Hundreds of employees of state-run information centers staged a protest on Monday in front of their trade union headquarters--despite heavy security--to demand that the government make good on earlier promises of salary raises and benefits. This summer, parliamentary officials promised center employees that their monthly salaries would be raised--from LE99 to LE320 or from LE120 to LE381, depending on qualifications--and that health and social insurance, as well as vacation time and incentives, would be included in their respective contracts. The promised raises and benefits, however, never materialized. Protesters carried banners calling on President Hosni Mubarak to come to their aid and “remedy the injustice." They also chanted slogans calling on the media to air their grievances. A number of female protesters fainted due to crowding and high temperatures. Employees said they would maintain their protest until past promises were fulfilled, especially given that the government has announced plans to earmark LE150 million for pay raises for information center employees. Protesters also criticized Manpower Minister Aisha Abdel Hadi, Egyptian Trade Union Federation President Hussein Megawer, and Local Development Ministry officials for "deceiving" them. Employees said that, following a 14 September protest, they had been told by officials that an agreement had been made with governorate directorates to pay employees their August and September salaries according to their old wage rates, and that they would be paid the difference in October. But employees say the officials in question have since denied ever making the promise. Protesters asserted that security forces would be unable to disperse them as they had at their last demonstration in front of Shura Council headquarters. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
