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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Liberalising labour
By Gamal Essam El-DinIn a keynote speech before a joint session of the People's Assembly and Shura Council last November President Hosni Mubarak urged the government to submit to parliament a long-awaited labour bill aimed at regulating the relationship between workers and employers in a free market economy.
Acting on Mubarak's request, Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, in a meeting with leaders of the General Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions (GEFTU), emphasised that the government had readied itself to submit the law to parliament in its current session, which is the last before elections are held next November. Delivering his government's policy statement last December, Ebeid reaffirmed that the government will meet its promise that a Unified Labour Law will be submitted to the assembly to regulate, in a more balanced way, relations between employers and workers.
The government has long faced criticism by labour representatives, who say that discussion of the 270-article draft law in the People's Assembly has been deliberately delayed, even though the privatisation of public companies has been going ahead at full speed for the past seven years. Minister of Labour Ahmed El-Amawi, for his part, recently announced before parliament that the government had acted "only as a coordinator" between workers and businessmen in drafting the proposed bill. "The government just wanted to make sure that the draft bill regulating relations between employers and workers in a market economy is as balanced as possible," El-Amawi said.
According to reports circulating in parliament regarding the contents of the draft bill, the government is seeking to give employers the right to lay off workers, but proposes sanctioning strike action by workers as a counter-balance. Worker representatives, however, stress that while the draft gives employers broad prerogatives to dismiss workers and reduce their salaries, terminate contracts and close down businesses without any prior notice, it still imposes significant restrictions on labour rights, including the right to strike.
The above debate reflects one of the most controversial divisions between shop-floor and leftist union leaders and the business community over the draft bill. For trade unionists, lay offs should be excluded from the proposed law upon the grounds that it poses a serious threat to job stability in Egypt. For their part, employers object to any sanction of labour strikes.
Hussein El-Ibrashi, head of the legal committee of the Egyptian Businessmen's Association, believes that the new law is primarily aimed to relinquish government interference in the labour market. "The government should renounce the meaningless term 'social peace' that gives it an unwarranted right to exercise full control over labour relations," he said.
El-Ibrashi said he is aware that the draft law would face strong opposition from leftist trade unionists in parliament, "but they should know that in an era of fierce competition, government interference should give way to harmonious cooperation between employers and workers."
El-Ibrashi emphasises that the proposed labour law is a progressive step towards a market economy. "It is primarily based on the golden principles of reward and punishment and hire and fire. This represents an entire departure from work relations prevailing in Egypt over the last 30 years. These relations are the main reasons for dwindling labour productivity rates in this country. It emphasises freedom of choice of workers: the employer, fully responsible for the misconduct of his employees, cannot reasonably be denied the right to choose, supervise and direct," El-Ibrashi said.
On the other hand, however, leftist trade unionists protest that the law gives employers the means by which to easily reduce their work force and imposes a ban on six of labour's basic rights, including collecting donations and distributing publications. The law stipulates that employer approval must be secured prior to engaging in these activities. Also in the interest of employers, they assert, the law gives employers the right to close down their businesses if they face financial problems. Therefore, they added, workers could be fired as a result of financial and administrative problems for which they are not to blame.
GEFTU officials, however, insist that the draft law has gained the approval of most trade unionists. El-Sayed Rashed, GEFTU's chairman, said before parliament that the law is balanced. "It was even revised and approved by the Industrial Relations and Labour Administration sections of the ILO (International Labour Organisation) in Geneva," Rashed said.
Ahmed El-Boraie, a legislative expert entrusted with others by the government with the drafting of the bill, also says that the text accurately reflects recent economic developments in Egypt. "We cannot expect foreign investors to be interested in Egypt if labour relations are still governed by socialist-oriented laws. These laws have given workers sweeping powers. Now, in the context of a market economy, it should be admitted that employers should have more say in the running of their businesses," El-Boraie said.
