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Dear colleagues and friends,

I was pleased to meet some of you when I visited Egypt last year. I am glad to see you again here today.

But the circumstances are not so joyful.

I have been looking at the draft law on strikes and industrial action currently under discussion in Egypt. This piece of legislation is more than a challenge. It is a provocation.

The proposals on the right to strike fly in the face of international standards set down in ILO conventions. This is a law aimed at keeping trade unions under strict control. The kind of control that we saw under the previous regime. That is not what Egyptian workers had hoped for just over two years ago.

The proposals on the right to strike fly in the face of international standards set down in ILO conventions. This is a law aimed at keeping trade unions under strict control. The kind of control that we saw under the previous regime. That is not what Egyptian workers had hoped for just over two years ago.

This law would define the right to strike in such a way as to in fact exclude the right to strike. A strike that does not affect production is a non-strike. And the procedure proposed to announce a strike is indeed not a regulation but a fantastic piece of state bureaucracy with the main objective of hindering the possibility for workers to take industrial action.

The Egyptian authorities should urgently take advice from the International Labour Organisation how to bring national legislation in line with international standards.

In the meantime, new independent trade unions still wait for recognition. The political power in place continues to try to exert control over the unions by converting the old Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions into its own transmission belt.

All this illustrates the need for independent trade union action and international solidarity with free and democratic trade unions. I highly welcome the remarkable efforts of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions in their cooperation and the solidarity campaign that was successfully started last year in Cairo.

All this illustrates the need for independent trade union action and international solidarity with free and democratic trade unions. I highly welcome the remarkable efforts of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions in their cooperation and the solidarity campaign that was successfully started last year in Cairo.

The process of change and revolution is all but over. Nobody should have the illusion that a radical change from autocracy to democracy will come overnight. The old forces are still alive. They struggle to preserve their privileges and their economic power. They will not give up easily. Building a new Egypt needs time and civil society institution building. And hundreds of new trade unions on the ground and in the plants need training and material support, coordination and as much unity as possible.

The Egyptian trade union Movement must find its own way to organise and to develop. That demands time, patience and above all an outreach strategy - home made, and not transplanted from outside.

The ETUC considers that the International Trade Union Confederation is in the lead to secure support. Our role includes making sure that the European institutions are fully aware of the situation and that in the context of EU-Egyptian relations - be they economic or political - they ensure respect of social and human rights. This we did in the past and that should be reinforced in the future.

And, second, we invite you to take advantage of the European experience in the transition process that paved the way from a totalitarian system to democracy in Eastern and Central Europe. We are ready to mobilise our affiliates in Central and Eastern Europe to share their experiences with you.

This part of our history has shown that old trade union structures were obliged to go for change under the pressure of a new democratic, free and independent trade union Movement. And one important detail was that a key for change was that the enormous trade union property had to be dissolved and redistributed. This will be a forthcoming challenge for you.

Another European experience that you might bear in mind is that trade unions need independence and autonomy from political parties, however much they may share objectives. That does of course not exclude alliances and cooperation when it comes to defending workers interests.

It is a pleasure for me to be with you. Our doors had been open and will be continue to be so.

Consider the ETUC as to be your agent in the European Union.

I am fully aware that you are undergoing a difficult time and a hard life. I wish you well.

Let’s continue and to improve our cooperation and stay in close touch.