The protests took place during the reporting period were not confined to factory workers, home delivery workers or nurses, but they extended to include Chalets’ owners at Marina in Egypt’s North Coast and “Mountain View Hyde Park” compound. On the 2nd of August, a number of chalet owners in Marina El Alamein staged a protest vigil to object to the poor services, the Tourist Villages Authority canceling the homeowners association and the arbitrary dismissal of its members representing Marina Owners by Al-Taameer Company’s board of directors. Also, on 15 August, dozens of residents of “Mountain View Hyde Park”, owned by “Mountain View” company, organized a protest to denounce the company’s failure to abide by the contract signed with them.

During the reporting period (from 1 to 15 August), ANHRI’s Trade Unions, Labor Protests and Social Movements Monitoring Center monitored 10 protest movements, including 7 labor and professional protests in addition to three social protests.

 

  • Protesting methods:

 

Protests came at the forefront of the protest methods during the reporting period with five protests, followed by “threatening to protest, submitting petitions or complaints) in the second place with two cases each, while “sit-ins” came third with only one case.

The most important protests:

  1. On 5 August, a number of delivery captains from “Otlob” application for online delivery services threatened to enter a labor strike at Al-Monandesin district, after the company decided to reduce the fee for a single delivery order from 17 LE to 8 LE.
  2. On 6 August 2020, workers at Al-Ofuq Investment and Industrial Development Company (Ceramica Granito) entered a sit-in inside the company to protest the company’s inaction and neglect towards their demands. The sit-in continued until the workers decided to break it on August 11 after the company’s general manager met with them, listened to their financial and administrative demands and demonstrated flexible response to all their demands.
  3. On 7 August, dozens of employees at the Misr Electric Company for the manufacture of lamps in Mubarak Industrial Area in Quesna, Menoufia Governorate, organized a protest in front of the company, after the company’s owner decided to close the company’s doors in front of the workers banning them from work and from receiving their financial dues.
  4. On 10 August, Taxi drivers in al-Mahalla al-Kubra in al-Gharbia governorate organized a protest vigil at night on al-Bahr Street, following the abuse and harassment they were subjected to at the hands of Tuk-tuk drivers. The protesters demanded the enactment of laws.
  5. On 15 August, dozens of nursing staff and workers at El-Obour Health Insurance Hospital in Kafr El-Sheikh governorate organized a protest in solidarity with their colleague who died of COVID-19 infection during her work at one of the quarantine hospitals. The protesters pointed to the lack of personal protective equipment in the hospitals they worked at.
  6. On 15 August, workers at the “Song In” Garments Factory in Salhia City filed a complaint at the City Labor Office against the factory owners, because of their arbitrariness as they forced workers to violate the work regulations, deducted their salaries, and laid off 200 workers out of 950 of the factory’s capacity.

Distribution of protests in Egypt’s governorates

Cairo governorate topped all the governorates with three protests, while Menoufia governorate came second with 2 protests that took place during the reporting period, followed by the following governorates: Giza, Kafr El Sheikh, Marsa Matrouh, Sharqyia, and Gharbia, with one protest each.

  • The protesting sectors

The protests took place during the reporting period were concentrated in the “contracting and building materials,” sector, followed by the “transport and communications” sector by two cases,  then came the sectors of (construction and timber industry, education and scientific research, health, spinning and weaving, and metallurgical and engineering industries) with one protest each.