CAIRO: The Shoura Council (Egypt's Upper House of Parliament) is scheduled to discuss today the annual 10 percent raise to wages and pensions promised by President Hosni Mubarak last month. Last May, President Mubarak asked the government to grant public sector employees a 10 percent social raise, up from the 5 percent announced two weeks before. In related news, Shawki Al-Sayed, member in the Shoura Council's legislative committee, told Daily News Egypt that the council approved a new law this week, increasing pensions from 80 percent to 90 percent of the fixed salary. However, Shawki reiterated that this law is not related to President Mubarak's promised 10 percent social raise but is rather "a new law that will be implemented regularly every year. Abdel Rahman Khair, member of Al-Tagammu opposition party in the Shoura Council explained that under the new law, pensions are categorized according to the employees' retirement age. However, Khair dismissed this new system as unconstitutional, saying it discriminates between employees who apply for early retirement and others who stay.
