From the Daily Star Egypt:
Journalists at Al Badeel newspaper staged a sit-in at the Press Syndicate Saturday demanding membership.
According to Al Badeel journalists, the newspaper’s administration presented the papers of both the newspaper and its employees well before the deadline at the end of February, when they found out that new syndicate board, elected in November 2007, had changed the admissions criteria.
The changes stipulate that newspapers had to be running for a year to be recognized by the syndicate and for journalists to receive membership.
In a written statement released to the press, Al Badeel journalists claimed they were victims of “a settlement of accounts” by syndicate board leaders, which has deprived them of membership.
“We were shocked by fabricated and unjustified hurdles when our application to join the syndicate was rejected … at first their pretext was that the paper had not presented sufficient financial and administrative details concerning the journalists. The paper immediately responded saying that these details were pending approval by the workers office and on completion a copy would be immediately provided to the syndicate … the syndicate then came up with the excuse that the paper has not yet been running for a full year, but this was not one of the stipulations given to the newspaper,” the statement read.
Many of the journalists believe that the current syndicate chief, Makram Muhammad Ahmad had “engineered” events to prevent their admission into the syndicate.
UPDATE: Some pix taken by Muhammad Ali Eddin.
I have a few questions about the Journalist Syndicate here in Egypt. First, don’t members receive supplemental income as a member? And doesn’t the money paid out by the syndicate come from the government? And then doesn’t this in effect mean journalists receive income from the government? Also, is it true that a journalist must make a minimum of 200 LE salary per month to gain admission, and that this is a barrier to entry for many since salaries are so low?
The journalists, who have syndicate membership, receive indeed supplemental income from the syndicate. The source of the syndicate’s money is not only the govt, but also membership fees, money from publishers, among others. The publishers were allowed into the syndicate from its start. This meant that both labor and management were together in the same association, which defies the whole menaing of a labor union or a syndicate. But having the publishers and board chairmen of newspapers meant also more money could be secured to the syndicate, in exchange for restricting those who are unionized. The pre-condition for joining the syndicate is that you have a contract from a publication. Most journalists work for 5 years before they get instated. So they stay with those low salaries for years, under the mercy of the “generousity” of the publisher (who is also a member of the syndicate) re when he/she will grant them the contracts needed for applying to the syndicate.