Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Customs Employees at Egypt Airports, Seaports Declare Strike

Customs employees at Egypt airports, seaports declare strike

Marwa Hussein, Tuesday 4 Jun 2013
Ahram Online

Egyptian customs employees at several airports and seaports – including Cairo International Airport – declare strike to demand better pay and working conditions

Egyptian customs employees at several airports and seaports went on strike on Tuesday to demand better pay and working conditions.

Since 10am, 380 customs employees at Cairo International Airport have refused to check passengers' luggage.

"We always run the risk of catching infections when we go through passengers' luggage," one customs employee, preferring anonymity, told Ahram Online. "We are also exposed to radiation for long hours without any protection or precautionary measures."

According to customs employees contacted by Ahram Online, six of their colleagues had died suddenly within the past six months. "Many of them were less than 35 years old," said one employee.

They blame poor and often stressful working conditions, including long night shifts, for their colleagues' deaths.

Customs employees also complain that they are understaffed, which, they say, affects their efficiency as well as their health.

"About 21 customs officials should cover the work shift in four locations, six of whom are supervisors. This leaves 15 employees to do the physical work," said one employee.

"In a single shift, we can check as many as 4000 passengers," the employee added. "Meanwhile, the offices of the Egyptian Customs Authority are overstaffed."

Customs employees at Upper Egypt's Assiut Airport and Alexandria's Borg Al-Arab Airport, along with those at the Safaga and Nuweiba Red Sea maritime ports, joined the strike Tuesday morning. Customs employees at Egypt's Luxor and Aswan airports, for their part, joined at 4pm.

Egyptian Customs Authority officials could not be reached for comment on the issue.

Top finance ministry officials, meanwhile, have told media that they had responded to some of the strikers' demands by raising the night shift allowance from LE350 (roughly $50) to LE500 (roughly $72).

Striking employees, however, have yet to respond to the ministry's overtures.

They say that their salaries can be raised without putting additional burdens on the state budget by reallocating bonuses given to top officials.

Striking customs employees are also demanding the dismissal of senior officials they accuse of corruption.

"Since the 2011 revolution, customs employees have called for the dismissal of corrupt officials," they declared in a Sunday statement. "But the government insists on maintaining the status quo."

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/73188.aspx

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