CAIRO: Public university professors and members of university research centers are warning of taking "unprecedented measures if the government does not respond to their demands of a wage increase. University professors complain that the second round of bonuses owed to them have been delayed, while protesting members of university research centers complain that they had received no bonuses at all. They will also be renewing demands to cancel the Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali's decree that links bonuses to their performance. The decree also stipulates that such bonuses should be funded by universities and not the government, which professors say is unrealistic. If their demands are ignored, professors warn that they will refrain from placing exams, correcting exams or entering the examination control rooms altogether. Professors from public universities all over Egypt met at the Egyptian University Faculty Club, a group which represents professors' interests in the absence of a union. They have consistently rejected pay increases in the form of allowances or incentive payments. Following the meeting of the club on Saturday, Maghawry Diab, university professor and official spokesperson for the club, said that they have received an official statement from the Ministry of Finance saying that "every university should come up with the bonuses from its resources. "This basically cancels [bonuses] because no university can ever afford those sums from its own resources, commented Diab, who added that the club will meet extensively throughout the next two weeks until the professors receive a response from the Prime Minister. Currently university professors will only receive their bonuses if they fill out forms proving that they have done extra work, a minimum of 28 hours per week. The bonus is usually around LE 1,200 to LE 2,000. "These performance-related bonuses are all imaginary; what people do is they simply fill out those forms putting in assignments and projects they've never really worked on so that they would get their bonuses, said Laila Soueif, professor at Cairo University. "What we want is an increase in our basic salaries, said Soueif. "Our basic salaries have been fixed for at least 10 years now, we can no longer cope with the continuous inflation in the country which has been going on for the past few years, she explained. Starting salaries for assistant university professors are currently just under LE 500 per month. A senior university professor makes an average of LE 3,000.
