Demonstrations resumed on the sidewalk in front of the People’s Assembly on Sunday, as approximately 300 female Health Ministry employees staged a sit-in to protest low wages and other grievances. Security forces eventually ordered protesters to disband.
“We worked for the National Council for Population for 20 years before being incorporated into the Health Ministry in 1996,” explained one protester. “In spite of the fact that insurance payments are deducted from our salaries, the ministry has failed to sign permanent contracts with us, just as it has refused to give us periodic raises since 2008.”
“We’re not even entitled to tenure,” she added.
Ministry employees say their monthly salaries were capped at LE230 some 20 years ago. In addition to permanent contracts and periodic salary raises, the women also demanded that they be paid every month instead of every three months, as is currently the case.
Opposition MP Hamdin Sabahi sent a formal request to Parliamentary Speaker Fathi Sarour and Administrative Development Minister Ahmad Darwish requesting that the two officials look into the issue. Sabahi, leaving the People’s Assembly on Sunday, noted that Darwish had promised to study the matter.
In related news, nearly 300 workers from the Mechanized Agriculture Company also organized a demonstration Sunday in front of the People’s Assembly to demand tenure and pay raises. They say they have not been offered tenure even though they have worked for the company for 15 years and receive a monthly salary of only LE300.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
