Wednesday, 12 April 2023
The Board of Directors of Kib-Tek has warned employees who are currently engaged in acts of “civil disobedience”, that they will be suspended from work either temporarily or permanently if they do not end their strike actions.
On 31 March, the electricity authority employees union El-Sen announced that they would go on strike in protest against the amendment to the Public Procurement Bill, which will enable the government to seek fuel and energy supplies without going to tender. They claim that this will increase the cost of electricity and hamper efforts to acquire green technology.
The Council of Ministers immediately ordered a ban on the strike, however, the strike went ahead.
Kib-Tek stated that the union’s action was regrettable, and that their action had disrupted even essential services. The strike brought the risk of house fires, hospitals had endured power cuts, and medicines could not be refrigerated and had to be disposed of.
“Although the Kib-Tek employees’ Collective Bargaining Agreement states that a strike is permissible on the condition that essential services such as military zones, hospitals and airports are provided for in the article under the title of ‘right to strike’, all of these institutions have been victimised”, Kib-Tek stated.
Kib-Tek said that the strike has seriously affected the public interest and that all businesses had been disrupted. Therefore, if its employees did not return to work, then services would be contracted out in the first instance, following which, new personnel would be employed.
