CAIRO – Wage imbalances in several Government sectors created a wide gap between lower and upper echelons of the administrative hierarchy and became a major feature of social injustice in this country. A few months before the revolution, an administrative court ruling recommended a minimum monthly wage of LE1200 ($201) that would guarantee the lowest degree of a decent life. To this date, the ruling has not come into effect. There is much talk about determining not only a minimum but also a maximum for salaries in pursuit of social balance. In the wake of the January revolution, bankers staged protests about what they deemed an unfair payment system, where someone with a high profile can get around 200 times the salary of an average banker in the same establishment. In a country where about 40 per cent of over 80 million people live below the poverty line, the discrepancy between the have and have-nots produced many social woes which actually triggered the January revolution. The incumbent Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, Hazem el-Beblawi, said that setting this vital record straight was one of his main priorities. He admitted that the ‘chaos' governing remuneration in banks and ministries had to end. According to Basant Fahmi, a private bank advisor, there was a huge difference between the salaries of leading bankers and their actual incomes. “They get increments for committee representation, a percentage of the bank's net profit and other allowances.” She admitted that a basic salary could grow 1500 times, when such increments were added. This situation needs to be addressed; it is ridiculous that the annual income of a key banking figure could exceed presidential allocations, Fahmi told Al-Wafd Arabic daily newspaper. She refuted, however, the common belief that private sector banks were more generous than their public equivalents. In the opinion of Abdel Nabie Abdel Moteleb, an economic expert at the Ministry of Trade, banks represented the sector that was most affected by wage differences. He held the flawed pay scale responsible for the spread of corruption, particularly with respect to credit activities, where a limited number of businessmen close to the ruling circle were granted substantial loans with no real guarantees. Abdel Moteleb explained that these businessmen knew how to lure low-paid employees into deals. He was much in favour of fixing a maximum limit for wages. The economic expert believed that setting a wage ceiling would curb extravagant consumer habits. “The spending habits of the upper classes have to be drastically changed in order to secure social balance and at the same time reduce imports”, Abdel Moteleb told the same paper. There have been suggestions that highest paid Government employees should get no more than 36 times the salary of the lowest-paid civil servants. However, the Government has not been specific about details, although there are promises that this issue will receive priority within a few months. Workers in many public institutions such as petroleum companies, TV as well as press institutions are currently demanding a complete restructuring of the pay scale to secure social stability and reduce class differences.
