Employees of cabinet-affiliated information centers agreed to suspend a planned labor strike for 15 days after MPs promised to reject a proposed state budget unless it included funds earmarked to meet workers’ financial demands.
For more than one week, information center employees have staged angry demonstrations before the parliament building in downtown Cairo to demand job benefits such as health insurance and financial incentives.
Shawqi el-Attar, head of the Administrative Services Syndicate, said the syndicate lacked cabinet representation and was therefore unable to protect employees of its affiliated institutions.
"We have no legal capacity to negotiate demands with the cabinet," el-Attar said. "Only parliament and the Manpower Ministry have this right."
Scores of people with special needs also maintained their days-long demonstration outside parliament to demand residential units in public housing projects and small-business licenses. Demonstrators said they planned to participate in a vigil organized by the popular 6 April Movement and the National Front for Change, both of which call for constitutional overhaul.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Ministry employees likewise continued to hold protests outside parliament for the fourth consecutive day to demand better salaries. Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza is expected to "look into" their demands on Thursday.
In related developments, textile workers from Mahalla, real estate tax collectors, as well as labor activists from different left-wing groups will be demonstrating on Saturday morning in downtown Cairo, demanding raising the national minimum wage from LE35 a month, unchanged from 1984, to LE1,200.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
