2015 ITUC Global Rights Index - Egypt

2015 ITUC Global Rights Index Rating: 5

Four arrested for going on strike:

On 10 April 2014, security forces arrested four Gas Company workers in Alexandria in an attempt to intimidate them into ending their strike. Workers at the company had begun the strike one month earlier in protest at the liquidation of the company owned by the Al Kharafy Group. Negotiations between the company management and workers' representatives had broken down the previous day. Security forces went to the workers' homes in order to arrest Mohammed Saleh, Mohammed Abdel-Rahman, Ahmed Adel and Al Saied Al Semman. The company filed complaints against the protesting workers accusing them of inciting a strike and interrupting workflow. The prosecutor released all four that night.

Reprisals for strike action:

Five workers were arbitrarily transferred to different production units by the Egyptian Coke Company on 27 April 2014 for their role in organising a strike. The five concerned were Ayman Sobhi, Ahmed Kassem, Ashraf Mohamed Hassan, Essam Mohamed Hassan and Tharwat Abo Amr. The Prime Minister has intervened on their behalf and the transferred workers were returned to their original positions. However they had five days salary deducted from their pay packet, and were denied the 7% pay rise.

Attempted assassination of union leader:

Mohamed Omar, a union leader at the Iron and Steel Company, suffered serious injuries in an assassination attempt on 4 May 2014. At eight o'clock in the morning Mohammed Omar was on his way to the workshop where he worked when he was attacked by two masked men who struck him on the head with an iron bar and left on an unmarked motorcycle. Colleagues took him to hospital where he remained unconscious for several hours.

Mohamed Omar was in the company's sights after he had led a strike in December 2013. On 22 January he submitted a report to the General Prosecutor accusing Mohamed Saad Negeda, the company Chairman, of bad management and corruption, losing 92% of its capital. He also called on his colleagues to form an independent union.

Arrested for organising a strike for failure to implement collective agreement:

Three workers from the Cristal Asfoor Company were detained on 19 May and interrogated at the Subra police station for inciting for a strike. Ahmed Gaber, Hassan Abdel Latif, and Al Sayed Zaki were arrested following a strike at the company's factories in Shubra Al Khema, and Bahteem. The strike was called to demand implementation of the collective agreement and protest at the termination of thousands employees. The company had lost a lot of money through bad management and corruption.

16 suspended over two-hour stoppage:

On 3 June, the National Co of Steel of Port Said, a member of the Al Masren Steel Group, suspended 16 workers. The company's 500 workers had demanded payment of their 2013 bonus, due in March 2014, but not yet paid. The workers went on strike for two hours to press for their demands, and in response management called in the police. The company then agreed to negotiate with worker's representatives. However, management then decided to suspend 16 workers including members of the Executive Council of the independent union, namely Mohamed Rashad Taha, President, Montaser Anwar, Secretary General, Mahmoud Moustafa, Treasurer, Mahmoud Gaber, Mohamed Ahmed and Moawad Ibraheem.

The ITUC Global Rights Index Ratings:

1 // Irregular violation of rights
Collective labour rights are generally guaranteed. Workers can freely associate and defend their rights collectively with the government and/or companies and can improve their working conditions through collective bargaining. Violations against workers are not absent but do not occur on a regular basis.

2 // Repeated violation of rights
Countries with a rating of 2 have slightly weaker collective labour rights than those with the rating 1. Certain rights have come under repeated attacks by governments and/or companies and have undermined the struggle for better working conditions.

3 // Regular violation of rights
Governments and/or companies are regularly interfering in collective labour rights or are failing to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are deficiencies in laws and/or certain practices which make frequent violations possible.

4 // Systematic violation of rights
Workers in countries with the rating 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under threat.

5 // No guarantee of rights
Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.

5+ // No guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law
Workers in countries with the rating 5+ have equally limited rights as countries with the rating 5. However, in countries with the rating 5+ this is linked to dysfunctional institutions as a result of internal conflict and/or military occupation. In such cases, the country is assigned the rating of 5+ by default.