President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attended on Monday May 1st, 2023 a celebration marking Labor Day at the Eastern Sugar Factory (Al-Nouran) in the New Salhia city, Al-Sharqiyyah governorate. 

The celebration witnessed the participation of Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli as well as a number of ministers and senior state officials.

The celebration started with a recitation of verses of the Holy Quran, followed by an opening speech by Chairman of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) Mohamed Gobran.

Addressing the gathering, Chairman of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) Mohamed Gobran praised the “wise” decisions and policies of President El-Sisi, which have greatly helped to alleviate the burden on citizens in the face of global price hikes that resulted from huge regional and international challenges.

He touched upon what he called “decisive decisions” by El-Sisi in favor of the working class and the limited-income brackets, which include increasing the minimum wages, raising the limit of tax exemption and pensions, endorsing a cost-of-living allowance, in addition to upgrading subsidy and social protection by 48 percent.

Head of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) Mohamed Gobran granted President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi an honorary shield on this occasion.

A documentary was then played showing the history of Labor Day celebrations in the world, as well as Egypt’s efforts to support some 30 million workers on its lands. 

The documentary also highlighted the presidential initiatives that aimed to support workers, atop of which “Decent Life” and the workers’ emergency fund. 

For his part, Manpower Minister Hassan Shehata said the Labor Day ceremony is taking place at the factory of the Eastern Sugar Company, which represents a model of successful cooperation and partnership between the public and private sectors.

He added that with capital worth 1.5 billion pounds, the Eastern Sugar Company also represents a good example of cooperation between Egyptian and Arab financial institutions, pointing out that the total workforce of the company is about 16,000 workers including direct and indirect labor; in addition to 15,000 farmers to cultivate 60,000 feddans of sugar beet annually. 

Shehata added that advanced mechanical cultivation is applied over 25,000 more feddans. 

He highlighted that the company produces 400,000 tons of sugar every year, the minister said, noting that this meets 15 percent of the local consumption. Sugar surplus is exported to Arab and European countries. 

Shehata asserted that his Ministry is following directives of President El-Sisi, especially those related to integrating persons with disabilities into the labor market, protecting irregular employment, training youth and upgrading technical and industrial education.

Commenting on the word of FUTEC Technologies Company president marking Labor Day, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi asserted that the State was ready to support companies to increase the local components of Egyptian products, saying: "I am ready to support you to increase current ratio of local components from 50 to 60 percent", voicing hope overreaching a 100 percent of components.

El-Sisi noted that the State is currently working on reducing the consumption of streetlights, noting that the State should adopt a plan for replacing the ordinary lights with the smart ones.

Meanwhile, FUTEC company head promised the president to raise to 90 percent the local components by early May next year as well as localizing the LED industry in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East.

Afterwards, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi honored a number of distinguished figures on the occasion of Labor Day.

President El-Sisi’s Speech at the Celebration Marking Labor Day

“In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful”

The great people of Egypt,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me pleasure, at the outset, to extend to you all my sincere greetings on the occasion of Labor Day. Many happy returns, with our precious Egypt in progress and prosperity.

The loyal workers of Egypt,

History has always recorded, with letters of light, your well-known role in building this homeland throughout time and eras.

The eternal Egyptian civilization, since the dawn of history until today, speaks of the Egyptians’ reverence for work; a reverence that made us today see these lofty accomplishments achieved in an array of fields by our ancestors, after they were armed with impeccable organization, scientific knowledge, and the spirit of determination, challenge and struggle.

And today, in this world that is characterized by competition and constant change, the importance of these values doubles. Accommodating the highest degrees of modern science, absorbing and adapting it to produce applied technology, establishing and consolidating the skills of discipline and accuracy, unleashing the power of creativity as well as delving into all the requirements of modern management and the advanced industrial development, all these have become factors, without which achieving progress and prosperity for the peoples would be hard.

Then successive global crises occurred; the coronavirus pandemic to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis came to add more hardships to the ones already facing a number of world countries, particularly developing countries, including Egypt.

Therefore, we are always keen on providing utmost support and care to the workers: The minimum wage was increased and we launched and strengthened social protection programs. We are also providing the necessary support for irregular workers, working on integrating people of determination into the labor market, and expanding national projects to create decent job opportunities, in addition to the preparation of the National Employment Strategy (NES).

In light of our huge interest in work and the state of workers and of our dependence on Egypt’s workers to contribute to the comprehensive renaissance that we are working toward, we decided the following:

-To create an emergency relief fund for irregular employment. Social and health accounts dues shall be transferred to it, thus they would be invested and used in emergencies and crises for irregular workers in a sustainable manner. This, in turn, would help maximize the social and developmental return of the fund.

-To start activating the fund immediately once all legal procedures are completed by disbursing emergency funding of 1,000 Egyptian Pounds for irregular workers, who do not benefit from social protection programs.

-To issue a new document, "Aman" certificate, which was previously issued in 2017 to cover life insurance and work injuries for irregular workers.

-To stress on all private sector establishments, the public sector and the public business sector, to employ persons with disabilities to represent 5% of their workforce, as per the law, and to continue working on developing their skills and integrating them into the labor market.

-To have the Supreme Council for Social Dialogue in the field of employment study the draft labor law presented to the House of Representatives, in the presence of workers' and employers' representatives, and agree on its final version. This shall guarantee that workers' rights are preserved and ensure a work environment that is conducive to investment.

-To promote compliance with international labor standards and ensure that labor legislation and its implementation comply with international labor conventions ratified by Egypt.

-To have the Ministry of Manpower launch the national platform for labor market information, expeditiously.

-To have ministries and concerned authorities, in coordination with the private sector, rapidly finalize the procedures aimed at achieving gender equality in the field of employment; ensuring a safe work environment; increasing women's employment rates, integrating them into the labor market and developing their skills; and protecting working women and ensuring that they strike a balance between their job requirements and family duties. These efforts are part of endeavors to activate the national plan for gender equality in the field of employment that was launched in 2022.

-To launch a national campaign to improve the mental image in society of the value and importance of work for the individual and society, and encourage young people to integrate themselves into self-employment and entrepreneurship and to establish their small, medium and micro enterprises.

-Ministries and concerned authorities shall prepare for future jobs, identify the required occupations in the future labor market and the skills needed for them, and work to develop human resources skills, commensurate with the future of jobs and the needs of the labor market.

Egypt’s valued workers,

Building the homeland and the future cannot take place optimally without the hands of Egypt’s loyal workers, their proper awareness and constantly evolving skills. This requires the government to make the necessary coordination with all relevant institutions, to expand training programs for young people of both sexes and to continue to develop training centers under the umbrella of the Presidential Initiative “Decent Life” or “Hayah Karima”.

And I tell you that: together we are able, God willing, to continue to work and progress with a determination to succeed and trust in God’s blessings for us. Let Egypt live always and forever, a dear and precious homeland that deserves from us all loyalty and sacrifice.

With its loyal workers:

Long live Egypt… Long live Egypt… Long live Egypt.

Thank you, many happy returns.

May Allah’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.

, accompanied by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli and a galaxy of top state officials.

President El-Sisi listened to a detailed explanation on the packing station of the factory, where he was briefed that the station comprises four packing lines with a total productive capacity of 2,000 tons daily, an official in the factory said, adding that the packing lines are working automatically with a little human intervention.