Labor provisions in Egypt's new
Constitution are worrying workers and unionists alike, who fear that a
lot of room has been left to restrict labor rights.
Drafted by an Islamist-dominated
assembly, the new Constitution maintains the Nasser-era workers’ quotas
in company administrations and reserves 50 percent of seats in
parliament for representatives of workers and farmers.
It also maintains many of the labor
provisions in the 1971 Constitution, which workers deem to be outdated —
even detrimental — such as an article allowing forced labor.
Even some of the novel articles may end
up negatively effecting Egypt’s workforce, namely stipulations seen as
normalizing child labor, others legitimizing the military trials of
civilians that may be used against striking workers, as well as new
restrictions that may serve to outlaw numerous professional
associations, particularly independent unions and syndicates.
The vague terminology of the new charter
leaves room for interventionist legislation. For example, while Article
63 mentions “the right to peaceful strike”— not mentioned in Egypt’s
older constitutions — the legislation that is being issued to regulate
this article suggest that the right to strike will be curtailed.
UNION PLURALITY & DEMOCRACY
Since the 25 January uprising, more than
1,000 independent unions were established nationwide, some in
non-unionized workforces, others in parallel to existing unions
affiliated to the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation
(ETUF).
In parallel to the official syndicates,
two independent teachers’ unions were established while at least three
press syndicates were created. However, the status of these independent
entities is being brought into question in light of Egypt’s new
Constitution.
Articles 51 to 53 stipulate union
freedoms but place limitations on these freedoms. The restrictive
Article 53 contradicts the provisions of Article 51, which stipulates
“the right to establish associations and civil institutions, subject to
notification only. Such institutions shall operate freely, and be deemed
legal persons.”
Former Minister of Manpower, Ahmad
Hassan al-Borei, declared that these constitutional articles "fail to
protect union plurality and democracy." In turn, they stand in
"violation of International Labor Organization’s conventions 87 and 98,"
concerning freedom of association, the right to organize, and
collective bargaining, which Egypt ratified since the 1950s but has
largely failed to uphold.
A newly added provision, Article 53
limits the plurality of professional associations by allowing only one
professional syndicate per profession. It also says “authorities may not
disband the boards of professional syndicates except with a court
order, and may not place them under sequestration.”
As a founding member of the Independent
Teachers' Syndicate
— Egypt's second independent professional association, established in
2010 — Abdel Hafiz Tayil expressed his disillusionment with the new
Constitution.
Still, he says, "Article 53 will not
affect our syndicate or its legal status because we are registered with
the Ministry of Manpower as an independent labor union — not a
professional syndicate."
The teacher explains that according to
Article 51, the Ministry of Manpower cannot dissolve syndicates or
unions without a court order. Rather, it’s Article 52 that may be
problematic.
Tayil says, “It is Article 52 that is
more likely to affect us. While this article stipulates the right to
establish unions, it does not mention how to register such unions.”
He clarified that a new trade union law
will regulate Article 52, and will open the door to intervention from
the state. The manpower ministry may in the future issue decrees that
“negatively affect the right to establish unions," he says, “…especially
independent unions. The minister may decline to recognize these new
associations and refuse to grant them a legal [status].”
Tayil thinks that Egypt’s new ruling
powers “will formulate laws according to their whims,” and to combat
this, “popular resistance to unjust draft laws is the only way to keep
authorities from issuing additionally repressive labor and union
legislation."
According to Talal Shokr, an executive
board member of the Egyptian Democratic Labor Congress (EDLC), "The
Brotherhood has historically had a strong presence amongst certain
professional syndicates,” particularly doctors, lawyers and engineers.
He adds, “They sought to solidify their
hold on professional syndicates through their constitution, while
simultaneously moving into the sphere of labor unions, where they had a
negligible presence.”
Shokr claims that moves are being made
to "Brotherhoodize labor unions through [Brotherhood-affiliated Manpower
Minister] Khaled al-Azhary and his appointment of tens of officials in
the ETUF."
He thinks the minister will become
“increasingly obstructive towards attempts at establishing independent
unions, while openly rejecting any attempts to establish alternate
professional syndicates."
Late last year, the EDLC and the
Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions both called on workers
to vote against the draft constitution in the referendum, claiming that
its provisions strip them of their basic rights. The Constitution passed
however, with a 63.8 percent “yes” vote amid a low turnout of around 30
percent.
MINIMUM & MAXIMUM WAGE
Controversial Article 14 of the new
constitution is nearly identical to Article 23 of the 1971 charter,
linking wages with production and stipulating that a national minimum
wage be established to “guarantee decent living standards for all
citizens.”
Mohamed Abdel Galeel, an administrative
worker, criticizes the article for tying “wages to production, not to
rising prices or inflation. It does not take into consideration workers'
use of old and outdated machinery, and the malfunction of these
machines."
"How are we to support and feed
ourselves with our poor wages in a future characterized by skyrocketing
living expenses, the lifting of subsidies, public spending cuts, and tax
hikes?" he asks.
Prior to and in the aftermath of the 25
January uprising, a main labor demand has been the establishment of a
minimum wage between LE 1,200 and LE 1,500. In October 2011, however,
Egypt’s Cabinet set a unified minimum wage of around half that, at LE
700. Even so, this minimum wage is yet to be enforced in the public and
private sectors.
In April 2012, the now dissolved
People’s Assembly set a maximum wage of LE 50,000, but only within the
public sector. This law stipulates that the cap on wages should not
exceed 35 times the minimum wage, although workers have been demanding
that the maximum wage be no more than 15 times the minimum.
Article 14 goes further to set “maximum wages in civil service positions with exemptions regulated by law.”
WORKERS & FARMERS
Although liberal political forces within
the Constituent Assembly had sought to cancel longstanding quotas for
Egypt's toiling masses, the new constitution retains quotas for workers
and farmers on the administrative boards of companies, and in both
houses of parliament, via Articles 27 and 229, respectively.
The wording of the constitution, Abbas
claims, “makes it seem as if they are safeguarding and upholding labor
rights by keeping the 50 percent workers’ and farmers’ quota [in
parliament].”
However, he argues, this provision will
likely be implemented for only one, five-year term, and then abandoned
via parliamentary laws regulating these elections.
According to Shokr, worker and farmer
representatives in parliament have typically not represented their
constituents, but rather the ruling regimes.
"In a few months we’ll see just how
these so-called workers and farmers will endorse and issue a host of
anti-labor legislation," he predicts.
FORCED LABOR
From the 1971 Constitution, the 2012
charter also inherits the controversial provision allowing for forced
labor, and ironically, provides fewer guarantees against this practice.
Article 13 of the 1971 Constitution
stipulated that “no work shall be enforced upon citizens, except by
virtue of law and for the performance of a public service and in return
for a fair remuneration.” In the new Constitution, Article 63 removes
“for fair remuneration” to merely stipulate: “There shall be no forced
labor except in accordance with law.”
Though Egypt ratified ILO Conventions
Nos. 29 and 105, concerning forced labor and the abolition of forced
labor, in the 1950s, it has failed to legally uphold their provisions
and is now seen to be enshrining this universally criminalized act.
CHILD LABOR
Meanwhile, the Constitution is even more
controversial for enshrining child labor, especially since there was no
provision in the 1971 version allowing for this form of labor.
Article 70 of the new Constitution says,
“Child labor is prohibited before passing the age of compulsory
education, in jobs that are not fit for a child’s age, or that prevent
the child from continuing education.”
Shokr says the phrasing on this particular issue “makes it seem like child labor is acceptable and only needs to be regulated.”
“Child labor is a crime which deprives
children of their educational opportunities, playtime, and friends; and
also denies them their childhoods,” he says, adding that the state
should be ashamed and should work to abolish both child and forced
labor.
These articles also contravene the ILO’s
conventions 182 on the worst forms of child labor, Egypt ratified by
Egypt in 2002; and 138 on the minimum age, ratified in 1999 and setting
the minimum age for legal child labor at 15.
MILITARY TRIBUNALS
The contentious practice of trying
citizens before military courts is now delineated in the Constitution
under Article 198 “for crimes that harm the armed forces.”
Heba Morayef, director of Human Rights
Watch in Egypt, says the wording “may allow for the referral of workers
to military courts, for example, if they strike at one of the armed
forces’ pasta factories.”
The article is all the more worrisome
considering estimates that place the armed forces’ control of Egypt’s
economy anywhere between 20-40 percent, in varied sectors employing
hundreds of thousands nationwide.
Already, a number of citizens have been referred to
military tribunals,
including freelance journalist Mohamed Sabry, who is facing charges of
entering a prohibited military zone and filming an army facility.
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Photo courtesy of Tabitha Ross
