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LABOR LAW IN EGYPT The U.S. State Department's economic report on Egypt provides the following description of Egyptian labor law: 9. Worker Rights b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively: The proposed new labor law provides statutory authorization for collective bargaining and the right to strike, rights which are not now adequately guaranteed. Under the current law, unions may negotiate work contracts with public sector enterprises if the latter agree to such negotiations, but unions otherwise lack collective bargaining power in the state sector. Under current circumstances, collective bargaining does not exist in any meaningful sense because the government sets wages, benefits, and job classifications by law, allowing few issues open to negotiation. Larger firms in the private sector generally adhere to such government-mandated standards. c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor: Forced or compulsory labor is illegal and not practiced. d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children: In March 1996, the Egyptian Parliament adopted a new "Comprehensive Child Law" drafted by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood. The minimum age for employment was raised from 12 to 14. Provincial governors may authorize "seasonal work" for children between 12 and 14. Education is compulsory until age 15. An employee must be at least 15 to join a labor union. The Labor Law of 1981 states that children 14 to 15 may work six hours a day, but not after 7 p.m. and not in dangerous activities or activities requiring heavy work. Child workers must obtain medical certificates and work permits before they are employed. Recent estimates by the Egyptian Government put the number of child laborers at 2.7 percent of the total working population of 17 million. Local non-governmental organizations put the number of children working as much higher, although verification is impossible. The majority of working children are employed on farms. Children also work as apprentices in auto and craft shops, in construction, and as domestics. Most are employed in the informal section. The government has difficulty enforcing child labor laws due to a shortage of inspectors. Economic pressures, rural tradition, the inadequacy of the education system, and lack of government control in remote areas pose significant, but not insurmountable, barriers to addressing child labor issues in the near future. Egypt is a signatory to the 1997 Oslo Action Plan calling for the immediate removal of children from hazardous occupations and the eventual elimination of child labor. Under the existing "Generalized System of Preferences" (GSP) afforded to Egypt by the U.S., exporters must abide by international labor standards which prohibit the use of child labor. There is also increasing pressure from a rapidly growing consumer's movement and new legislative requirements within the developed countries, notably the U.S. and the EU, to boycott goods manufactured with child labor. This may give much needed momentum to solving Egypt's child labor problems. e. Acceptable Conditions of Work: The government and public sector minimum wage is approximately $20 a month for a . Base pay is supplemented by a complex system of fringe benefits and bonuses that may double or triple a worker's take-home pay. The average family can survive on a worker's base pay at the minimum wage rate. f. Rights in Sectors with U.S. Investment: The minimum wage is also legally binding
on the private sector, and larger private companies generally observe the requirement and
pay bonuses as well. The Ministry of Manpower sets worker health and safety standards,
which also apply in the free trade zones, but enforcement and inspection are uneven. |