The revolution in Egypt came as a lifeline for many workers who endured more than 30 years of a tyrannical regime and a decline in economic and social conditions. Egyptian workers played a major role in the revolution in an attempt to fight against the constant violation of core labour rights and to improve their poor economic conditions, after the closure of many factories.

Since the 1990s, governments have carried out a series of damaging economic policies based on privatisation that has led to the layoff of tens of thousands of workers in privatised factories and companies.

However, even before the first riots in January 2011, workers had organised strikes and demonstrations to put pressure on the government and on state-owned companies asking for wage increases.

Until last year the minimum monthly wage was about US$25. The government raised it to US$67 but this led to wider protests for a living minimum wage of US$200. The government took nine months to reach the compromise of US$115.

Also in the 18 months after the revolution, Egypt has witnessed heavy and frequent protests, the most intense in the national history of labour movements.

There have been over 2000 strikes, nearly four times the number of protests held in 2010. The majority of demonstrations were about low salaries, about the absence of free trade unions and about the lack of any social dialogue. Two sectors in particular have experienced such mass actions: the textile and garment industry and public transport.

The workers’ demands

“Workers in the public transport have been denied their rights for decades, so we staged three big demonstrations, from September 2011 to March 2012. The strikes were about low salaries and the lack of social security,” says Tarek El Behiry, a public transport worker and a member of the newly-established Egyptian Independent Trade Union.

El Behiry claims that they could not find any support from the official trade union, even if the labour movement has been so active during the revolution. “The main objective of these strikes and sit-ins is to obtain rights and freedoms, in particular freedom of association,” he adds.

Actually, it was Ahmed El-Borai, Minister of Manpower and Migration during the first post-revolution government, who committed himself to guaranteeing trade union rights for Egyptian workers, in accordance with core International Labour Organization (ILO) labour standards. “Freedom of association can help to create the environment for collective bargaining between the employers and the workers,” he said.

“The actual problem now is that the Egyptian workers don’t have any democratic channels to express their legitimate demands”.

El Borai saw the implementation of Convention 87, which was ratified in 1957 but was never applied, as a necessary step to improve the conditions of Egyptian workers. Last year, new trade unions were established in over 800 companies. However, the dissolution of parliament in prevented the adoption of the law.

Now, workers like El Behiry hope that with the election of a new president the situation will be more stable and Egypt would begin a new phase now.

Jobs and growth

One of the most negative outcomes of the past regime was unemployment. The national statistics say that in June 2012 it was up to 12.6 per cent, while the ILO estimate is up to 18 per cent and some international expert estimates about 24 per cent. The reason for this difference is the lack of accurate government statistics on the labour market.

And yet, official reports from the government confirm that Egypt has the economic potential to employ a massive number of workers. But still, the country imports its low-paid labour-force from abroad, mainly from south-east Asia.

After the revolution, tourism was badly affected by unemployment, which increased to 30 per cent. As for the textile industry, this has fallen significantly, as a result of the privatisation policies. The production decreased about 60 per cent and more than 1500 factories were closed in the last year.

The World Bank asked the new Egyptian leadership to create the right environment for investment by continuing structural reforms and reducing disparities in living standards to curb the economic downturn. Also, the WB invited Egypt to support employment opportunities, to increase the growth rate, to improve the business climate and support direct foreign investment flows.

Estimates say that Egypt is expected to achieve a growth rate of 2.5 percent in 2012 and 3.5 percent in 2013, and the sectors that could grow faster, given a more stable political situation, and inject new investments, would be the textile industry, tourism, mining and technology.

In reply to the workers’ demands to reform the economy and to improve their conditions, Mohamed Morsi said he has two plans to tackle unemployment.

In the short term, a national fund will be established to grant benefits to the unemployed. Also, some financial support and training will be provided for the small and medium enterprises that will hire workers in the most strategic sectors.

As for the long term, the old policy of privatisation will be reconsidered while successful public initiatives will be maintained. The new executive has said it will also work to attract foreign investment and to eliminate obstacles for private businesses, as well as to promote better health services and public education. In particular, it is hoped that new opportunities will be created for larger numbers of graduates by investing in more vocational training programmes.