Egypt's Sokhna port sees new protest to force wage demands

Small-scale demonstration ends after management pledges to pay employees a share of 2011 profits by August

Workers at the Egyptian commercial port in Ain Sokhna have held a protest to demand management fulfil its pledges regarding wages and profit-sharing.
Around 200 employees at the Gulf of Suez port, managed by Dubai-based DP World, held a demonstration in front of head offices on Tuesday, bringing it to a close in the evening after signs of concessions.
Speaking to Ahram Online, Hamada Kamal, head of the port's workers syndicate, said management had still not honoured its part of a February agreement which brought a previous strike to an end.
The pact comprised five pillars, none of which had yet been implemented, Kamal claimed, among them paying employees a share of 2011 profits and restructuring wages.
These pledges were due to be implemented in April, Kamal added.
Workers ended their protest on Tuesday evening after management told them it would hold a meeting with the Egyptian General Authority for Investment (GAFI) to discuss the issues. The meeting is scheduled for 5 August.
Operations at the port continued as normal, and a management source at Sokhna Port who requested anonymity denied there was a serious problem.
"There is no strike," he told Ahram Online. "[The demand] is the workers' right and we are going to give it to them."
In February this year, workers at the port staged a five-day strike demanding their share of profits, backdated to 2008, as well as a risk allowance.