Hussein Megawer, president of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), said the Egyptian government is eager to protect the interests of approximately 8 million irregular workers in the areas of agriculture, fishing, construction, trade and transportation.
During a meeting with a delegation from the Friedrich-–Ebert–Stiftung (FES) Institution, Megawer said that the ETUF has already been involved in the amendment of 38 articles of the Social Insurance Law. He added that there is growing agreement between employers to start paying a ten percent social insurance bonus to workers in the private sector starting this month.
Megawer further added that the arbitration departments recently added to departments of labor affairs in all governorates have been helpful in the resolution of labor disputes. He also said that the amendments introduced by the ETUF to Law 12/2003 (the Trade Union and Labor Law) are intended to enable the establishment of trade unions at workplaces in the private sector on a wider scale.
Megawer and the head of FES aslo agreed to renew the agreement between the organisations, which calls for the implementation of programs to spread the culture of self-employment and to raise the awareness of irregular workers.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
