The Trade Unions Law Crushes the Right to Organize to Stifle Resistance Against Rising Prices

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

To ensure that the pro-business government can continue raising prices and cutting subsidies without facing public resistance, it doesn’t rely solely on administrative and security crackdowns, military trials, or dismissals. It is also working hard to thoroughly stamp out the right to political and union organizing.

A few days ago, it was announced that the government had submitted a new bill to parliament that would strip wage earners of their right to form independent unions.

This comes after workers, in the wake of the January Revolution, managed to win official recognition for their independent unions. But every successive regime—from the military council to the Muslim Brotherhood, and finally under Adly Mansour—refused to put this recognition into law. Now, Sisi is taking revenge on workers who helped bring down Mubarak through their protests, those who dared to demand reform and a fairer distribution of wealth. He’s determined to eliminate one of their most significant achievements: officially recognizing their independent unions.

In practice, the regime has launched a systematic attack on labor leaders, cutting off their livelihoods, crushing strikes with force, and sending workers to military trials and state security courts. This has gone hand in hand with ministerial orders that ban any dealings with independent unions, refuse to recognize their stamps and evict them from their premises. And most recently, a presidential decree extended the terms of existing union officials for another year, keeping in place the champions of privatization, those who sold off public companies, and even the masterminds behind the Battle of the Camel—right at the head of the government-controlled union federation, which they want to be the sole representative of Egypt’s workers.

A quick look at the new bill shows that it’s designed to dismantle independent unions. It only grants legal status to the government-controlled union federation and its affiliates, which aren’t required to change their legal standing. In contrast, all independent unions and federations—dismissively labeled as “labor gatherings” in the law—will only be recognized if they re-register under the new law’s conditions.
To make it nearly impossible for independent unions to form a national federation or general union, the bill sets completely unrealistic requirements under current conditions. Article 14, for example, requires at least 100 workers to form a union committee at any workplace (even though international standards set the minimum at just 20 workers). Article 16 says that a general union must include at least twenty union committees with a combined membership of at least thirty thousand workers. Forming a national federation requires at least ten general unions with a total membership of at least three hundred thousand workers.
In short, this law crushes independent unions, wipes out any diversity in representation, and forces workers back into a state-controlled union monopoly. As a result, there’s no more extended room for challenging price hikes or demanding better wages. The only goal now is to maintain “stability” in the name of fighting terrorism—on the backs of wage earners, while privileged groups like the police, military, and judiciary are conveniently exempted.

For this reason, the Socialist Movement stands firmly against this pro-business law and calls on Egyptian workers to mobilize and build popular resistance. The struggle for the freedom to organize politically and in unions—and to repeal the restrictive laws on protest and strikes—is deeply connected to the battle against rising prices and removing subsidies. The movement also calls on union and political forces to form the broadest possible coalition to stand up against this law.