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Egypt labour unrest: late October updates
Real estate news By Khawaga
October 25th, 2007
Egypt’s workers’ unrest is continuing unabated. According to the Egyptian Workers and Trade Union Watch (EWTUW) there have been a total of 580 industrial actions in the period January- September. Almost every month sees an increase in workers’ actions: from around 20 in early 2007 to the peak of 100 and 94 actions in August and September respectively. The number of workers participating and threatening to join in strikes is also on the rise, and the unrest has also spread geographically. In all of 2006 the Land Centre for Human Right documented a total of 222 strikes, which was a significant increase in workers' unrest from 2005.
On Sunday 21st 55,000 real estate tax officers started a strike, demanding improvement in work condition to be on par with their counterparts in other government civil service sectors. In effect the strike started right after the Eid holidays through work stoppages; there was a 90 percent drop in tax collection activity. The geographical scale of the strike is significant as it will include provinces from Upper (South) and Lower (North) Egypt. The real estate tax officers are employed by the local councils and receive only one-fourth of the monthly salary (LE 1200/$216, including bonuses) of their colleagues at the Ministry of Finance.
Approximately 3000 strikers from Cairo, Giza, Fayoum, Monofiye, Beni Sueif, Menya, Daqahlia and Beheria gathered outside the Ministry of Finance and chanted slogans against Fianance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and Islamil Abdel Rasul, head of the Real Estate Tax Administration. There are rumours that the government will solve the tax collectors problems by December 1st, though this has not stopped the strike and strike organizers have promised that no taxes will be collected until that date. If demands are not met by then the tax collectors will launch another round of protests.
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