Megawer, President of the General Federation of Trade Unions of Egypt, assured that the repercussions of the global financial crisis impacted negatively on the core resources of the Egyptian economy, notably the Suez Canal revenues and the decrease in the volume of exports. As well as their impact on the tourism sector because of the low proportion of vacancy in hotels and tourist facilities, which led to "the letting go of about 50% of part-time employees in this important sector." Megawer said during the talks, the day before yesterday, with the delegation of the International Labor Organization, headed by Dr. Ozita Rabez, Director of the Department of Employment of the Organization in Geneva, that assessment of the trade union organization is currently engaged in a dialogue with the government to avoid the negative effects of the economic crisis.
He pointed out that the government has pumped 15 billion pounds for infrastructure projects, and included 33 billion in the state's new budget for the establishment of labor-intensive projects in order to achieve social and economic welfare in Egypt.
He added: The union is currently in the framework of the Charter of work called for by President Hosni Mubarak, during the celebration of Labor Day, and is concluding collective agreements with employers in cities for the protection of the rights of industrial workers and in the interest of work.
After the success of the agreement with the investors of the Tenth of Ramadan city, it served to establish a joint committee and a special fund to cope with crises and letting go of the workers employed which is about half a million at 1200 industrial facilities at the Tenth of Ramadan City. Megawer stated that the government responded to the request of trade union organizations on the procedures for the protection of national industries, which face the random dumping of foreign products in the domestic market, especially in the spinning and weaving industry, which suffered due to transit trade. In addition the protection of other strategic industries, including iron and steel companies, which employ 12,000 workers and began to lose about LE100 million per month and that is LE200 million a year because of this global crisis.
