Labor | Civil Service Law Press Conference Statement
Civil Service Law number 18 of 2015 was issued in the wake of the Egypt Economic Conference that was held in Sharm El-Sheikh last March. The law was frozen and under scrutiny in news outlets and social media, and the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) organized sessions to study its articles last May. More than 25 trade union announced they refuse the law part and parcel.
When the law was applied and reflected on salaries in the end of July, the administrative arm, including tax authorities, customs and public transport were infuriated. The successful protest stand the sales tax union organized in front of the Journalists Syndicate was a sign that the Egyptian public regained the right to demonstrate, which is a direct hit to the protest law. The stand gathered 5000 protesters in front of the Syndicate at Abd-el-Khaliq Sharwat St, a reminder of the days of grand protests. The protesters also warned of a wave of mass protests under the name of Employees Revolution.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) is holding this conference to shed light on how this law will affect millions of civil servants, in addition to the philosophy behind it amid loud government statements that the law aims at reforming the administrative system despite the recent exceptions for certain sectors who remain governed by law 47 of 1978.
ECESR confirms that the administrative system is clearly dysfunctional, and that overemployment is one of the problems that led to this unsatisfactory state. But these structural problems resulted from tens of years of misguided laws and decisions.
There is no way the Egyptian employee can be blamed for such problems. Legislation cannot also be issued without real dialogue with employees whose job security is on the line. In fact, many of the articles in this law are directed towards regulations that can be easily changed. It does not set out the rules governing the rights and duties of the civil servant. According to the law, all these aspects can be replaced through administrative decisions without referring to the parliament.
Finally, ECESR supports the demands of six million employees affected by the new law, who constitute 21% of paid workers in Egypt. These employees were the leading labor protesters from 2000 to the 25 January 2011 revolution with an average of 41% of the overall protests. This average rose to 63% in the last four years, a reminder that their demands and injustice goes a long way. They will continue until they their demands are met because their cause is just.
