CAIRO: Upwards of 100 postal workers gathered outside the Central Post Authority in Attaba Monday in a protest demanding higher wages and better working conditions. The protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations by postal employees. Workers held up signs and congregated around colleagues who alternated between reading demands and rallying the crowd. The security presence at the protest was significant. Abdel Meguid Abdel Aziz, an inspector and member of the postal workers' trade union committee said we are trying to bridge the gap between the senior management and us, and we had to take this stand because we are tired of trying to reach the officials. He lamented the lack of acknowledgement on the part of the Egyptian National Post to workers' demands. Alaa Fahmy, chairman of the Egyptian National Post, has refused to hear our demands. However, we didn't completely stop working today. We are gathered here just as representatives from different governorates. Our activity is still ongoing, Abdel Aziz continued. Ahmed Hamdy, chairman of the trade union committee in Fayoum articulated the 10 specific demands that the workers are making. High on the list is wage parity with employees of the Egyptian Telecommunications Company, he said. Postal workers and telecommunications workers are within the same ministry. Postal workers are also requesting that long-standing temporary workers be given permanent status and the implementation of a new appraisal system which would prevent the dismissal of workers without due process. Workers would also like to have Saturdays off, as many other government employees do. They are looking to unionize as well, an objective which has yet to be realized. Postal workers have been striking in earnest since May. The rights and salaries of workers across Egypt in several fields and industries have become the subject of great attention and protest in recent months. In early June, they announced their grievances at a press conference and then protested at the Journalists Syndicate.
