ERF 27th Annual Conference
Do Egyptian Labor Unions Have any Bargaining Power?
No.
ERF27_12
Publisher
ERF
Date
May, 2021
Topic
J. Labor and Demographic Economics
In this paper, we examine the role of unions in improving workers' outcomes in Egypt, focusing on wages and work conditions. A country with a fairly long history of unionism, it has nevertheless seen frequent attempts to clamp down on union membership, and has seen union membership decrease in recent years. Most recently, in 2018, unions were dismantled and required to re-register, leading to a sharp decrease in the number of recognized unions. The Egyptian case also enables a reflection on the role of unions in authoritarian regimes: the International Trade Union Confederation's 2020 report quotes Egypt as one of the ten worst countries for workers (ITUC, 2020).
Authors
Björn Nilsson
Assistant Professor, University Paris-Saclay