A number of independent trade unions and employees at several government agencies are convening on Thursday at the Doctors Syndicate to discuss escalation against a controversial law regulating government employee benefits.
The civil service law, enacted in March, regulates appointment criteria, vocational degrees, payments, retirements and promotions for civilian workers at government agencies. It has drawn criticism of labor rights activists and a number of trade unions which have vowed to lobby against the document. The government, meanwhile, says the law would bring a remarkable improvement to the state’s administrative bodies.
The protesting workers said they will discuss efforts to form “a unified front” against the law after their recent meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb yielded no positive results.
Magda Ibrahim, a member at the independent union of workers at the Egyptian Tax Authority, said her union will attend the meeting, but said her co-members will meet again with the Prime Minister within two weeks to further discuss the law’s problematic articles
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
