Workers launch strike at razor factories demanding new minimum wage rate, right to unionize

Some 2,000 workers at Lord for Industry and Trade, a company specialized in manufacturing razor blades and tools, completed a second day of strike action on Tuesday,  calling for increased pay, more stable, long-term contracts and a promise that they will not be punished for labor action. 

Though worker and company representatives clinched a verbal assurance in talks overseen by the Manpower Ministry on Tuesday that they would receive the new private-sector minimum monthly wage of LE2,400 by January, the workforce from two out of three of Lord’s Alexandria factories remained on strike to push for action on their other demands.

According to one of the workers who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, the workers decided to take action after receiving payments in June that were substantially lower than expected. “I have worked at this company for eleven years, and I got LE1,800 last month,” the worker told Mada Masr. He said the company had shaved off a large portion of the normal rate of profit shares — which are normally paid out to each worker every month along with their salary — while other bonuses for production and for the Eid holiday also fell short of the normal rate.  

Another worker alleged that “the company manipulates our salaries by exploiting the variable categories, especially the productivity bonus, which is calculated in a way that no one understands.

Company representatives who were party to the negotiations told Mada Masr that a preliminary agreement on the new LE2,400 minimum wage emerged in talks on Tuesday between representatives from the Manpower Ministry, the company’s management, and the workers, just 24 hours after workers went on strike.

The agreed rate aligns with the new private-sector minimum wage, which was set for the first time ever in Egypt by the National Council for Wages at the end of June. According to the new law, beginning January 2022, private sector employers must pay workers a baseline wage of no less than LE2,400 per month (US$153), plus a minimum monthly bonus of LE60 ($3.80).

However, the minimum wage rate increase is not the strikers’ only demand, another Lord worker told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity. The list of demands, of which Mada Masr obtained a copy, includes switching the current system of annually renewable contracts over to permanent employment contracts, increasing the pay grade for specific tasks, a minimum profit share rate of LE2,000, and guarantees that workers who participated in the strike will not be fired. “We have been deprived of a representative union,” said a worker, recalling a former colleague who led efforts to form a union who was fired by the company.

Workers also said there is a lack of transparency around Lord’s annual profits, with one telling Mada Masr that workers are uncertain whether they are receiving fair payouts. Since Lord representatives have thus far refused to discuss the other demands without word from Lord CEO Lotfy Soliman, the worker said, the strike continues.