The “Committee for Justice” (CFJ) has documented that the administration of Helwan University—located about thirty kilometers from downtown Cairo, to the east of the Nile River—forced 300 of its temporary employees to sign new “daily” contracts, after years of working under annual contracts that provided them with fixed wages and social insurance.
This sudden move appears to be an attempt by the university administration to evade its legal obligations toward these employees. The new contracts place the workers under a “daily wage” system, stripping them of the rights they previously held and exposing them to the risk of arbitrary dismissal at any moment, without guarantees.
The employees expressed strong opposition to this measure, affirming that they had worked for years under contracts that offered them job stability, and that shifting them to a daily wage system constitutes a blatant violation of their rights.
The CFJ calls on the Helwan University administration to immediately reverse these measures and reinstate the annual contract system as a first step toward granting employees permanent status. It also demands that those responsible for violating the workers’ rights be held legally accountable.
Furthermore, the committee urges the Egyptian Ministry of Manpower to intervene to protect the rights of these employees and to ensure that the university administration complies with applicable local and international labor laws, and refrains from violating them.