The international human rights watchdog group Amnesty International has urged Egypt to lift restrictions on establishing independent labor unions and setting up a system that would guarantee a minimum wage, referring to protests planned for today and tomorrow. "The authorities must mark International Workers' Day by announcing sweeping legal and institutional reforms to promote and protect labor rights, including by allowing for workers to organize freely and form unions," said Amnesty International in a statement released 30 April. The statement added: "Setting up and enforcing a system to ensure a fair minimum wage, one which ensures that all workers and their families are guaranteed decent living conditions, is a necessary first step to realizing labor rights, as provided by the Egyptian Constitution, the Egyptian Labor Law and in accordance with Egypt's international obligations." Moreover, the statement also referred to the increasing number of labor protests during the last few years over high costs of living, demanding increased wages, and better working conditions. "Workers in Egypt have for many years been forced to demand and defend their rights through one single union, the Egyptian Trade Union Federation," stated the organization pointing to that the monopoly of the ETUF over trade unions and its close links with the government "has evidently failed on many occasions to support, protect and promote workers' rights and as such has contributed to impoverish them and their families.” It also mentioned that trade unions and syndicates that follow the ETUF have been unable to "adequately represent and defend the workers' interests in light of its close links to the authorities. The ETUF, the only such federation in Egypt, is seen as being too close to the government and the ruling party, the National Democratic Party, and therefore not representative of workers demands." “The authorities must end the use of security as a pretext to clamp down on freedom of association. Social stability and security cannot be guaranteed without first giving workers their full rights which guarantee adequate living conditions for themselves and their families,” the statement concluded. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
