CAIRO -The Egyptian Trade Unions' Federation (ETUF) is involved in marathon talks with the Government and business owners to set the monthly maximum wage to 1,000 Egyptian pounds, a senior labour activist said Sunday. Abdul Rahman Kheir, who is also a member of the National Wages Council (NWC), said that the ETUF set an ad hoc commission that is in charge of talking to the Government and private employers to approve a new wage scale for the nation's workers. He said that the ETUF committee had suggested a minimum wage of LE500 for a junior worker, a LE750 wage for a skilled worker and a monthly stipend of LE1,000 for a senior worker. Kheir's move comes after the NWC raised last month the minimum wage to 400 Egyptian pounds or $69, an increase of a third following a rise in 2008. The controversial NWC decision was in response to two court rulings ordering the Government of Ahmed Nazif to consider recent price hikes in setting the wage. The ETUF, led by Hassan Megawir, criticised the move saying the increase is trivial and only concerns the pre-tax wage. He called for a minimum wage three times higher.
