3 | Grand for Tourism | Open-ended unpaid vacations | No available accurate information | March 2020 |
4 | Sun Rise | Ending contracts and open-ended unpaid vacations | 500 | March 2020 |
5 | Small companies of transportation and touristic services in Hurgada and Sharm El Sheikh | Termination and open-ended unpaid vacations | Around 2000 | March 2020 |
6 | El Mesafer for Touristic Services, Cairo | Termination and unpaid vacations | 350 | March 2020 |
7 | International Service for Touristic Services, Cairo | Open-ended unpaid vacations | 50 | April 2020 |
8 | Abu Omar of Sweets Shops, Alexandria | Termination | 60 | April 2020 |
9 | Small workshops of ready-made garments, Alexandria | Unpaid open-ended vacations | Around 300 | April 2020 |
10 | Golden Crescent and Star in 10th of October city | Additional working hours without remuneration | 2000 | April 2020 |
11 | Eurotex for Clothes, Port-Said | Preventive measures not applied and three shifts merged | 1600 | April 2020 |
12 | Firestone Appareil, | Termination | 200 | March 2020 |
13 | Union Air Group | Compulsory vacations deducted from annual days-off | No available accurate information about exact number | March 2020 |
14 | British International College, New Cairo | Termination | 200 | March 2020 |
15 | Plaza for Ready-made Garments, Port-Said | Ending contracts and unpaid open-ended vacations | 1000 | March & April 2020 |
16 | Aswan UNiversity | Termination | 1500 | March 2020 |
17 | El Nahr El Khaled for ready-made garments, Port-Said | Termination | 150 | April 2020 |
18 | Small projects (58 factories) Southern Port-Said | Termination | 200-3000 | April & May 2020 |
19 | Embi for ready-made garments | Termination | 550 | April 2020 |
20 | Orgello for Clothes, Ismailia | Unpaid vacations | 3000 | April 2020 |
21 | New Line Back for cartions, Sadat city | Unpaid additional working hours, no preventive measures, and shifts merged | 500 | May 2020 |
22 | Abu El Nasr for cartons in Menoufia | No preventive measures and unpaid open-ended vacations | 300 | March 2020 |
23 | Notre Dame School in Aswan | Terminati25on | 80 | March 2020 |
24 | Eemar for Entrepreneurship | Reduction of salaries and unpaid open-ended vacations | Not identified | April 2020 |
25 | Thulathia Laundry in Qalioub | Unpaid salaries for two consecutive months | Not identified | April |
26 | Cairo Cotton Center, Qalioub | Termination | 350 | May |
27 | Turkish Company for weaving and Spinning, Damietta | Unpaid additional working hours and no preventive measures | Not identified | May |
28 | Gebril Factory for underwear, El Amiria | Termination | 50 | May |
29 | Zamalek Sporting Club | Unpaid salaries in March and Ramadan bonus | Not identified | April |
30 | Gezira Youth Center | Termination | Not identified | May |
31 | Metco for ready-made costunes, Port-Said | Reduction of salaries and unpaid open-ended leaves | 1000 | May |
32 | Uber Technologies | Termination | 3700 | May |
33 | Ghabbour for cars | Termination and reduction of salaries | 200 | May |
34 | Agha City Council, Daqahlia | Late disbursement of salaries consecutive months | 367 | June |
35 | High Tech for textiles, Alexandria | Salaries reduced by 50% | 150 | June |
36 | Regina Bak for cartons, Sadat city | No preventive measures | 1000 | June |
37 | Meedo for Paintings, Alexandria | Termination and reduction of salaries | 900 | June |
38 | TC for clothes, Obour city | Deduction of Feast holidays and unpaid overtime | 4500 | August |
TABLE II: MONITORED CASES OF PROTEST ACTIONS IN COMPANIES
Name of Company | Reason of protest | Nbr of protesters | Date in 2020 | Type of protest |
---|---|---|---|---|
El Nil for Isolation Products | Unpaid dues and delayed incentives | 300 | June | Strike |
Sasco for stationary | Factory closed & workers requested to sign resignation without receiving end of service bonus | 65 | May | Sit-in |
El Watania for iron industries | Unpaid incentives, dues from the complementary fund, and trade union members stopped from work | Exact number couldn't be identified | May | Sit-in |
TC for ready-made garments | Deduction of Feast holidays from salaries and increased working hours | 4500 | August | Strike and assembly |
Misr for weaving and spinning, Shebin El Kom | Abolition of Feast bonuses and health benefits | 3000 | September | Assembly and partial strike |
Sitcor for weaving and spinning, Alexandria | Lockdown and liquidation without disbursing workers' financial dues for previous years | 300 | June | Sit-in |
Investment for ready-made garments, Ismailia | Not conforming with prime-minister decision of distancing and reducing number of workers present together | 4500 | March | Strike |
Nasr and Fath Garages of the Authority of General Transport | Reducing bonuses on revenues by 25% | 1000 | March | Strike |
Cement National Company | Undisbursed dues of workers for liquidation | 900 | August | Addressing protest memo to prime-minister |
Thulathia Laundry | Undisbursement of salaries | Not identified | April | Strike |
Giza Four Seasons | Reduction of salaries | Not identified | May | Sit-in |
Workers in Hurgada touristic enterprises | Exemption of benefitting from the emergency fund | 800 | May | Sending memo for aid to the President of the Republic |
Marina Beach Hotel, Hurgada | Workers compelled to resign | Not identified May | Complaint to Red Sea governor |
|
Note: The two previous tables include only the companies we were able to ensure the veracity of their information provided through direct contact with workers.
# | Place of injury | Type of injury By month in 2020 | Number of Injuries | Measures observed |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ready-made garments Factory, Kafr El Dawar | Infections April | 2 | Lockdown and 14 days of home isolation |
2 | Enbi Petroleum, Cairo | Infections March | 1 | Leave to the infected worker |
3 | Nestle, Cairo | Decease from infection April | 1 | Lockdown of dry food factory for sterilization and tests for colleagues in close contact |
4 | Lecico Misr in Borg El Arab, Alexandria | Infections April | 2 | Lockdown and 14 days of leave for workers |
5 | Nile Linen Group, Alexandria | Infections April | 2 | Closure of a department 14 days; company was totally locked down four days previously with the 1st case of contamination |
6 | Belle Egypte La Vache qui Rit, 10th of Ramadan | Infections April | 12 | Lockdown and isolation leave and referral of injured to quarantine hospitals |
7 | Ceramic Omega, 10th of Ramadan | Infections April | More than one worker | 14 days of leave for all workers |
8 | Othman for underwear, Mehalla El Kobra | Infections April | 1 | Lockdown fourteen days |
9 | Carrefour, Dandy Mall | Infections April | 1 | Worker granted vacation, work pursued |
10 | Egypt Foods, Menoufia | Decease from infection March | 1 | Closure of the factory three days for sterilization and people in contact granted 14 days-off |
11 | Girga for sugar, Suhag | Infections April | 1 | Workers granted seven days leave |
12 | Electric wires, Port-Said | Infections April | 1 | Closure fourteen days |
13 | Butagazco, Suhag | Infections May | 1 | Only persons in contact given 14 days-off |
14 | El Samouli, Mehalla El Kobra | Infections May | 8 | Lockdown fourteen days by health office decision |
15 | High Fashion for ready-made clothes, Port-Said | Infections May | 1 | Infected worker granted 14 days-off and tests for interacting colleagues |
16 | Turkish for ready-made clothes, Port-Said | Infections May | 1 | Infected worker granted 14 days-off and tests for interacting colleagues |
17 | Ready-made clothes, Mehalla El Kobra | Infections May | 1 | Closure fourteen days by governor's decree |
18 | Electric Engineering, Berket El Sabaa, Menoufia | Infections May | 2 | Contaminated workers given 14 days-off and closure of the publice services hall |
19 | Misr for weaving and spinning, Mehalla El Kobra | Deceased from contamination May | 1 | Administration contented itself with the Feast holidays that was simultaneous with the case of death |
20 | Misr for weaving and spinning, Mehalla El Kobra | Infections May | 1 | The director of security was confined at home |
21 | Shamaadan for Food industries | Infections May | 5 | Contaminated transferred to quarantine hospitals, factory occupied only by workers of sterilization and preventive measures reinforced |
22 | Egyptian for subway operationalization | Infections May | 1 | Contaminated worker given fourteen days-off with sterilization of offices and improving preventive measures |
23 | City council of Kom Hamada, Beheira | Infections May | 1 | Woman worker granted fourteen days-off and transferred to quarantine hospital |
24 | Collting for ready-made garments, Port-Said | Infections May | 1 | Lockdown fourteen days and transfer of the contaminated to quarantine hospital |
25 | Pharaonia for petroleum derivatives | Infections May | 1 | Lockdown fourteen days and isolation of the contaminated |
26 | Leoni Wiring Systems, Cairo | Infections May | 1 | Worker and in contact colleagues granted fourteen days of isolation, sterilization of the maintenance workshop |
27 | Costel, Port-Said | Infections May | More than one | Closure and fourteen days-off |
28 | Nile Linen Group, Alexandria | Infections June | 5 | Contaminated workers and twenty contact colleagues granted fourteen days for isolation |
29 | Indian Filosti Abalrez for clothes, Ismailia | Infections June | 4 | Fourteen days-off for contaminated workers |
30 | Empi for ready-made garments, Ismailia | Infections June | 7 | Contaminated isolated at home |
31 | Mondlize Egypt (Cadburry), A;exandria | Infections | 3 July | Contaminated isolated and implementation of preventive measures |
Data and figures included in Table I indicate that the types of violations were as follows:
Table II indicates the following reasons of protest:
Table III shows that only in the monitored sample there were over 67 people contaminated inside factories and companies and two cases of death; measures adopted include the closure of fourteen factories and granting fourteen days-off to workers, nine enterprises gave only the infected worker fourteen days-off for isolation, five companies gave fourteen days-off to the contaminated only without closing; thus most companies contented themselves with the fourteen days-off. Only six companies responded to the need of sterilization in order to pursue production after isolating the infected worker.
All indicators stated above confirm that we are going through a concrete severe crisis directly affecting the socio-economic status of workers; they also explain that the price paid by the most marginalized and poor was the highest and cannot be compared to the status of business owners despite their loss of benefits in some sectors; it is definite that the figures and types of violations monitored here clearly show that important numbers of workers lost basic means of living after being fired.
This in turn confirms the total absence of social responsibility by the private sector, a concept that should have been highly valued during the crisis until the present moment; actually, all published information indicate that violations are still occurring, especially in the sectors suffering from the pandemic damages; consequently, there is need to develop rigorous solutions through a comprehensive plan and a set of new policies to overcome the crisis with minimum losses while avoiding negative practices and decisions that led to workers and their families deteriorated socio-economic conditions.
The previous analysis of the crisis and its socio-economic repercussions indicates that this time things were different from other crises; in 2008, the crisis had a financial nature impacting some economic sectors; but today, we are facing a human and health crisis reflected in the economic sectors. Despite the commonalities between the two and the huge damages caused in both cases, they hold big differences; accordingly, we considered that the priorities now should be geared towards the elaboration of economic policies together with the reform of the health system to be addressing the protection of all citizens, including the marginalized and the poor. Focus should also go to legislations regulating work relations. The present crisis obviously proved the imperative need of cooperation between State institutions and the civil society with all its variations; this is particularly true when we witnessed their social efforts and initiatives representing an important factor in surmounting the crisis and its consequences; therefore, it is necessary to adopt new political methods seeking to prioritize projects ensuring the protection of poor, limiting unemployment, and safeguarding the professional security of workers as well as applying fair work standards to everybody without discrimination.
This is the vision we are attempting to support in order to guarantee stability and security for all social classes; it requires rapid policies and solutions for the benefit of all working sectors. We separately mention here the public and private sectors of pharmaceutical companies that proved readiness of facing the crisis by easily providing the necessary medicines; accordingly, we confirm the necessity of protecting this sector and developing it in the future. On the other hand, the weakness of the State institutional apparatus appeared clearly in addition to the weak policies adopted for the benefit of workers at social, economic and health levels; this requires prompt adoption of solutions to be implemented through a future operational plan concerned with present and post-crisis periods, especially that predictions indicate probable occurrence of a new wave for the virus taken into account from now by several governments worldwide.
The current crisis unveiled the defects in legislations related to working relations and the lack of professional security for workers; therefore, we recommend to:
After the crisis ends, follow-up should be pursued to build on the already acquired benefits:
Annex I: Guidebook for the teams of monitoring and documentation
Teams of monitoring and documentation relied in conducting the present work on a guidebook developed by CTUWS central team that included a set of precise criteria; work was composed of three main levels of activities for data collection, verification and revision:
Main criteria for the process of monitoring
In the context of these criteria, monitoring sub-teams conducted their work that was consecutively sent to CTUWS central team which they scrutinized, raised some clarification questions, or refuted some information failing to meet agreed upon criteria.