3,200 workers stage sit-in over financial cuts ordered despite Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling posting LE1.49 bn in profit

Workers at the Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling Company have staged a sit-in since Saturday in protest of a decision by the company’s general assembly to reduce workers’ financial benefits, which came despite the fact that the company registered a net profit of LE1.49 billion in the last fiscal year. 

According to Ahmed Sadik, the head of the company’s trade union committee, 3,200 workers decided to stage a rotating sit-in, without halting production, to protest the general assembly’s decision to suspend the disbursement of the sports committee stipend — which covers recreational trips, hajj, umra, cultural activities and social events — and to reduce the total annual worker benefits from the equivalent of 47 months of salary to 20 months.

In protest of the decision, the trade union has sent letters to the president, the Cabinet, the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport, the General Intelligence Directorate and the National Security Agency. However, none of the parties has notified the union that they are willing to negotiate with the workers yet.

“The sports committee stipend amounts to 1.5 percent of the total profit, so it was supposed to be LE20 million. This share is stipulated by both the public business sector law and the sports law, and it is earmarked for all the activities of the sports committee,” says Sadik. The disbursement of this share started 30 years ago and “has never been halted once since then,” he adds.

“For an unknown reason, the representative of the Central Auditing Authority in the general assembly decided that disbursing this stipend requires permission from the State Council. And indeed, the company’s general assembly decided to suspend disbursement until they obtain this permission, even though the company’s employees built a sports club associated with the company last year, and this is the money they are supposed to spend on the club,” Sadik says. 

The company has been subject to the supervision of the Central Auditing Authority since it was listed as a public company on the Egyptian Exchange in August 1995. Its ownership is divided between the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport, which has an approximately 55 percent share in its capital, and the Alexandria Port Authority, which owns 40 percent of its shares. Meanwhile, the private sector owns approximately 5 percent of the company. 

“As for the workers’ financial benefits, there is the Board of Directors Benefit, which is equivalent to 21 months of workers’ monthly salaries. It is a benefit that is part of the annual salary budget that gets approved at the beginning of each fiscal year, only to be paid out at the end of it. It was introduced for the first time in FY 2011/2012, and its disbursement is contingent on exceeding the targets set in the company’s budget. It does not require approval by the company’s general assembly. Workers are also entitled to an Excellence Benefit that is worth 26 months of their monthly salaries. This benefit, however, needs the approval of the company’s general assembly. It has been disbursed since the establishment of the company and has never been halted,” Sadik says. 

On Tuesday, the head of the company’s board of directors told the trade union he supports the demands to guarantee their rights, according to Sadik.

The Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling Company was established in 1984 to handle cargo and marine services. Recently it entered into the real estate section, according to its information on the Egyptian Exchange. 

The head of the trade union committee explained to Mada Masr that the company’s general assembly also reduced the workers’ Excellence Benefit from 26 months to 20 months only. “This happened despite the fact that workers exceeded the target that was set out by the company’s strategic budget,” he says.

Workers have loaded and unloaded 914,000 containers in FY 2019/2020, surpassing the targeted 890,000 containers, according to Sadik, with work continuing at labor capacity despite the COVID-19 pandemic.