CAIRO: As security trucks stand guard in front of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) fearing retaliation from its disbanded board, members of the temporary committee assigned to run it until elections in October roam around its offices freely, many entering it for the first time.
There is a new spirit of freedom and victory inside the 10-storey building that was once a tool to crush labor movements in Egypt; workers are now happy that their “money is back to them" and that someone would support them in their struggle.
"We never dreamt that we would head of the federation that we used to protest in front which gives us a sense of responsibility to achieve our goal of transforming it to an organization that truly represents the hopes and demands of Egyptian workers," said Nagy Rashad, a socialist labor activist who is now a member of the committee.
Earlier this month, due to the efforts of Minister of Manpower Ahmed Al- Boraie, the Cabinet agreed to implement court rulings deeming ETUF’s 2006 elections as forged and thus its board as illegitimate and disbanded it in a decision that many considered a major revolutionary step in overthrowing one of the ousted regime’s strong tools of oppression.
"This is one of the most important decisions by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s government as it introduced democracy to labor life after it was managed by boards who took orders from the authority," said Nabil Abdel Fattah, political expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
"Similar decisions are to be issued regarding local councils; we are still waiting for the drafting of a new law organizing them," he added.
Workers who have been forming their independent trade unions to claim their rights in absence of an effective role for the ETUF now see an opportunity for a better future in which they will be represented and in control of their fate.
"We have been part of the labor struggle and we came to restructure the ETUF, end corruption, prepare for fair elections that would produce a federation that truly represents workers and push for the syndicate freedoms law to put the labor movement on the right track and set an example to Egypt," said Yousry Bayoumi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s labor center "Al-Sawa’ed" and member of the committee.
The 10-man interim committee, comprising labor activists from across the political spectrum, formed sub-committees to prepare for the elections under complete judicial supervision and to review Central Auditing Agency reports to uncover corruption and return ETUF’s money.
The committee held meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Ali Al-Selamy, who promised the issuance of the syndicate freedoms law which workers prepared to replace law 35 for the year 1976, as well as meetings with workers to listen to their problems.
"We are still in the phase of restructuring the ETUF and forming its administrative committees; we hope that we would relate this entity to workers and provide assistance and legal support before a crisis takes place," said Ahmed Abdel Zaher, head of the interim committee.
"We also want to increase the efficiency of our offices in governorates to act as watchdogs for us and send periodical reports of any problems facing workers in their governorates, as well as develop the labor culture," he added.
Abdel Zaher said they also want to develop a new relationship with the Ministry of Manpower in which they enjoy complete independence and only ask for technical support from the ministry when needed.
Former leaders of the ETUF, ousted from the board but still at their posts at the head of general trade unions, said that they won’t give up and that they will challenge the Cabinet’s decisions at the administrative court because the executive authority doesn’t have the right to interfere in labor affairs as stated in international agreements.
"We need a decision to disband general trade unions whose leaders are still at their posts and are working against us and we mustn’t be afraid of retaliation because we have more than 95 percent of workers supporting us," Bayoumi said.
Abdel Zaher is adopting a more flexible approach and is willing to accept former leaders of the ETUF in co-managing the federation.
"They are our colleagues and the decision to disband was because of an administrative fault by the former minister Aisha Abdel Hady not a violation they committed; at least we haven’t proven anything yet," he said
However, Rashad said the former leadership of the ETUF already proved its weakness after failing to gather its 25,000 syndicate and trade union leaders in a demonstration against Al- Boraie, only gathering 700.
The method of dealing with corruption incidents by former leaders sparked a similar debate as some suggest that they should immediately be referred to the General Prosecutor while others want to give them time to return the money and resort to legal actions if they don’t comply.
The committee faces a bigger challenge in issuing the syndicates freedoms law that allows the establishment of independent trade unions ahead of the elections or else they will have to amend the legal "woes" of law 35 for the year 1976 which would be a "hard and inefficient" process.
The current law gives the ETUF administration authorities to control general trade unions financially, give authorization for strikes, confine labor organization within itself only and have complete control of the election process.
The committee also seeks to unite all workers under the umbrella of the ETUF by persuading independent trade unions to join.
According to Rashad, members of independent trade unions showed positive signs of unity and wanting to be represented by an office inside the ETUF building.
Members of the committee stressed, however, that the only way to achieve their ambitious goals is to unify their view and goals among themselves.
"We believe that syndicate work is a social and human process in which we should separate from our political affiliations and we are committed to that," Bayoumi said.
Members of the committee promised workers that they will see the ETUF’s administration joining them in the streets during sit-ins until they get their rights.
