Foreign funding for unions affects national security

CAIRO – 31 October 2017: Parliament’s Manpower Committee considered Chapter VII in the bill of the trade union organizations, in a meeting held on Tuesday.

The chapter protects the rights of the trade union organization in monitoring the resources and funding the trade union. In this regard, the committee also discussed article 53 which is related to the resources of the trade union and contributions to it.

The contributions to the trade union should be tackled by the internal regulations of the union, said Ihab Abdel Aaty, the legal adviser for the Ministry of Manpower.

On the other hand, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said that the Egyptian government was wrong to receive donations from international bodies, which violates ILO standards, according to Manpower Committee Deputy Mohamed Wahb Allah.

Opening the door to foreign funding for unions negatively affects national security, said Abdel Aaty.

The trade union law has been a matter of ongoing discussion between legislative and executive authorities on the one hand and unionists on the other since the 2011 revolution. The discussions resulted in the introduction of numerous draft laws to replace Law No. 35 for 1976 and its amendments.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail in June prepared the most recent draft of the law, which was reviewed by the cabinet before it was sent to the parliament for discussion.
A draft law from the Trade Union Organization sparked controversy in parliament while its text was in review.

The parliament's Manpower Committee held a meeting on October 27 to discuss the draft law, witnessing a debate between members of the committee, their leader Gibali El-Maraghi, the legal advisor of the General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions Hosni Saad and representatives from the Ministry of Manpower.