Michaela Singer reports:
Employees and union members of a bank and a holding company staged a double demonstration on Sunday outside the parliament to protest against what they described as “prejudice” and “persecutory” behavior taken against them by their respective work officials.
Muhammad Abdel Hamid, an employee of the Masraf United Bank and a member of the Bankers Union, told Daily News Egypt, “I am here to present my complaints to Members of Parliament. The Union has frozen my membership because I dared to take up workers’ demands.”
In a written statement to the PA, Abdel Hamid has accused the union board of conspiring with the General Union of Banks to prevent employees’ rights from being implemented, including the annual salary increase mandated by a 1987 law, which was later ratified in 2006.
Workers from the contracting company Atlas were also present to deliver their complaints. Yasser Muhammad Yassin, who has worked for Atlas Holding Company for 14 years, told Daily News Egypt, “I have been discriminated against because I took workers demands to the authorities. I have a Masters degree in business, and was an accounting advisor [for the warehouses], and after I complained they demoted me to accounts secretary and denied me my annual raise.
“My colleague, Hussein Sorour, who is here with me today, was moved to the Alexandria branch because he took my side.”
In a written statement previously presented to the Atlas General Union, workers demanded full insurance and pension funds as well as paid holidays, travel expenses and over-time pay of 100 percent rather than the current 40 percent. They also demanded the holding company to implement a system for an annual wage raise.
Standing with them was MP Muhammad Abdel Aziz Shabaan, who promised the employees that he would present their cases to the PA to ensure action is taken.
“We will have to study their demands and find out what is relevant and what is not. The assembly will hopefully meet next week to discuss these affairs among the issue of wages in general,” he said.
“However, what I can say now is that the labor unions are in a poor state, and are no longer active. There are some real leaders in companies and factories, but when they try to act on behalf of their colleagues they are inevitably persecuted by officials.”
