Workers at Talaat Moustafa Group company prevented from protesting twice, security guards hold short protest

Employees at the Alexandria Construction Company, one of Talaat Moustafa Group's largest construction subsidiaries, were prevented on Monday from gathering outside their offices in Madinaty to demand higher wages, two workers told Mada Masr.

Monday’s move by management marks the second time workers have been barred from protesting, after a planned protest on Sunday was scuttled when workers were suddenly given the day off on the pretext of an Emirati delegation visiting the company headquarters, a worker told Mada Masr at the time.

According to one of the workers, employees in several sectors of the company, particularly in the finance, service and engineering sectors, were kept from leaving their offices on Monday after security personnel closed the office buildings’ gates and managers discouraged the employees from going outside.

The two sources attributed this to the company’s management trying to prevent employees from forming a second protest outside the main company headquarters in Madinaty, where a police vehicle has been present since the morning, they noted.

Despite management’s attempts to curtail labor action, Monday witnessed a short-lived protest as hundreds of the company’s security guards demanded higher wages and better benefits, working hours and vacations, one of the guards told Mada Masr.

“Our salaries are very weak at LE3,000. We work for over 14 hours a day, unlike the rest of the employees. We receive the quarterly bonus at a lower percentage than them,” the guard explained.

He said that the guards refused to start their shift on Monday morning to instead demand higher wages, longer contracts, better compensation for their long hours and overtime, increased transport, residence and meal allowances, and being allowed to actually benefit from their annual vacation days.

One of the company’s security heads met with the guards within 30 minutes, promising that their salaries would be raised within two months and prompting them to conclude the protest, the source added.

Workers at the company previously told Mada Masr that employees across its different sectors were planning a second protest after management responded to their first protest, which took place on Wednesday in New Cairo’s Madinaty, with raises that did not meet the employees’ demands.

Several workers who spoke to Mada Masr last week accused management of keeping salaries low, withholding bonuses, and seeking to lay off tenured workers in recent years despite a rapid increase in costs of living amid Egypt's ongoing inflationary crisis driven by severe foreign currency shortages and the devaluation of the pound.

The past two years saw the pound lose half its value, with the price of the dollar rising from LE15 to LE30 in less than a year and soaring even higher in the informal market, while inflation, particularly in food prices, kept rising to record highs. The construction company’s exploitative policies come despite the fact that Talaat Mostafa Group sits atop Egypt’s real estate sector — with tripled sales 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.

The company's management had promised workers after their first protest that their demands of increasing wages and stopping the recent waves of layoffs would be considered. But only a 15 percent raise was announced, which a worker speaking to Mada Masr described as meager considering the very low wages on which the percentage is calculated. Two other workers separately explained that the new raise only amounted to an extra LE500 for each of them.

Talaat Moustafa Group is one of the biggest private real estate developers in the country. The group came out on top of the real estate market in 2023, with sales amounting to LE140 billion — a 322 percent annual increase despite Egypt’s ongoing economic crisis.

The company has also taken a preeminent position in state-led projects, including in a contract to develop seven state-owned historic hotels and another to partner with Emirati sovereign fund ADQ in the landmark Ras al-Hikma deal.