Mohamed Abdullah - Cairo

For the first time, workers became unrepresented on the boards of companies in Egypt by half, according to new amendments to the Public Business Sector Law, which deprives them of the right to vote when making decisions about their companies, amid the opposition of trade unions and deputies in Parliament, and opponents described it as a coup against gains Laborers.

Last Tuesday, the House of Representatives Economic Affairs Committee approved the draft law submitted by the government to amend the provisions of the Public Business Sector Law 203 of 1991, and included amending 16 articles, canceling four and adding eight, in addition to three articles to reconcile the situation, under the pretext of developing the performance of business sector companies. 

The public business sector companies are state-owned, and include eight holding companies, including the Holding Company for Spinning and Weaving, Maritime Transport, Tourism and Hotels, Medicines and Medical Supplies, Chemical Industries, Insurance, Metallurgical Industries, Construction and Development, and are followed by about 119 other companies.

The total number of employees in business sector companies is 209 thousand workers, and these companies achieved profits of about 11 billion pounds (626 million dollars) during the 2017-2018 fiscal year, including 48 losing companies and 73 profitable companies.

My union refused

Labor unions rejected the government amendments, and submitted a memorandum to the Economic Committee of the House of Representatives, listing the shortcomings of the amendments, and the reasons for their reservation, noting that they aim to preserve public money and protect assets and increase production, and demanded that workers be represented fairly on the boards of directors “as partners in dialogue” And decision. "

But the Minister of Business Sector Hisham Tawfiq defended the amendments of the law, which has not witnessed any change since 1991, and said in press statements, "The worker is in his factory, not in the administration."

He pointed out that "this is even more than what is available in the law of private companies, and that the amendments are aimed at helping officials achieve the goals of shareholders and the general assembly."

Among the most contentious articles in the new amendments is the reduction in the presence of workers' representatives in boards of directors, to be represented by one or two at the latest, instead of half of the number of the council. And not to have the right to vote, and give broad powers to management, with the possibility to change the chairman and members of the Board of Directors during the membership period, and open the door to liquidating companies and privatization more broadly. 


Protect business partners

For its part, the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science called Amina to have a balanced relationship between three main parties in the companies, who are the worker, the company's management, and the government, and it is assumed that there is an appropriate representation of these parties to protect the interests of all. 

She added in her interview with Al-Jazeera Net that "whenever this tripartite relationship is balanced, the interest of joint work is achieved, and the representation of some workers will not affect the progress of the production process," noting that "from the minister's point of view, it aims to focus the worker in his work." 

And she considered that it is very important to reassure the workers, one of the most important elements of production in any company or factory, in which we do not underestimate the employers, to maintain a balance in the relationship between the parties concerned, and to achieve a common and societal interest as well.

Despite the government's defense of business and labor sector companies, and the need to develop and benefit from them, many of them, such as the National Cement Company (founded in 1956) and the layoff of 2,200 workers at the company at the end of 2018, have not yet been received due. 

coup

Sayed Hammad, a member of the Workers Committee of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council, considered the new amendments as a "coup against workers' earnings over the past decades", saying that such amendments "give the general assembly the right to liquidate companies instead of raising the degree of training and development to increase production and profits."    

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, he stressed that workers have an important role in the Board of Directors is to demand workers ’rights from salaries and production incentives, and collective negotiation to conclude agreements and contracts on behalf of the rest of the workers“ and other things that cannot be mentioned. ”

Earlier, members of the Parliament’s Workforce Committee opposed the new amendments, and the committee’s representative, Mayssa Atwa, said that the new amendments to the Business Sector Law had been rejected as it “wastes trade union rights by not being present and represented in the Board of Directors.”

Representative Abdel Hamid Kamal also rejected the proposed government amendments to the law, describing them in previous statements as "an unfairness of the rights of elected workers on the companies' boards of directors." 

Others believed that the submitted amendments would affect the trade union committees and public unions, and would lead to a reduction in the membership of the labor movement, though the Economic Committee approved the amendments.