ILO must support Egyptian workers’ fight for freedom

News

 

If the conviction of 43 NGO activists in Egypt was considered outrageous by the international community last week, little attention has been paid to what the workers are facing under the regime of President Mohamed Morsi.

The NGO activists were accused of operating illegally and of using foreign funds to foment unrest in Egypt. They were tried in absentia and condemned to up to five years in prison. Most of them have already left the country but the case has drawn the attention of the international media and US diplomacy, in part because there were 16 Americans amongst them.

But for the many unknown Egyptian workers who try to organise, to claim better rights and conditions, the response by the security forces is much harsher and it is seldom covered by the mainstream media.

This Thursday, the issue of freedom of association in Egypt will be discussed at the ILO in Geneva, and this might represent a good opportunity to shed light on the many violations of labour rights that have gone on for too long in the country, before and after the revolution.

The number of protests has doubled since Morsi was elected in June 2012 and around 650 workers have been dismissed for union activities.

There’s been a long list of anti-union attacks, from nurses to taxi drivers, from teachers to electricity and dockworkers. In most cases, the demands came from the new independent trade unions, still not officially recognised by the government.

Last September, seven nurses employed at the Zagazig University Hospital were arrested for having called a strike after wage negotiations with the hospital’s director failed.

The three teachers, Baheya Yassin, Abdel Latiff Mahmoud and Ayman El Beyaly, were referred to a disciplinary court for participating in a massive teachers’ strike in September.

Over 5000 education and academic employees had gathered in Cairo for a day of action, demanding an increase of teachers’ wages to a minimum of 3,000 Egyptian pounds (about 400 US dollars) – three times the current average salary.

In addition, protestors also called for the removal of corrupt officers from the Ministry of Education, and permanent employment contracts for the precarious.

In October 2012, security forces arrested 14 taxi drivers who were demonstrating in front of the General Administration of Traffic to have lower taxes and fines.

This May in Cairo, the police brutally attacked protestors taking part in a peaceful sit-in in front of an electricity distribution company to demand the release of 17 workers who were arrested the previous week, in a demonstration against heavy pay cuts.

 

Interests behind the docks

The repression does not spare the transport sector, which is highly strategic in Egypt’s economy. The government aims to invest and develop projects in the Suez Canal region so to make Egypt an international transportations hub. No wonder that control over dock workers is so crucial.

In September, five workers from the Alexandria Container & Cargo Handling Company (ACCHC), a subcontractor at Egyptian sea ports, were accused of inciting a labour strike and sentenced to three years in jail.

Ahmed Sadek, Yousri Maaruf, Ashraf Ibrahim, Mohamed Abdel Moneim and Essam El-Din Mohamed Mabrouk have appealed the verdict and are now waiting for their court hearing later this month.

In March 2012, hundreds of dock workers had staged a strike demanding the removal of the company’s board of directors, suspected of corruption, and reclaiming the lease of the docks at the Alexandria port granted to Chinese and other foreign port-services companies.

The independent workers’ syndicate of the cargo company had already filed a complaint claiming that the leasing contract was “illegal” and would deprive the Egyptian Port Authority of millions of pounds in revenues, Al-Ahram newspaper reports.

“The public sector and ACCHC lost almost 41 per cent of its annual revenues due to the leasing contract after losing main navigation lines and operation terminals,” claims the Egyptian Democratic Labour Congress (EDLC), which includes over 271 independent labour unions.


Fake unions, big business

The recognition of organisations like EDLC and the new Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) is the only way out to this situation, which does not harm only the workers, but prevents any social dialogue and therefore any chance for socially sustainable development.

EFITU is a result of the protests started in Tahrir Square. It was formed a few days after the uprisings and it seems to represent a true, independent labour movement. The leaders are elected through a democratic and gender-balanced system.

Accoding to Fatma Ramadan, a founding member of EFITU, the new government is adopting the same economic policies as Mubarak, and violence is now considered the only way to prevent the rise of the labour movement.

Other leaders, like Rahma Refaat, a legal advisor at the EDLC, are fighting for the many workers excluded from any kind of social insurance. For example, the young women, aged 16 to 20, who work in the garment sector in very difficult conditions for 12 hours a day and with monthly salaries of 200 Egyptian pounds (about 30 US dollars).

Although Egypt ratified the core ILO conventions on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining in the mid-1950s, free unions are still banned and there is still no actual alternative to the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF).

Any attempt to implement freedom of association has so far failed. The former Labour Minister, the academic Ahmed Borai, resigned in late 2011 after the transitional military-led government refused to grant legal recognition to independent unions.

However, behind the denial of core labour rights there are broader economic reasons.

According to a detailed analysis by Bloomberg, among the factors that contributed to Egypt’s growth before the 2008 crisis and to foreign investments from the US, Europe and the Persian Gulf, twas the total docility of the state union, along with a policy of low wages and scarce social protections.

 

The camels of ETUF

The ETUF leadership was docile only with the government and with big economic powers, though.

A former leader of this union, Ismail Fahmy, has been on trial for his role in the so-called “Battle of the Camel”, occurred in February 2011.

This was a deliberate assault on protesters, in which supporters of Mubarak charged violently into a sit-in in Tahrir Square on camels and horses, leaving nearly twelve people dead.

Last month Egypt’s high court refused an appeal by prosecutors over the trial. The defendants were found innocent on charges of manslaughter and attempted murder. “Families of the victims reacted angrily at the appeals court decision, which is final and cannot be retried,” reported Al Jazeera.

In the attempt to show its reformist will, Morsi has replaced some of the old union apparatus appointing new, younger officers. Mubarak-era ETUF President Ahmad ‘Abd al-Zahir was replaced by al-Gibali al-Maraghi.

“On December 24 [2012], President Morsi appointed al-Maraghi to the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament, which many suspect was a reward for working with the Brotherhood,” reports Sada, a webzine on political reforms in the Arab world.

Other union officers are still in charge and are believed to have strong ties with the security forces. This allows them to keep tight control over workers and dissidents.

“The ETUF is illegitimate and must be disbanded because its membership is compulsory — contrary to the rules of syndicates — its elections were proven to be forged by court rulings and [its officials] participated in actions against the revolution,” said Kamal Abbas, another Egyptian veteran activist for Democracy at Work.

Unless significant support comes from the international labour community – meaning the International Labour Organisation and the International Trade Union Confederation, with open condemnation of labour rights violations and criticism of the state union leadership, things will go on as usual in Egypt.

ETUF will keep drawing dues from millions of workers’ salaries. On the contrary, the independent unions will not be able to get any employer to deduct dues, and therefore will be unable to survive.

The ILO conference this week might represent the very occasion for change that Egyptian workers have waited for too long.

 

(Deena Gamil contributed to this report).