CAIRO - Shock and worry gripped Abeer el-Saady, a member of the board of the independent Press Syndicate, when she heard news of the announcement of a parallel union for non-syndicated journalists. To el-Saady, who works for the State-run daily Al-Akhbar, the new union will divide the journalists even more and create tensions in the future. “The journalists already have something to build on,” el-Saady said. “This is not an appropriate time to launch a union like this one,” she told the Egyptian Mail in an interview. This sentiment echoed across the Press Syndicate when a group of non-syndicate members decided to launch their own union in protest against their inability to be part of the 70-year-old syndicate. The journalists, who cited membership, difficulties in the Press Syndicate announced their new union days ago and chose a mass communication lecturer from Cairo University to head their new entity. But this has sent worry and anger down the corridors of the original Press Syndicate, which filed lawsuits against the founders of the new union, accusing them of not having the right to establish a parallel press syndicate. Similar feelings were also present inside almost all of Egypt's traditional unions as either members or non-members decided to dissent and create their own parallel entities. This happened inside the Workers' Union, the Engineers' Association, the Press Syndicate, and almost all other professional unions, casting uncertainty over the future of these unions. “The problem with already existing professional unions in this country is that they do not represent their members in any way,” said Fatma Ramadan, a labour activist who had seen the emergence of a countless number of independent professional unions over the past few weeks. “When union members express grievances or demands, their boards turn deaf ears and blind eyes. Now the workers want really representative unions and they are creating them,” she added. Perhaps this is one episode of a long series of aftershocks following the Egyptian revolution that swept Mubarak away from power in February. The revolution, which took hundreds of lives to be complete, put an end to political succession plans by the president and his younger son and shed light on the former regime's massive financial corruption. After the revolution, however, several segments of Egyptian society expressed resolve to establish their own state, or at least institutions that satisfy their needs and express their demands. But this causes unease to officials in long-established institutions, including the professional unions, which consider themselves to be the sole representatives of their own members. “Professional unions have the job of protecting themselves and their own members,” said Ismail Fahmi, the head of Egypt's Workers' Union. Protection, however, does not seem to be a feasible action for the nation's traditional professional unions. Besieged by a plethora of lawsuits and complaints from members and non-members, these unions seem to be totally ineffective at best, unable to cope up with the changes taking place in Egypt these days at worst. Chairman of the board of the Press Syndicate Makram Mohamed Ahmed had to submit his resignation immediately after Mubarak stepped down amid accusations of supporting the former regime. Some board members, including el-Saady herself, submitted their resignations in protest against the inability of the syndicate to keep up with changes in post-revolution Egypt. Few other professional union leaders did the same, creating a state of defiance provoking the anger of long-time opponents of the Government in these unions. Fahmi says he was selected for his position in transparent and fair internal elections. Other professional union leaders say the same. But if this is true, why should members dissent? "Established unions will shrivel up and die one day or another whether we like it or not,” Ramadan, the labour activist, said. “The new union will focus on means of protecting the interests of their members. This will attract all workers to them, leaving the traditional unions high and dry,” she added.
