Workers denied temporary permits

Two employees who are in a dispute with a travel firm and who are seeking temporary work permits have been reportedly asked to wait six months.

The infuriated Egyptian workers say they cannot afford to wait without wages for months.
Temporary work permits are needed to find alternative jobs. Workers in dispute with employers and whose cases are referred to courts are generally issued temporary work permits, said a labour officer.

Nagy and Mohammed Ibrahim Rizq complained to the labour department early last September, demanding three months' wages and end of service benefits.

The low-paid complainants said: "When the employer knew about the issue, he attempted to implicate us in a breach of trust case." The employees said they stopped work completely after they found out that the firm was cheating many clients.

"When the employer knew that we were looking for another job, he reported us to the labour department." The department in turn informed the police. They were taken into custody and questioned but was later released.

The two applied for a temporary work permit but were denied this on the pretext that only after six months from referring the dispute to court can they be offered these permits.

Legal and labour sources said there is no clause in the labour laws that stipulates a six-month period from the date of bringing a labour case to the court before a work permit is granted.

Nagy asked: "How can a penniless worker wait for two to three months before a dispute is referred to the court and six months more until he is granted a temporary work permit?
"We have been struggling for more than seven months now to resolve the dispute."

Mohammed added: "If a worker in a long-running dispute with his employer is asked to wait for six more months, he will be left with no option but to surrender to the employer or accept an unfair settlement, just to avoid the lengthy process."

He said the long process makes the workers more desperate for a solution and they are more likely to forego their rights and dues.

The complainants said: "We have never received complete salaries, only advances."

The matter is compounded by the fact that the workers seem to have no protection under the law stating whether or not they are immediately entitled to the permits, according to Hussain Mohammed Hussein, a legal consultant.

Human resource experts said unpaid workers should be given access to other jobs and their disputes should be solved as soon as possible because the plight of workers is extremely dangerous since many of them may turn to illegal means to find work, including stealing.27_workerNagy (left) and Mohammed Rizq.