News briefing
by: CFJ
Geneva: October 5, 2023
Workers at Universal electrical appliances company in the Second Industrial Zone in the city of 6th of October in Giza Governorate, Egypt, have escalated their calls for a strike after the company’s management refused to respond to their legitimate demands. Hundreds of the company’s workers organized a day-long protest on Monday, October 2nd, demanding the payment of their delayed salaries and financial dues, as well as an improvement in their wages.
Protest:
Hundreds of company workers organized a day-long protest on Monday, October 2nd, demanding the payment of their overdue salaries and financial entitlements as well as an improvement in their wages.
This is not the first strike called for by the company’s workers. They have organized several strikes before, with the most recent one in December of the past year, where they raised the same demands, despite the company’s management having entered into multiple agreements committing to paying the workers’ dues.
Legitimate Financial Demands:
The workers of Universal are demanding several financial rights, the most important of which include the disbursement of their salaries for the past months of August and September, as well as their salaries for September 2021, August and September 2022.
Additionally, the workers have suffered from the non-payment of incentives for 15 months and the failure to provide allowances for the nature of work for 24 months. Moreover, their salaries are among the lowest for workers in Egypt, ranging from only 3000 to 4000 Egyptian pounds.
Calls for strike:
Currently, the workers are considering further escalation against the company’s management, especially after the failure of the 6th of October Labor Office, which is responsible for the factory, to reach satisfactory solutions with the company’s management. This is happening while prices continue to rise, and the management refuses to respond to their demands.
Universal, an electrical appliances production company, is one of the largest electrical appliance manufacturing companies in Egypt. It operates 10 factories that produce a wide range of household electrical appliances. The number of its employees used to be approximately 12,000 workers before 2014, but it has now decreased to only 1,500 workers.
Call for solution:
The Committee for Justice is calling on the company’s management to stop ignoring the workers’ demands and to respond positively, working towards satisfactory solutions for all parties while preserving the rights of the workers as stipulated by international covenants, as well as Egyptian law itself. CFJ also condemns the Egyptian Ministry of Labor’s negligence, represented by the 6th of October Labor Office, in defending the workers’ demands and urges them to take an effective stance in support of the workers and to stop favoring the interests of investors.
