By Tamim Elyan
CAIRO: The Egyptian Trade Unions Federation (ETUF) said that it will hold its internal elections between October and November under complete judicial supervision to elect new leaderships that will hold office until 2016.
The organizing committee held its first meeting Saturday and said that the elections will be held according to Law 35 of 1987 in three phases over the course of two months.
“We will organize the elections in accordance with local laws and international agreements and will inform the Ministry of Manpower, and if it refuses to cooperate, we will depend on our staff,” said Mohamed Morsi, head of the elections committee and secretary general of the ETUF.
The procedures will be approved by ETUF’s board before it is discussed at an emergency general assembly in September.
The ETUF faces a disbandment suit filed by labor activists based on judicial rulings that its previous elections were forged and its leaders were engaged in organizing attacks on protesters in Tahrir Square during the 18-day uprising that toppled the previous regime.
Workers are also demanding the replacement of Law 35 with a new law guaranteeing the right to establish independent syndicates.
“The case was refused by the Administrative Court because it wasn’t its specialization and even if the ruling was to disband the ETUF, this would only be implemented on the current board not the new one which will be elected,” Morsi said.
Morsi criticized the newly formed independent syndicates and trade unions saying that they included a small number of labor figures that were not democratically elected from base to top.
He demanded the discharge of the Minister of Manpower Ahmed Al-Boraie, accusing him of backing the new independent syndicates law.
Four labor rights centers including the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) and Hisham Mubarak Law Center demanded the resignation of Al-Boraie as well after failing to disband the ETUF.
“After the protest we held last Tuesday in front of the ministry, we are waiting for Deputy Prime Minister Ali Al-Silmy to meet us and resolve the issue as promised,” Morsi said.
Kamal Abbas, general coordinator of the Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services (CTUWS) said that the elections will not take place.
“We will file a lawsuit to suspend the elections until a ruling is issued in the case we raised to disband the ETUF and already the government is discussing its disbandment based on 147 court rulings proving that the previous elections was forged,” he said.
The CTUWS withdrew from the process of forming the Egyptian Independent Trade Unions Federation (EITUF) due to internal conflicts. However, Abbas said that the union is still being established by other labor activists and that the idea wasn’t abandoned.
Abbas backed Al-Boraie saying that he presented to Cabinet a decision to disband the ETUF and a draft independent syndicates law.
“If the elections take place, there will be violent confrontations among workers who won’t accept the same leaders to represent them again … the ETUF needs the support of the ministry to hold the elections,” Abbas said.
Meanwhile, sector protests continued as more than 50 workers from Sahari Petroleum Service, owned by member of the disbanded NDP Akaml Qortam, organized a protest against the company’s harsh policies against workers and demanding their financial rights.
Workers from Al-Nasr automotive and Iron and Steel Company have also been holding a sit-in demanding their financial rights.
