Unemployment: domestic demand for Egyptian employees fell by 42 per cent year-on-year, while requests by other countries dropped 19.2 per cent.

Ahram Online, Monday 9 Jul 2012

Demand for Egyptian workers fell by around 20 per cent in the year to May, data from the Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) showed on Monday.

The centre's Labour Demand index shows that domestic demand for Egyptian employees fell by 42 per cent year-on-year, while requests by other countries dropped 19.2 per cent.

Demand for higher-educated labour slumped from 345 points in May 2011 to 291 points in May 2012. 

There was slightly more cheering news on a monthly basis, with the index rising a mild 7 per cent between April and May.

The index, which uses 2002 data as its base year, traces demand for Egyptian labour based on vacancies announced in national newspapers.

In May, Egypt's state-run statistics body showed the country's official jobless rate was continuing to rise, hitting 12.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.

Figures from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) showed 3.4 million unemployed people in Egypt at the end of March 2012 -- a rise of 62,000 on the fourth quarter of the previous year.

In April, the Arab Labour Organisation predicted that unemployment in the Arab world will reach at least 16 per cent in the wake of last year's uprisings.

Guess why?

Thousands of Mahalla textile workers strike to remove CEO

Delta town sees fresh labour unrest as employees of Egypt's largest textile factory demand a greater share of profits and the resignation of senior management

Ahram Online, Sunday 15 Jul 2012

Thousands of textile workers at the state-owned Mahalla Misr Spinning and Weaving company began a strike on Sunday morning demanding the removal of the company's chairman and upper management.

Workers at the industrial complex in the Delta town of Mahalla El-Kobra are also calling for a greater share of 2011 profits and increases in end of service remunerations. 

Company employees currently receive profit shares equivalent to four and a half-months of their labour, not the full year. 

When they leave their jobs, workers receive a bulk payment equivalent to two months of pay for every year with the company -- protesters demand this be increased to three months.

Struggling Cleopatra Ceramics workers ask President to pressure CEO

Dozens of Cleopatra workers travel from Suez to Cairo to ask President Mohamed Morsi to pressure CEO Abul-Einein to fulfil deferred promises on wages and benefits

Ahram Online, Monday 2 Jul 2012

Ahmed Salah, the representative of the Cleopatra Ceramics workers union in Suez, stated that President Mohamed Morsi will meet with a delegation of five workers from Cleopatra Ceramics Factory in Ain Sokhna to listen to their requests and concerns in the struggle they face with Cleopatra's chairman Mohamed Abul-Einein.

The meeting will also be attended by five workers from Al-Asher Ramadan branch of the company, who are in solidarity with their colleagues from the Ain Sokhna factory.

The workers say that Abul-Einein has reneged on a recent pledge to pay staff bonuses and share profits.

The Cleopatra Ceramics workers dispute has been the largest workplace struggle in Egypt throughout the last six months.

During his presidential campaign, Morsi pledged that he would address the demands of the Cleopatra workers.

In March around 4,000 of the 6,000 workers at Cleopatra Ceramics factory in Ain Sokhna initiated a strike demanding salary increases, bonus payments and a share of company profits. 

In May, work at the factory had been frozen for 12 days after management stopped the complementary transport which takes employees between their homes and company premises.

Employees accused Abul-Einein of cutting the service to punish them for demanding pay increases and additional benefits, and said that the cost of public transport was a large expense out of their salaries. 

In response to cutting the transport service, around 4,000 of the factory's employees staged a long-running sit-in in front of the governor's office in Suez city to protest the company's actions. 

Established in 1983, Cleopatra Ceramics says it has a presence in more than 100 world markets. Its factory in Ain Sokhna is one of the largest ceramics plants in the Middle East.

The firm's chairman, Abul-Einein, was a member of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s now-defunct National Democratic Party. Following last year's uprising he was summoned for questioning in a number of corruption cases. No charges were brought against him.

Employees storm Egypt education ministry to demand pay raises

Workers interrupt press conference held by Education Minister Gamal El-Arabi to demand pay hikes; Minister accuses them of exploiting political situation to demand 'undeserved' perks

Ahram Online, Monday 16 Jul 2012

Hundreds of education ministry employees raided the ministry’s Cairo headquarters on Monday to demand salary raises.

Disgruntled employees interrupted a press conference being held by Education Minister Gamal El-Arabi, chanting: "We don’t want him; he's a crook!"

As of press time, the ministry's security detail was attempting to stop workers from storming El-Arabi's office.

The minister, for his part, has accused employees of exploiting the current political situation to demand what he called "rights they don’t deserve." He went on to assert that employees had already received salary raises.

"They're saying they don’t want me? I don't want them!" El-Arabi was quoting as saying. He added that they should have voiced their demands in a “better way” rather than by “making a scene.”

El-Arabi had been scheduled to convene a press conference at 2pm on Monday afternoon to announce high school examination results.

Hundreds protest in Suez to pressure Saudi-owned company

Staff from the United Sugar Company besiege the Saudi Arabian consulate after company management ignores their pay demands

Ahram Online, Monday 16 Jul 2012

Hundreds of workers of the United Sugar Company (USCE) protested at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Suez governorate on Monday to press their demands for extra pay.

Around 350 staff from USCE, which is majority-owned by the Saudi-based Savola Group, gathered at the consulate in Port Tawfiq, saying company officials had ignored their previous protests. A 20-day sit-in staged at USCE's factory in Ain Sokha Port has brought production there to a halt.

Workers are demanding they be paid a new risk allowance, ranging from LE500 to LE900 per month. Some claim to be allergic to materials used in the packaging of the company's sugar products.

USCE employs roughly 520 workers at its Ain Sokhna premises.

"The representative of the Saudi group told us that the board of directors have refused to meet our demands. They're threatening to shut the factory and lay off workers," said Talaat Mahmoud, a member of the workers syndidate.

Mahmoud added that workers intend to travel to the Egyptian capital on Tuesday to continue their protests at the Saudi embassy.

USCE workers also went on strike in February to demand a greater share of company profits.

The Saudi-listed Savola Group has 100 per cent ownership of four Egypt-based companies, as well as other interests in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

Savola saw gross profits of $269 million in the first quarter of 2012, up from $234.6m in the same period the year before, according to the firm's website.

And those are just the famous cases but there is much much more!