Ministry of Manpower workers sit-in dispersed

A workers sit-in outside the Ministry of Manpower calling for unemployment benefits, was dispersed Wednesday after security forces raided the premises.

Khamis Mohamed Sayed, a dismissed worker from PetroJet, explained at the sit-in that Minister of Manpower and Immigration Kamal Abu Eita had “promised unemployment benefits and the execution of court verdicts ordering the return of unfairly dismissed workers…Both of these promises did not transpire.”

“Two police vehicles with security forces raided the ministry headquarters and violently dispersed the sit-in,” Sayed said.

“We will pursue legal action and a complaint will be filed to the prosecutor against Prime Minister Hazem Al Beblawi, Abu Eita, and the police warden of the Nasr City police station,” Sayed added.

The Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) had called for a grant of EGP 500 to be paid to unemployed workers. Confusion occurred when Kamal Abu Eita thanked the ETUF for paying the monthly unemployment benefits, which quickly triggered a statement in response by the federation, clarifying that it was never their responsibility.

A representative from the ETUF added that the emergency fund for the Ministry of Manpower is the only source responsible for providing unemployment benefits, and the federation’s Secretary General Khalid Sha’aban said that the federation had sent reports to the government and ministers to intervene in reinstating workers facing unfair dismissal.

Sayed claimed that a phone call between Abu Eita and himself occurred after the dispersal, in which the minister denied he had anything to do with giving that order. Sayed said: “This is not true, it’s his ministry, [and] the revolution is officially dead.”

The number of workers within the ministry was almost 60 when the sit-in was announced Tuesday.