Armed Forces grants 10 training courses to labor leaders

CAIRO – 19 August 2018: The Armed Forces granted 10 training courses to more than 6,000 labor leaders in cooperation with the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) to raise national awareness among labor leaders.

Strategic experts of the Nasser Military Academy and Egyptian Command and Staff College, experts of the Center for Human Development and Behavioral Sciences,officers of Defense and Military Forces and professors of Egyptian universities will give the lectures.

The courses will highlight the Egyptian national security issues, the importance of the major national projects, the positive role that should be played by Egyptian labor in building the nation, sacrifices offered by the Armed Forces and Police in the 2018 Sinai Comprehensive Operation to combat terrorism and the comprehensive development plans carried out by the Armed Forces.

These courses come as part of the activities carried out by the Armed Forces in cooperation with labor categories which aim to consolidate the values and principles of patriotism, stressing that hard work is the main factor to advance a nation.

On November 8, 2017, the Egyptian House of Representatives chaired by Ali Abdel Aal approved the Trade Union Organization’s draft law.

The draft law stipulates that the trade union organizations that were established and formed by law shall retain their legal personality, retain all their property and continue to exercise their competences in order to achieve their objectives in accordance with the provisions of the law and its regulations.

The executive regulations of this law shall determine the rules, procedures, and dates specified for the conciliation of the trade union organizations, provided that they do not exceed 60 days, starting from its implementation date.

According to the draft law, the trade union shall be composed of at least 15 trade union committees with a membership of at least 20,000 workers.

Members of the trade union organization should not be less than 15 years of age and should not be employers in any commercial, industrial, agricultural or service activity.

The law also defines the worker as a person who works for a wage under the supervision of an employer whether permanently, temporarily, or seasonally and whether he works for himself or for others in a trade or occupation.

The trade union organization is defined in the law as a collective trade union that has been formed and has acquired its legal personality in accordance with the law.

Earlier, the Parliament's Manpower Committee held a meeting on October 27 to discuss the draft law, witnessing a debate between the members of the committee, their leader Gibaliel-Maraghi,Legal Advisor of the General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions Hosni Saad and representatives from the Ministry of Manpower.

The debate ended with the cancellation of the nationality requirement for acquiring a membership in the union.

The condition that states that a member should not be sentenced to a criminal penalty before joining the union was cancelled, answering the voices that said that the draft law includes three penalties restricting liberty by imprisonment.

Maraghi insisted on the condition of punishing workers who go beyond the rights of colleagues, stressing that these conditions aim to establish the rules of respect that help stabilize the workplace.

Regarding the age of the members, Saad said that the labor law and social insurance law set the age of retirement to terminate the worker's relationship with the employer or the company, but the situation is different when it comes to the trade union law.

Additionally, women working in the private sector will be granted the right to a four-month maternity leave equal to those working in the public sector, in accordance to the Civil Service Law. This leave shall be granted twice during a woman's period of service.

The bill guarantees that the daily working hours of pregnant women shall be reduced by at least one hour starting from the sixth month of pregnancy. Moreover, no additional working hours shall be allowed for women during their pregnancy period and the six months following the childbirth.