Beshay Steel workers strike, demand wage increase

Workers of Beshay Steel are on strike for higher wages, claiming that the private sector company’s compensation is low compared to other competitors in the industry, several of them told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

The workers, who first conducted a three-day sit-in at Beshay Steel in the industrial Sadat City, began their strike on Thursday. 

“I have been working in the company since 2013 and my net salary is less than LE4,200 [around US$218],” one worker said. The wage complaints come as Egypt’s rate of domestic inflation, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effect on global supply chains, hit a three-year peak over April and May. Consumer goods and strained household budgets nationwide were stretched once again in July by hikes to the cost of diesel and other fuels.

Ten days before starting the strike, the workers sent a list of wage-related demands to the company’s management, the worker said, which included 30 percent annual increases to 2020 net salaries, a cost-of-living allowance for 2021 set at 15 percent of net salary, as well as increases to hazard pay and housing, transportation and meal allowances. Workers are also demanding the end of a practice used by management to skirt the legal requirement to offer workers permanent contracts and annual wage increases after four years of employment.

Workers are also demanding the end of a practice used by management to skirt the legal requirement to offer workers permanent contracts and annual wage increases after four years of employment.

Many workers are on annual contracts, which the worker says the company's management intentionally ends each year, only to offer them new one-year contracts, effectively resetting the clock on their service.

While workers who were hired before 2013 were ultimately contracted on a permanent basis, many of them face constant pressure to terminate their contracts, said another striking worker, who has been employed at Beshay Steel for 17 years.

“We face threats, such as being denied annual pay raises, or receiving very low raises if workers insist on continuing with permanent contracts,” the second worker said, noting that his net salary is still about LE 5,000 (around $260). 

The company's trade union committee did not support the current strike, according to several other workers, who accused the union of siding with Beshay Steel’s administration.