It is issue no. (36) of the economic and social rights series issued by LCHR about labourers’ protests in Egypt in the second half of 2004. This issue comes with the busyness of the public opinion with the democratic and social reform initiatives and the absence of interest with the cases, demands and protests of the producers in defense of their rights in adequate working chances, and the Center hopes to put the reports’ recommendations and the labourers’ demands in Egypt within the governments’ priorities, in concern with the lives of millions of workers and producers in Egypt and their rights in adequate work and decent life.
In the First section: the report undertakes “the conditions of the rights to work in Egypt” which show the increase of the unemployment rates that have reached in this year 10.8% of the total labour force in Egypt, it also shows that the early pension policies in 1997 have led to the displacement of 300 thousand workers and 450 thousand workers in the year 2000, these policies have led to the eviction of more than 100 thousand workers between the years 2000 – 2004, as about 110 companies have been offered for sale between the years 2000 – 2001 and non of them were sold, the government has also offered 58 companies for sale in the past 4 years and non of them also were sold. But the report confirms that since the beginning of the privatization program and till now, 193 companies and factories were sold, and that the upcoming period will witness offering more than 41 companies and factories for sale in addition to companies submitted under the law no. 159 for the year 1981 that have been previously privatized. The report also undertakes the emergence of the (unofficial sector) phenomenon that has started growing with increasing rates, as it contributes with about 33% - 50% of the total national production, its’ employment size is estimated with about 6.9 million people opposite to 5.1 million people in the public sector and 5.3 million people in the government sector in addition to 900 thousand people working in projects owned to the government. The number of working children in the deferent sectors has increased to be more than 3.5 million working children in addition to their law wages and inhumane working conditions, as the report confirmed that 52% of these working children get infected with diseases, 12% of them don’t join schools and 30% of them get infected with liver diseases.
The Second section: shows that the size of protests in 2004 has reached 267 protests in the three sectors (private – public business – governmental), labourers protests in the governmental institutions sector were the highest as they reached 126 protests, then the public business sector with 74 protests and then the private sector with 67 protests. The report shows that the number of protests in the second half of 2004 in the three sectors has reached 193 protests, 102 protests in the governmental institutions sector, 46 protests in the private sector and 45 protests in the public business sector. The forms of labour protests have varied in the three sectors in the second half of 2004, as there were: 58 sit-ins, 32 strikes, 62 gatherings and 41 demonstrations. The protests of each sector have varied during the period covered by the report, as the government sector witnessed 19 demonstrations with 20 strikes, 35 sit-ins and 28 gatherings made by workers in Egypt. About the reasons that pushed labourers to organize such protests in the governmental sector during the past 6 months, there were non-payment of labourers’ dues (23 protests), forced layoff (19 protests), forced transferring (13 protests), non-settlement of employment and renewing contracts (12 protests), non-appointment (4 protests), dissolution (liquidation) of the company or factory or deprivation of rights (3 protests), hiring people with unequal qualifications, stopping from going to work, transfer for interrogation (questioning) and interfering by some of the officials and people with influence (2 protests), and finally violations, not receiving meals, stopping decisions, reducing salaries, threatening with imprisonment, refusal of giving work, forced work in unspecialized working fields, conspiracy by the administration against the workers, eviction from housing, turning permanent workers into temporary workers, deprivation of the holidays consideration, deterioration of work conditions, removal of rented working areas, small salaries, distributing data, merging divisions and firing workers (one protest).
In the Third section: the report shows that the public business sector during the second half of 2004, has witnessed 45 protests with 18 gatherings, 10 sit-ins, 6 strikes and 11 demonstrations. About the reasons that pushed labourers to organize such protests in the public business sector during the period covered by the report, there were non-payment of labourers’ dues (24 protests), forced layoff (5 protests), stopping the promotion, forced early pension and arbitrary administrational decisions (2 protests), beating, eviction from housing, arbitrary transferring, pressuring to move away, not settling employment, bad management, not paying the bonuses and profits, not paying the insurance dues, threatening to be fired, wasting labourers rights and forcing them to pay compensation money for the company losses (one protest).
The Fourth section: shows that there are 46 labour protests in the private sector in the second half of 2004, that vary between 13 sit-ins, 6 strikes, 16 gatherings and 11 demonstrations. About the reasons that pushed labourers to organize such protests in the private sector, there were non-payment of labourers’ dues and forced layoff (18 protests), not settling employment, there weren’t any health insurance, accusation of stealing, closure of a factory, filing police reports for occupying (taking up) space, humiliation, beating, the increase of the transportation tariff, refusal of extracting licensees for a factory, forced early pension and eviction from the administrational housing (one protest). October has witnessed the highest rates of protests, as there were 44 protests varied as 14 gatherings, 11 demonstrations, 4 strikes and 15 sit-ins by labourers. The lowest protest rates were in July that witnessed 14 protests, varied between 3 strikes, 2 sit-ins, 5 gatherings and 4 demonstrations.
The Fifth section: presents some important results, shown as follows:
Labourers along with the rest of the poor people and producers in Egypt, carry the burden of the fierce economic crisis and the free market policies, which weakened and decreased fees and incomes, at the same time of increasing the prices of goods and basic services.
Labourers protests have increased in deferent forms (strikes, sit-ins and peaceful demonstrations) to reach the total of 743 protests between 1998 – 2003, the year 2004 has witnessed the biggest number of labour protests of the past 7 years, as it witnessed 267 protests.
The number of dead and injured working children has increased as a result of road accidents from/to work, in addition to the increase of accidents at work.
The weakness of the Egyptian syndicate movement has contributed in increasing violations committed against labourers, as the report shows that the weakness of the syndicate organization is because of not being independent, being dominated by the government who interferes in its’ affairs and there is no democracy in electing its’ members till the public union in the majority of the labour basis became a platform for to express the government more than expressing the labourers.
In the Last section: the report presents some recommendations to improve the conditions of producers and labourers in Egypt, shown as follows:
Allowing labourers to practice their rights in peaceful striking and gathering and canceling the law no. 2 for the year 1977 that punishes all of those who strike against work and sit-ins with penal servitude for 25 years, and modifying the text of clause no. 198 in the labour law no. 12 for the removal of forbidding the practice of this right.
Modifying the law of the labour syndicates by giving labourers the right to form independent and several syndicates for themselves away from the unified syndicates to enable them to defend their lawful rights peacefully, force the public and private companies to pay the social insurances for labourers, creating a mechanism to guarantee monitoring the implementation of this process by the specialized institutions, obligating the government not to speculate with the social insurance money and not using it in care for the lives of millions who paid this money from their efforts.
Guaranteeing labourers rights in receiving their due fees and bonuses under any circumstances, and paying the salaries in time by using suitable mechanisms and methods in care for the lives of the millions of the labourers children and protecting them from vagrancy.
Stop the policies of arbitrary firing and transfer of labourers in preparation of factories dissolution or selling them to the private sector.
Connecting fees with prices, eliminating clauses that connect bonuses with the financial condition of the company and raising the minimum rate of fees from 7% to 15% to escort the price increase and the decrease of the value of the Egyptian currency.
Hiring temporary employment, give them sufficient guarantees for a stable and safe work and guarantee their other working rights either in governmental institutions, the business or the private sector.
Stopping the interfering of some security institutions that intimidate labourers and pressure them when they express their fair demands for fees and bonuses or when using the means of sitting-in and striking.
Making the necessary procedures by the officials (the minister of justice, the minister of the working force and the labourers union) to reconsider the procedures of processing lawsuits and labour divisions in courts that process the labour cases to solve the problems of the slow judicial procedures in most of the Egyptian courts till the government eliminates the texts (70 – 71) of the working law no. 12 for the year 2003 because of its unconstitutionality and violating citizens rights in guaranteeing their rights in litigation in front of fair and independent judicial authorities.
Finally, we present this report to all labourers with fees, committee and syndicate members, labour bonds, foundations and all of thos interested with the conditions of labourers rights in Egypt, and to all of the local council members (people's council, state consultative council, the local councils) and the Egyptian parties to execute the reports’ recommendations for the protection of the labourers and producers rights and supporting their demands for adequate working chances and a decent life.