Universal Appliances workers resume strike after management falls short on promise to pay wages

Workers at Universal for Electric Appliances went on strike again on Tuesday after company management failed to stick to an agreed upon schedule for outstanding delayed wages and slashed the value of bonuses without warning.

Renewed protest action at Universal comes nearly two months after the conclusion of an earlier 20-day strike that was triggered by the September death of a laborer who suffered a heart attack as he worked overtime due to financial pressure.

Striking workers now insist on getting a lump sum payout of six months’ worth of incentive bonuses that were not distributed in 2021, and on management’s resuming risk allowance payments worth LE100-120 per month that have been suspended for three years.

Workers brought the labor action to an end in October after company management agreed to pay their delayed wages over a schedule following intervention from the Manpower Ministry. 

An agreement was made for September salaries to be paid out in two installments on November 20 and December 25, and for future salaries to be paid regularly between the first and the 10th of each month starting from October.

Yet, October salaries are still outstanding, while none of the administrative employees received their wages for September, one of the company’s workers told Mada Masr on the condition of anonymity.

Incentive bonuses are also late, and were slashed without warning. According to the October agreement, monthly production incentives were to be paid to workers between the 25th and 30th of each month, but the disbursement of November incentives was delayed until December 7 and workers received just LE100 instead of the normal rate of LE700, the worker explained.

The wage delay crisis at Universal dates back to 2019, when the Manpower Ministry responded to a worker strike at the time by agreeing to pay half the value of workers’ salaries from its own treasury for a six-month period. 

In July 2021, management stopped paying out salaries altogether. Hassan Mabrouk, the company’s general manager, previously told Mada Masr that the company has been suffering from a decline in sales since the flotation of the Egyptian currency in 2016.