The Labor Act is making a comeback:Controversial labor legislation withdrawn from the House of Representatives last year will be restudied by the government, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said yesterday. Speaking at an event to mark Labor Day, the president said that representatives of employers and workers will be consulted on the bill (watch, runtime: 2:03:10).

Reminder: The bill was pulled from the House earlier this year to be redrafted by the government after backlash from the business community, which said the bill was lopsided in favor of workers. Prior to the redraft, the bill would have introduced new labor rights including legislating mandatory annual raises, caps on working hours, and longer maternity leave and notice periods, among other things.

Disability quotas: The president also said that the government will lean on public- and private-sector companies to meet the 5% employment quota for disabled workers. That tracks with anecdotal evidence Enterprise has of labor inspectors making the rounds in weeks to specifically review compliance with the quota,

Day laborers are getting an emergency fund: The Madbouly government will establish an emergency fund for day laborers and others in the informal economy, El Sisi said. The government will transfer the irregular workers’ social ins. dues to the fund and give them access to it in case of emergencies.

A one-time EGP 1k payout: Irregular workers not benefiting from ongoing social protection programs will be getting a one-time payment of EGP 1k as soon as the fund is established, El Sisi said.

The state calls these folks “irregular” workers — a term that applies to any part-time, seasonal, informal, or self-employed worker. Recent figures by Manpower Ministry officials put the number of irregular workers in Egypt at 10-11 mn. The government had disbursed a monthly EGP 500 stipend to seasonal workers throughout most of 2020 to help compensate them for lost income due to the pandemic.

ALSO- Aman ins. certificates are making a comeback,El Sisi said. The CDs were introduced in 2018 to provide ins. coverage and monthly pensions for irregular workers at 16% interest. The certificates required a deposit of between EGP 500-2.5k and offered coverage for natural and accidental death and one-time payments of EGP 10-250k or monthly pensions of EGP 200-1k over a five-year period. It is still unclear how the CDs will be adjusted to reflect recent inflationary pressures and the big dip the exchange rate has taken since 2018.

ALSO FROM EL SISI’S SPEECH:

  • Gov’t to push employers to comply with international labor standards;
  • Manpower Ministry to launch a platform for labor market information;
  • Ministries and private sector players to work towards gender equality in the workplace though the president stopped short of offering specific measures or targets;
  • State to launch a national campaign to encourage Egyptian youth to establish their own SMEs.
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