Engineers at Talaat Moustafa company demand higher wages, better healthcare

Engineers working for the Alexandria Construction Company, one of Talaat Moustafa Group’s biggest construction subsidiaries, demonstrated at several sites on Wednesday to demand higher wages and better healthcare coverage.

Wednesday’s demonstration is the third time within a month that employees from different departments of Alexandria Construction have taken labor action against low wages and benefits.

The company shot down other attempts to protest wages in early March.

Around 400 engineers gathered today outside the company’s offices in Madinaty, an upscale gated community in New Cairo, while some more engineers protested at the company's Celia and Noor real estate projects’ sites in the new administrative capital, one of the engineers told Mada Masr, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of facing retribution.

Around an hour after engineers began the demonstration, senior managers asked to meet representatives of the corps of workers and of other departments in the company to hear everyone’s demands. The protestors agreed, the source said, and concluded their demonstration shortly afterward.

In a memo submitted to management on Wednesday, of which Mada Masr obtained a copy, the engineers cited skyrocketing inflation during the past two years and the decline in the pound’s exchange value from LE15.6 to the US dollar in 2022 to around LE48 at present. They demanded a new salary structure, more comprehensive healthcare coverage and regular bonuses, as was previously promised, with profit-based bonuses on national holidays.

According to the engineer, raises were made after the workers protested in late February, but they were not at all sufficient to cover rising prices. “The raise was LE1,500. With it now, my salary is LE8,000, after 13 years of work, eight of them at the company. Salaries in my specialty and experience level start at LE25,000 abroad. Career progression is also halted, so my position has been the same since I was hired,” they said.

There has been discrimination in bonuses between engineers as well, the source noted, with some receiving quarterly bonuses while others receive them monthly with no clear criteria.

Several workers who spoke to Mada Masr in late February accused management of keeping salaries low, discriminating in bonuses and benefits based on nepotism, and seeking to lay off tenured workers in recent years despite a rapid increase in costs of living amid Egypt’s ongoing inflationary crisis.

Hundreds of employees from the company’s multiple sectors, including site supervisors, drivers, accountants, secretaries and office attendants, protested the low salaries, bonuses and layoffs in late February before being promised a raise.

In early March, the company maneuvered twice to prevent another demonstration when the raises were found insufficient, including giving workers a sudden day off on the pretext of an Emirati delegation visiting the company headquarters. According to the source, that day was cut from the employees’ annual vacation days despite earlier promises that they would be paid for it.

Security guards held a quick protest on March 4, also to demand higher wages, with management responding within 30 minutes with promises in response to the demands.

Talaat Moustafa Group sits atop Egypt’s real estate sector — with its sales tripling in 2023 despite the economic crisis. The group is also prominently involved in major state-led projects, including a partnership with the UAE in the recent landmark Ras al-Hikma deal.