The Minister of Planning and Economic Development chairs the meeting of the National Wages Council

The National Wages Council held a meeting headed by Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development who is also acting as Chairperson of the Council, and in the presence of Mohamed Saafan, Minister of Manpower, Major General Khairat Barakat, Head of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMS), and Dr. Saleh Al-Sheikh, Head of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration (CAOA).
During the meeting, the council agreed to make a unified form for registering requests for exceptions, which will be presented next week on the websites of the National Council for Wages and the Ministry of Manpower, for establishments that have been exposed to economic conditions that do not allow them to implement the minimum wage decision for their employees.
The Council also agreed on a mechanism for notifying the establishments that submitted requests for exemption, which were examined by the directorates of manpower in the governorates, of their position on the exception, whether by approval or rejection, according to the results of the research and study of the conditions of the current establishments and their financial ability to meet the dues of the workers within them, without causing any damage to them.

At the beginning of the meeting, El-Said welcomed the attendees; and emphasized that preserving facilities, employment, and economic entities is the primary objective of the Council, to ensure the sustainability of these facilities, which helps increase employment opportunities and pushes the wheel of economic growth.

El-Said pointed to the council’s success in implementing the minimum wage for the first time, which preserves the dignity of the Egyptian worker, noting that implementing the minimum wage in the private sector is an important and unprecedented step in activating the tasks of the National Wage Council.
She further pointed out that the council tried, through its various committees, to achieve a balance between the rights of workers to obtain an appropriate wage that guarantees an adequate standard of living, while at the same time taking into account the difficult economic conditions experienced by several sectors that cannot bear new burdens.

Dr. Hala El-Said also confirmed that the council includes a balanced representation of all parties from the relevant ministries, representatives of the private sector, chambers of commerce, the Federation of Industries, and the Federation of Egyptian Workers.

For his part, the Minister of Manpower expressed his thanks and appreciation to the attending members of the Council, stressing that 3028 exception requests had been received.
He noted that the directorates of manpower had completed the examination of 1159 facilities out of the total applications, and the facilities would be informed of the result of the examination, whether by accepting the exception or rejecting it.

The Minister of Manpower also confirmed that studying the cases that submitted requests for exception will contribute to the work of an integrated database and an analytical study through which the future can be extrapolated and draw its features regarding the conditions of establishments and the position of workers inside them, expressing the ministry’s readiness to receive and research any exception requests for establishments.

The minister called on the unions of workers and business owners to conduct a societal dialogue among themselves about the conditions of the establishments and the workers working inside them, in the context of achieving a balance between the two sides of the productive relationship to achieve more production, push the national economy and increase growth in light of the current circumstances.