Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Egypt (Ratification: 1957)

Previously, the Committee had raised a number of points concerning the right of workers to join organizations of their own choosing and the right to strike (Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention). In particular, the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary measures to:

–      amend section 19(f) of the Trade Union Act, No. 35 of 1976, as amended by Act No. 12 of 1995, so that all workers are able to join more than one organization, if they so wish, in order to be able to defend their occupational interests in cases where they are engaged in more than one occupation;

–      ensure that the categories of workers excluded from the scope of the Labour Code (public servants in state agencies who do not exercise authority in the name of the State, including local public administrations and public authorities; domestic and similar workers; and workers who are members of the employer’s family and dependent upon the latter) enjoy the right to strike;

–      amend section 192 of the Labour Code so as to ensure that there is no legal obligation for workers’ organizations to specify the duration of a strike;

–      amend section 69(9) of the Labour Code to ensure that workers who have participated in legitimate strike action are not penalized on the grounds that the strike notice does not specify the duration of the strike.

The Committee notes that the Government indicates that following the discussion that took place at the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2008, a technical assistance mission visited the country in April 2009. Furthermore, the Government indicates that at the end of the mission the representatives of the social partners and the Government issued a joint Memorandum of Understanding in which they agreed to participate in a tripartite symposium to be organized by the ILO Subregional Office so as to discuss the challenges faced by Egypt in the application of the Convention, to review the experiences of other member States, and to formulate proposals on subsequent steps so as to take into account the Committee’s comments. In these circumstances, the Committee expresses the hope that the symposium will take place in the very near future and that measures will be taken to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to inform it of any developments in this regard.

Recalling that it has been commenting upon these legislative matters for several years, the Committee expresses the hope that the Government will be in a position to indicate in its next report the progress made with respect to the legislative amendments, and reminds the Government that the technical assistance of the Office is at its disposal in this regard.