CENTER FOR TRADE UNION & WORKERS SERVICES

( CTUWS )
Honored the French Republic’s Human Rights Prize

Serious Worrying Developments

Draft Law Criminalizes the Right to Strike
In a serious and worrying development the Egyptian cabinet of ministers approved
today 23/3/2011 a draft law which, according to newspapers and media, criminalizes
some cases of sit-ins, protests and gatherings which hamper work in public or private
paces. The draft law penalizes those who incite ins, protests and gatherings with
imprisonment and heavy penalties which reach EGP 500 000. It is decided to submit
the draft law to the Supreme Military Council for final consideration and adoption.
Although the complete suggested draft law which the Cabinet approved is not made
available, it is understood from the news from the Cabinet and statements of the
Deputy Prime Minister that it is a draft law amending the Egyptian Penal Law to
criminalize the aforementioned acts or to make penalties heavier. Whatever the
provisions may be, it is a legal disaster by all means. It is a return to penalize the right
to go in strike.
The Egyptian workers have struggled for decades to maintain the right to strike. They
paid the price when they were imprisoned, transferred or killed. There were martyrs
in the Iron and Steel strikes of 19989, Kafr el Dawar strikes of 1994 and Mehalla el
Kobra strikes of 2008.
Article 124 of the Egyptian Penal Law which criminalizes the right to strike is a
witness that the regime was reactionary and had the fingerprints of the 19th century. It
violated the international labour conventions which are ratified by the Egyptian
government and put in the waste basket.
Article 124 of the Egyptian Penal Law which is not different from the suggested draft
law was a curse in the history of the regime in Egypt. When the railway workers went
in strike in 1986 Mubarak’s regime asked to apply that infamous Article against
them. But the Egyptian judiciary ruled that Article 124 is automatically annulled
since the date of ratification by the government of Egypt on the International
Convention of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The government was obliged to abide by the ILO Conventions and to confirm in the
Labour Law No. 12/2003 the workers right to strike. In spite of the restrictions which
made the application of the right to strike next to impossible, the labour movement
utilized this right extensively during the last four years.

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The Egyptian workers did not start to move after 25th January 2011. On the contrary,
they were on the vanguard of the revolution until it reached its summit and would not
stop until the realization of the workers demands or at least the workers are assured
that their demands are on the way for achievement.
It was unfortunate that the Egyptian transitional governments after the revolution
could not read the Egyptian labour movement or recognize its features and fair
demands. Their stance was not much different from that of the regime of Mubarak
and exceeded it when they called our strikes “categorical movements which hinder
transformation to the required democratic society”. It is worrying that democracy is
summarized in parliamentary and presidential elections under the supervision of the
judiciary and opening towards the Muslim Brethren while they disregard the
liberation of the civil society and the workers’ rights to develop their stances and
negotiate for gaining their rights.
The obligations announced by the supreme military council since the first day it took
authority do not stop at observing political and economic agreements. But they
include human rights and ILO conventions which are contravened by the suggested
draft law which criminalizes strikes under any justification.
The Center for Trade Union and Workers Services “CTUWS” and the Egyptian
Federation of independent Trade Unions are calling since 14th February to develop a
suitable mechanism for negotiations and reaching time frames for resolving the
essential problems of the workers (especially those elated to wages and informal
workers) and resolving conflicts in connection with work conditions and labour
relations.
We are undoubtedly aware of the difficulties of the transit period with its serious
risks and critical economic conditions. We are also aware of the necessity to have
sufficient stability and better economic conditions. We trust that getting out of the
bottle neck will lead to a better future and greater horizons.
But overcoming the serious conditions of our society before the revolution of 25
January and confronting the transitional period with its difficulties cannot be
achieved without the participation of all the social parties in serious negotiations until
a clear cut map of the road is reached.
We do not deny the difficulties that the government of Dr. Essam Sharaf has
confronted since its first day, and we do not deny the efforts of the Minister of
Manpower and the Minister of Finance in the dialogue and negotiations with workers
in some sites and their action to fulfill their just rights.
But the government of Egypt is still far from dealing with the Egyptian workers as
citizens and partners in decision making who have the right to access knowledge and
discuss their conditions.
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Real democracy does not stop at the level of representation .. it is not a parliament or
a consultative council. It is the independent unions and the civil society organizations
which express the real demands of the workers and lobby for their realization. They
are active democratic mechanisms for negotiations, participation in decision making
and social supervision of the social resources which were being stolen for many years
in the absence of democracy.
Issuing a law to criminalize strikes now, whatever the justifications might be or even
if it was temporary, will be unfair to the revolution which about 1000 Egyptians paid
their lives for it. It is not an acceptable or useful solution to the current problems. On
the contrary, it will widen the gap which started to appear between the people and the
authorities which are running the country at the present time.
We call upon the government of Egypt to withdraw the suggested draft law and call
upon the Supreme Military Council to refrain from issuing it. Instead, we call for
social dialogue by all the political powers, civil society organizations, workers
representatives and employers representatives. We also call for the development of an
active and regular mechanism for societal negotiations.
Wednesday 23/3/2011
The Center for Trade Union and Workers Services “CTUWS”, and
The Egyptian Independent Trade Union Federation
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