London - The state-owned Egyptian Navigation Company should pay the dues of its employees and fulfill its obligations towards them before proceeding with the company’s liquidation procedure and completing the sale of its assets and vessels, ImpACT International for Human Rights Policies said.
The London-based think tank stressed the need to prioritize setting a clear date and mechanism for paying its commitments to employees, who are over 430 staff members on land and at sea.
The Egyptian Navigation Company owes about 1.25 billion Egyptian pounds, including 400 million to the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport, and the same amount to the National Navigation Company, in addition to other creditors such as banks, social security, and some ports.
The government bodies responsible for the Egyptian Navigation Company did not abide by their announced agreement with the workers regarding the mechanisms for disbursing their compensation.
The company's general assembly had decided to liquidate the company after the high loss rate during the last period and the halt in sea travels because its vessels were deemed unseaworthy. The state-owned National Navigation Company contributes 90% to the Egyptian Navigation Company – currently under liquidation –while the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport and the Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling Company contribute by 8% and 2%, respectively.
The government bodies responsible for the Egyptian Navigation Company did not abide by their announced agreement with the workers regarding the mechanisms for disbursing their compensation, which prompted the workers to organize a protest in front of the Holding Company's headquarters on Fouad Street in Alexandria, ImpACT pointed.
Workers expressed their rejection of leaked statements from the Ministry of Public Business that their due compensation will be only two months for each year of service instead of the original agreement, which was five months.
The workers expressed their adherence to what was agreed on 19th July, and duly signed by the representatives of the business sector, the workforce, the General Union, the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport, and the representatives of the Egyptian Navigation Company workers.
The agreement between the workers at the Egyptian Navigation Company and the Ministry of Manpower stipulated that compensation would be paid to workers with a minimum of 100,000 pounds and a maximum of 450,000 pounds, provided that compensation would be five months for each year worked, in addition to an amount of 15,000 pounds for each year. However, no action has been taken so far to complete the compensation disbursement to the company's workers.
Workers in the company said that disbursing their compensation was scheduled to start in mid-July, but throughout this period no procedures were implemented regarding the payment process, which doubles the plight of the workers who were laid off without providing them with an alternative to secure their livelihood to support themselves and their families.
The workers of the Egyptian Navigation Company had submitted a complaint in 2014 to the Attorney General in Alexandria, accusing the company’s management of wasting public money, after it had taken steps to liquidate the company’s property.
In recent months, The Egyptian Navigation Company sold five of its ships all at once, leaving only two, after the Egyptian Council of Ministers approved lifting the ban on those ships in agreement with all creditors.
The company had owned about 60 vessels, but it resorted to selling its assets several years ago, especially ships that are over 30 years old, while the company's workers' claims remained unresolved.
The Egyptian authorities should find a radical solution to address the crisis of the workers of the Egyptian Navigation Company, pay their redundancy as per the agreement concluded with them, and not make them pay the price for the government’s failure and the company’s poor planning.
The Egyptian government is obligated to fulfill its commitments to the International Wages Protection Convention (1949) ratified by Cairo in 1960, which stipulates the need to pay wages periodically and the need for the competent authorities to take measures to extend unemployment benefits to workers facing a loss of earnings due to partial unemployment.