Right to organise and right to strike still restricted

The right to organise and the right to strike are still restricted in law and in practice. A new labour law was under discussion in parliament in November and December 2021, but the process is slow and the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services (CTUWS) fears it will preserve existing contradictions and ambiguities. The law of 2017 and its amended version of 2019 refer to “the” trade union committee, making it unclear whether more than one trade union is allowed in the workplace. In (the many) workplaces where a branch of the official General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions (GFETU) exists, it is very difficult to get the employer to submit the papers for the establishment of another union. Equally, the right to strike, protected in Law 12 of 2003, contains a broad definition of essential services where strikes are not permitted and also contains ambiguous language that makes it easy for employers to dismiss strikers. Labour courts are more likely to rule in the employer’s favour.