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Egypt Independent
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Egypt Independent
Court sentences Egyptian director Mohamed Sami to two months in prison
A court has sentenced Egyptian director Mohamed Sami to two months in prison over assaulting the manager of a car maintenance center, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Saturday. The Sheikh Zayed Misdemeanor Court in Giza ruled to imprison Sami following a brawl which occurred because 'the director accused the workers at the center of damaging his car.' The court also ruled to fine the manager of the maintenance center LE5,000. A fistfight broke out between Sami and the manager of a car maintenance center in Sheikh Zayed, after the director accused workers of damaging his car, which was estimated to be worth LE10 million (about US$200,000). The manager of the maintenance center said during investigations that Sami brought his car in and asked for window tinting films to be installed. However, when he came to receive his vehicle he then accused the workers of having damaged his car, causing a verbal altercation to break out. The manager added that he intervened to put an end to the argument and tried to explain that the car was not damaged, only for Sami to punch him in the face and injure his eye. Sami is supervising the direction of two projects for this upcoming Ramadan drama season, which include 'Esh Esh' starring his wife, actress Mai Omar, along with Maged el-Masry and Hala Sedky, and the series 'Sayed el-Nas' starring Amr Saad and Elham Shaheen.
Mada
05-02-2025
- Business
- Mada
Strike at Egyptian-Chinese drilling company over salaries, bonuses
Workers on permanent contracts at the Egyptian-Chinese Drilling Company (ECDC) in Suez's Ain Sokhna staged a strike on Wednesday, demanding salary adjustments, the release of stalled bonuses, profit-sharing, higher allowances, a transparent promotion policy and better healthcare benefits, a striking worker told Mada Masr. The source, who has been with the company for 18 years, said that the factory operates a single 12-hour shift starting at 8 am. All permanent employees — laborers, administrative staff and engineers — have joined the strike to demand wage increases in line with salary brackets in the petroleum sector. According to the source, the striking workers earn LE5,000-LE7,000 in base pay, with an average total salary of LE10,000, unchanged since 2023. The company's Chinese management has since refused to raise wages for permanently employed staff while approving pay hikes for seconded employees who have been with the company for less than a year, the source said. In 2022, the company announced job openings for secondment contracts from other firms in the petroleum sector. The source noted that the company frequently outsources labor by calling for workers via subcontractors, who supply laborers on a shift basis depending on operational needs. Workers view the practice as a way for the company to avoid committing to pay raises for full-time staff. Striking workers are also demanding the disbursement of annual bonus, which have been paused since 2023. Other demands include disbursing unpaid entitlements from the National Petroleum Day grant and an increase in healthcare benefits for employees and their families, which have been capped at LE4,000 since 2007 despite medical inflation. They are also seeking recognition of their right to end-of-service compensation. Additionally, workers are calling for a clear promotion policy, the implementation of a 15-percent increase in allowances paid on the basis of expertise and output specialization — which was approved by the board in 2023 but never implemented — and the disbursement of all bonuses mandated by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC)'s regulations and directives. According to the source, ECDC management has repeatedly promised to address these demands over the years but consistently failed to follow through. In December, workers staged a protest and filed a complaint with the labor office only to receive yet another set of unfulfilled promises. In January, they escalated their grievances to the petroleum minister, but their complaint went unanswered, prompting their strike. The General Trade Union for Petroleum Workers reached out to the strikers, the worker said, promising to respond to their demands after discussions with the EGPC. Founded in 2007, ECDC specializes in the production of oil drilling equipment for both local and international markets. The Chinese partner holds a 50-percent stake in the company. In 2023, the company officially celebrated the transfer of manufacturing technology from China to Egypt and the production of Egypt's first locally made oil rig, backed by US$6.5 million in investments.
Mada
28-01-2025
- Business
- Mada
Authorities arrest 26 workers as thousands strike for fair pay at supplier for international brands
Authorities in Egypt arrested 26 people on Saturday who work for the east Cairo factories of T&C Garments, a Turkish-Egyptian clothing manufacturer that supplies goods to global brands including Levis, UNIQLO and Tommy Hilfiger. Around 6,000 employees at T&C Garments' Obour City complex began a strike for fairer wages at the beginning of the year. As the cost of living increases, they demand that the company increase bonuses, commissions and meal allowances for workers, who currently take home less than minimum wage per month. Four workers at the T&C Garments factory told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity that security forces arrested 26 of their colleagues from their homes over the weekend. Among those arrested was Ahmed Hassan Abdel Aziz from the Zawamel village in the Sharqiya Governorate, according to one of the company employees from the same village, who described authorities arresting his colleague from his home on Saturday evening. A larger group of police and Central Security Forces personnel is now stationed outside the factory premises in the Industrial Zone at Obour City, the sources said. Only workers from the packing, laundry and cutting departments were admitted to the premises for Sunday's shift at the company, which suspended daily transport into the industrial zone for night shift workers as soon as the strike began and did the same for morning shift workers in most departments shortly afterward. When workers arrived at the factory on Sunday, they gathered in the yard in front of the administration office, where they declared they would continue their strike until their demands were met. 'The company is trying to divide us to break the strike,' one worker told Mada Masr. T&C's executive manager presented an offer to the workers on Sunday, another laborer said. 'They offered us a 17 percent bonus increase, which we rejected. We want 50 percent.' The thousands of factory workers launched their strike on January 16, demanding a 50 percent increase in their annual bonus to cope with rising living costs, a raise in meal allowances from LE600 to LE1,200, an implementation of the minimum wage, permission for discretionary leave and paid public holidays, in accordance with the labor law. Workers at the company currently take home between LE4,000 and LE5,000 per month, substantially below the minimum wage for the private sector, which is set at LE6,000. Bonuses, which the laborers expected to receive in the third week of January, are also yet to be paid out, one worker said. They are also demanding that the company improve its on-site health clinic, which is poorly equipped and offers little more than painkillers, they say. Workers who fall ill or are injured on the job must seek treatment outside the company at their own expense, and if they have to take leave for health reasons, they are only paid a quarter of their daily wage, workers told Mada Masr last week. The strike is further calling for the dismissal of HR manager Mohamed Abdel Rahman for insulting workers. T&C Garments, a partnership between Egypt's Tolba Group and Turkey's Tay Group, manufactures ready-made clothing for well known brands, including Levis, UNIQLO and Tommy Hilfiger. The factory operates under the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement, a protocol established by the US in 1996 to build economic ties between Israel and its neighbors, which requires that Egyptian products include a 10.5 percent component to enter the US market. The company exports 70 percent of its production to the US and the rest to Europe.
