“Suez Canal Clubs” management suspends union activities and refrains from sending its members’ subscriptions
The Workers’ Union of Suez Canal Authority Clubs is subjected to repeated targeting and abuse, finding itself forced to confront the suspension of its activities by the Ministry of Labor, hindering its ability to fulfill its financial obligations towards its members, including the payment of workers’ salaries and securing the union’s headquarters and facilities. Additionally, a portion of the workers’ salaries for February 2024 was unjustly deducted as the monthly subscription of the union, without any indication that these funds have been directed to the union’s account so far.
The club’s management justifies its decision not to send the deducted subscriptions from the salaries to the union, claiming that it is not representative of the workers and lacks an elected board, despite holding a legitimate general assembly and forming an administrative council, in accordance with the law.
The decision could have serious implications, aiming to disable the union’s work in a manner that violates the law and the constitution, depriving its members of their rights to collective bargaining, representation, collecting subscriptions, and other essential roles. Moreover, it indicates the nature of the government’s dealings with unions.
From its side, The Egyptian Center condemns these attacks in the strongest terms, expressing its full solidarity with the workers in the Suez Canal Authority Clubs, urging them to continue demanding their legitimate rights.
The Egyptian Center views these attacks as a blatant violation of workers’ rights and their legitimate representation through their unions, an attempt to suppress labor organizing, and undermine the role of unions in defending the rights of the working class.
The Workers’ Union of Suez Canal Authority Clubs was established on February 12, 2012, following the declaration of trade union freedoms by the Minister of Labor and Immigration. It is the first union for workers in the Suez Canal Authority Clubs, as its workers did not have any union committees affiliated with the (governmental) General Union of Egyptian Workers.
In 2018, it adjusted its status according to the Trade Unions Organizations Law and the protection of the right to trade union organization No. 213 of 2017 and its executive regulations dated March 29, 2018. The Labor Force Directorate published a certificate in the Egyptian Official Gazette on February 12, 2020, confirming this. Since then, the union has been working hard to represent and protect the rights of workers in the Suez Canal Authority Clubs, despite the persecution and illegal practices it faces.
The union has been subjected to a series of arbitrary actions by the Ministry of Labor in several instances, most notably the trade union elections in 2018 and 2022, where candidates were removed, and the elections were obstructed, prompting its members to hold a legitimate general assembly and form an administrative council.
The Egyptian Center calls on the relevant authorities, especially the Ministry of Labor, to take the necessary measures to rectify this situation. It expresses its full solidarity with the union and its president, emphasizing the importance of respecting workers’ rights and unions’ obligations to defend them independently and effectively. It urges the responsible authorities to abide by the law, ensure workers’ and unions’ rights, and take necessary actions to address these situations quickly and effectively, to establish a fair and stable working environment for all workers in Egypt.
