CAIRO: Egypt's local media last week highlighted the recent administrative court ruling that obligates the Egyptian Government to apply a 1200 Egyptian pound monthly wage for all workers, enforcing a decision by another court in March, followed by the National Council for Wages move to raise the minimum wage to 400 EGP ($70). The decision raised the ire of human rights organizations and labor leaders who considered this a “shock.” The local press also highlighted statements last week by Mohamed ElBaradei, the former Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the president of the National Assembly for Change, on the United States government's position towards democracy issues in Egypt, while it also highlighted the security's decision to call off a festival for promoting tolerance and awareness of sectarianism in Egypt by Egyptians against Religious Discrimination movement. Earlier last week, an Egyptian administrative court ruled the state must implement a minimum monthly wage of 1,200 Egyptian pounds ($210) for all workers, enforcing a decision by another court in March. The ruling applies to public and private workers. The Government-run National Council for Wages (NWC) set the minimum wage at 400 pounds, following an administrative court ruling on Tuesday that the government must set a minimum wage in line with the cost of living. Under the decision, individual sectors will be free to set “the maximum wage” after negotiations “between workers' representatives and employers.” NWC head Othman Mohamed Othman said that the minimum wage will be reviewed “every three years” in order to ensure that it “goes in line with living costs.” Rights groups and labor unions criticized the move, saying the increase was trivial and not enough. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights announced its full rejection of the decision of the National Council for wages, and described its decision to raise the minimum wage to 400 “just to circumvent the court rulings.” It added that “instead of implementing a minimum wage in Egypt, it set a total minimum wage and there is a difference between the two; the minimum wage, which was the subject of judicial ruling means the beginning of the pay, any (basic wage), while the total minimum wage, which was set by the National Council for Wages in its decision, means the total wage the worker receives, starting from the basic salary plus bonuses, allowances and compensations, which are deducted from contributions of: health and social insurance, taxation, trade union subscription fee.” For his part, Khaled Ali, Director of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, said that he would appeal the decision of the National Council of wages, in particular, “the ruling linked wage-setting to prices,” and added: “everyone knows prices in Egypt and how it rose significantly recently. Local press also highlighted statements by Mohamed ElBaradei, who expressed his disappointment in US President Barack Obama, saying he turned his back on “promoting the efforts of democracy in the Arab world.” He added that the practice of more “pressure” on President Mubarak to establish greater freedoms in Egypt is something up to Obama himself. According to ElBaradei, who said in an interview with The Daily Best, “the stability of any country is achieved by the government elected by the people and not due to foreign pressures,” adding: “who believe that stability is due to the presence of external pressures are already short-sighted, and they should not be surprised when the Middle East becomes more extreme.” ElBaradei stressed that once Egypt's position is put on the right track, “we can see a modern and moderate Egypt,” explaining then that it would be a “beacon of freedom and liberalism in the Arab world.” He stressed that the peaceful means available to bring about change is to boycott the elections, demonstrations, protests and civil disobedience, stressing that it “does not exclude recourse of the people to use violence if the government did not respond and understanding of the importance of change.” He said: “When half of Egyptians live in the slums, without clean water, and sewage facilities, no electricity, it is certain that there is a ticking time bomb,” adding: “This is not a threat, but an invitation to look to reality and the search for rational solutions.” He continued to say that “resorting to violence will not be behind the call for democracy, but it would be a result of revolution of the poor.” He emphasized that he would not run for president under the current circumstances, and the absence of guarantees for holding free and fair elections, as well as the exclusion of direct judicial supervision, he said, adding that the current situation is in favor of the ruling National Party. The Egyptian Press also mentioned that the Egyptian Security Authorities called off an event, which was planned by the movement Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination, which was scheduled to organize a festival on Friday at Cairo's al-Azhar Park. The festival named “Egypt for all Egyptians” was to promote tolerance among Egyptians. Ziad al-Alimi, one of the members of the movement, said that the security agencies informed al-Azhar Park that it “will not give a permission for the festival to be held, for no apparent reason.” Despite the publicity, which preceded the ceremony, the movement was surprised that the event was canceled due to security orders and Alimi expressed surprise because “the festival did not include any events of concern to the security services, because the idea of the festival is based on facing sectarianism through arts.” BM
