Government looks into complete reform of Egypt wage system within 6 months

The Egyptian government is currently studying ways to fix the wage imbalances in the country, and Ahram Online can reveal some of the main recommendations.

The first concerns a revision of the role of the Supreme Council of Wages, which was created in 2003 as the entity in charge of drawing up wage policies.

It is suggested that the Council be reformed and its role properly enacted, with enlarged powers allowing it to become the main player in this area.

The study suggests modifying the 2003 labour law to give more powers to the Council, and to change the make-up of the entity itself to include non-governmental organisations and independent unions.

A revision of all the legislation that affects wages is another idea the government is considering.

Commentators have said legislation could be cancelled, and the decisions that allow some entities to give special incentives to employees could be revised, along with the civil workers law. Special incentives would then be fixed by legislation rather than by executives.

Finally a complete revision of the wage structure is also being considered.

Two solutions are proposed to replace the complicated wage tables that determine the wages of civil servants. Currently their wages are made up of many different categories of bonuses and remunerations. A new wage table could be made up of only three boxes: basic wage, remuneration and total.