President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attended the Labor Day celebration on Monday, May 1st. The President marked the occasion by announcing a few important decisions; they stated:
-To create an emergency relief fund for irregular employment. Social and health accounts dues shall be transferred to it, thus invested and used in emergencies and crises for irregular workers in a sustainable manner. This, in turn, would help maximize the social and developmental return of the fund.
-To start activating the fund immediately once all legal procedures are completed by disbursing emergency funding of 1,000 Egyptian Pounds for irregular workers who do not benefit from social protection programs.
-To issue a new document, the “Aman” certificate, previously issued in 2017, to cover life insurance and work injuries for irregular workers.
-To urge all private and public sector establishments to employ people with disabilities to represent 5% of their workforce, as per the law, and to keep developing their skills and integrating them into the labor market.
-To have the Supreme Council for Social Dialogue in the field of employment study the draft labor law presented to the House of Representatives, in the presence of workers’ and employers’ representatives, and agree on its final version. This shall guarantee that workers’ rights are preserved and ensure a work environment that is conducive to investment.
-To promote compliance with international labor standards and ensure that labor legislation and its implementation comply with international labor conventions ratified by Egypt.
-To have the Ministry of Manpower launch the national platform for labor market information, expeditiously.
-To have ministries and concerned authorities, in coordination with the private sector, rapidly finalize the procedures aimed at achieving gender equality in the field of employment; ensuring a safe work environment; increasing women’s employment rates, integrating them into the labor market and developing their skills; and protecting working women and ensuring that they strike a balance between their job requirements and family duties. These efforts are part of an initiative to activate the national plan for gender equality in the field of employment launched in 2022.
-To launch a national campaign to improve the societal mental image of the value and importance of work for the individual and society, and encourage young people to integrate into self-employment and entrepreneurship and to establish their small, medium, and micro enterprises.
-Ministries and concerned authorities shall prepare for future jobs, identify the required occupations in the future labor market and the skills needed for them, and develop human resources skills appropriate for future jobs and the needs of the labor market.
