CAIRO: Activists, lawyers and members of professional syndicates in Egypt met at the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) to discuss an amendment to law number 35/1976 to comply with international standards for syndicate freedom. The current syndicates law gives the administrative authorities all the power as they supervise and intervene in anything related to the syndicates, such as which syndicates should be formed, their structure and different activities, said Hafez Abou Saeda, secretary-general of the EOHR. Abou Saeda explained that they are calling for a new law which gives each syndicate the right to form a union in which they elect their representative freely. In addition it must grant the syndicates complete independence from all administrative authorities. And most importantly, he stressed, the syndicates should have the right of freedom of opinion and expression and the freedom to hold protests, strikes and sit-ins. He proposed that a committee which includes representatives of different syndicates and labor unions come up with a draft law to present to the People's Assembly. Since October 2008, the Lawyers' Syndicate has been in a never-ending saga after the Administrative Court's ruling closed the door for candidate applications, citing amendments to the professional syndicates law. At the time, the majority of candidates in the elections and lawyers agreed that this was a plot by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to ensure former chairman Sameh Ashour's victory. According to Mohsen Eid, lawyer and spokesperson for controversial MP Talaat El-Sadat, a former candidate for the chairman's position, the crisis at the Lawyers' Syndicate had stemmed from two conflicting laws. The first is Article 100 in the professional syndicates law, which gives South Cairo Court Judge Farouk Sultan the right to monitor the elections. This, El-Sadat said, contradicts Article 197/2008, which gives the Cairo Appeals Court, headed by Judge Adel Anrawes, the right to monitor the elections. The elections were finally held last May and the South Cairo Court, headed by Judge Farouk Sultan, was given that right. Because the syndicate is not independent, candidates were concerned the elections would be rigged, making the results in favor of the NDP candidate. The results, howver, proved their fears wrong, when independent candidate Hamdy Khalifa won the chairmanship.
