CAIRO: The International Labor Organization's (ILO) Egypt office denied media reports claiming Egypt has been blacklisted among the worst 25 nations in labor legislation. “The list was placed in alphabetical order,” said Walid Osman, ILO public information officer, “we simply assessed Geneva convention violations in all nations, without ranking them in any order.” During its currently-held annual Geneva Conference, the ILO said on Monday that Egypt had failed to implement its previous recommendations in terms of labor-related legislation. The conference aims to assess violations of any of the Geneva conventions regarding labor rights. Egypt was accused of violating convention 87 on freedom of association, pertaining to the scarcity of trade unions operating within the country. The ILO also agreed to postpone the scheduled questioning of Egyptian officials until the finalization of a report by the organization's technical cooperation committee, which visited Cairo last April and discussed future legal amendments in labor rights. Adel Zakaria, editor of magazine Kalam Sinai'ia (Worker's Talk) from the Center for Trade Union and Worker's Services (CTUWS), agreed with the ILO that Egypt has violated convention 87. “Egypt's law 84/2002 regarding association provides criminal penalties that stifle legitimate NGO activities, including engagement in political or union activities. This is a violation of convention 87,” said Zakaria. “Egypt agreed to implement other changes during the ILO conference in 2008. However, no legal amendments have been made since then. This is reflective of our organization's lack of faith in the results of this conference.” According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) survey, the government is the one that grants organizations legal registration, and decides who can be on their board, and whether or not their funding can be approved. These legal restrictions on NGOs enabled the government to target trade and labor organizations, sometimes even forcibly shutting them down, the report explained. Due to this governmental control, the trade union federation that exists in Egypt is not independent. Membership is often mandatory, and any new local unions are required to be affiliated with the government-controlled national federation, ITUC said. Regarding the recent worker sit-in which was broken up by security forces, and in which 20 workers were arrested, Zakaria said, “This occurrence definitely has to do with the ILO's decision to condemn violations of convention 87. Workers and all citizens actually, should have a right to strike without being arrested.” Security forces broke up weeks long sit-ins in front of the People's Assembly staged by workers from the Amonsito Factory, Telephone Equipment Company, and Nubareia Factory, among others. “What the government needs to do is provide for democratic elections and proper amendments to Egyptian law which assure that trade unions can be formed.”
