Egypt: planned ban on strikes and protests must be scrapped

Solidarity with Egyptian workers

Proposed legislation on strikes and protests

April 2011

A proposed decree which would make strikes a criminal offence, with prison terms of up to one year and fines of up to US$ 90,000 has been condemned by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Amnesty International.

The ITUC has called on the Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to scrap the measure, described by the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) as 'a grave and worrisome development.' The Egyptian cabinet last week proposed the new law, which would make participating in protests and strikes that 'hinder the work of public institutions or authorities during a state of emergency' illegal.

'Implementing this decree would be nothing less than a betrayal of the revolution. Millions of Egyptian workers continue to work for poverty wages, and depriving them of the right to strike, a fundamental right under international law, would remove an essential means for working people to achieve economic and social justice. By repressing legitimate union activity, it would also suffocate the development of a vibrant civil society, which Egypt desperately needs for building democracy,' said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

The EFITU has recognised the serious efforts by the Ministers of Manpower and Immigration and of Finance to hold dialogue and negotiations with workers in some sectors and locations, but has called on the authorities to start dealing with Egyptian workers as 'citizens, not subjects'.

The official trade union centre of the Mubarak era, the ETUF, has welcomed the announcement, pointing out that it conforms with the 2003 labour law imposed by Mubarak with the support of the ETUF.

'Working people do not need discredited and unrepresentative remnants of the old regime to talk on their behalf. Like workers everywhere, they are perfectly capable of organising their own trade unions, but they can only do this effectively if the authorities refrain from the anti-democratic habits of the past,' said Burrow.

Amnesty International have joined the protest. An Amnesty International spokesperson said:

'Any move to curb freedom of assembly and the right to strike in Egypt would be an alarming step backwards and an insult to those who risked - and lost - their lives calling for change over the past two months. It is vital in this transitional period that the Egyptian authorities guarantee basic human rights such as the right to carry out peaceful protests and strikes. Linking this repressive law to the state of emergency only serves to highlight the urgent need for the state of emergency to be lifted immediately.

'Instead of undoing the progress made towards reforming the shortcomings of Egypt's Constitution, the authorities must heed calls to investigate army abuses, release political prisoners and end the use of military trials to try protesters.

'By restricting workers' rights to strike and protest, the Egyptian authorities are not only breaching their obligations to uphold the right to freedom of assembly and the right to strike, they are breaking their promises to improve the living conditions of Egyptians.

'Using the protection of national security and economy as a pretext to silence Egyptians was the hallmark of the last 30 years. The Egyptian authorities should protect the right to protest and strike but instead they are entrenching repressive measures, all too well known to Egyptians.'

Amnesty claim that the proposed law violates Egyptians' right to freedom of assembly and the right to strike guaranteed under international law. Egypt is party to both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which guarantee these rights in Article 21 and Article 8 respectively.