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Who will protect workers’ rights in this country?
Hundreds of thousands of workers’ complaints and lawsuits are being discussed and deliberated before the Egyptian courts and quintuplet committees for several years now, as farmers are demanding their rights since the issuance of the a decision by the supreme constitutional court no. 26/27 judicial with the unconstitutionality of articles no. 71 and 72 of the labor law no. 12 for the year 2003 amended by law no. 90 for the year 2005.
The labor law no. 12 for the year 2003 has canceled the labor complaints concerning salaries from being deliberated before the summary proceedings judiciary and substituted the tripartite committee with the quintuplet committee that required the necessity of the attendance of all of its members, which rarely happened leading to the postponement of the labor cases for long periods, which have made the legislator exchange unanimously with majority.
The LCHR and many other foundations and committees presented some remarks regarding the draft of the labor law before the People’s Assembly as follows:
The draft law canceled the guarantee of not firing workers before being presented before the tripartite committee, and giving the quintuplet committee a judicial authority although it is formed without any judges.
• The quintuplet committee doesn’t have the power or authority to return the fired worker to his work if it saw that he was arbitrary fired, it can only estimate the necessary compensation for the worker. While the legislator should have gave this committee the authority to obligate the work owner to rehire the arbitrary fired worker.
• The law also made the worker bear all the judiciary expenses of filing a lawsuit or challenge before the appeal court.
Despite all these defects, the People’s Assembly has approved the issuance of this law in a clear violation to workers’ rights. The LCHR wonders, why would the government push workers towards despair from achieving their demands and obtaining their rights legally, forcing them to find their rights with different ways?
LCHR demands the People’s Assembly to quickly form a committee with the Ministries of Manpower and Justice to issue ministerial decisions that apply with the labor law and the International Labor Organization agreements to protect the rights of fired workers especially after the issuance of a decision by the supreme constitutional courts reconsidering the procedures of firing workers, quickly settling the labor cases deliberated before the quintuplet committees and compensating the workers for any disadvantages or detriments.
LCHR also calls all civil society organizations and Egyptian parties to defend workers’ rights and demands to equality, citizenship and decent living.
For more information, please contact the Center