The Center for Trade Union & Workers says the government restricts the work of the independent unions

EGYPT- A leaked document for the Ministry of Interior in Egypt showed that there is an order to stop accrediting the independent unions “stamps”.

A statement issued by the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services, said the ministry’s letter was directed to the police directorate at the department of civil status.

The state on March 1 declared that the stamps of independent trade unions will no longer be valid on official documents. The decision prohibits dealing with independent trade unions and considers them illegitimate entities.

The center criticized this move, noting that it reveals the government’s intentions towards restricting freedoms of the independent unions.

It added that some workers, in the aftermath of the 2011 revolution lost their jobs due to this attitude, while others were detained among other violations practiced against them.

After the January 25 Revolution, dozens of independent trade unions started forming to express workers demands.

With time, the independent trade unions’ influence increased, as members elected their leaders and saw them as rights advocates. Workers abandoned the pro-government Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), which failed to unite them under its umbrella.

According to the center’s statement, the government’s letter said this move comes in line with the Constitution, although the 2014 Constitution stipulates in its article number 67 establishing unions and federation on a democratic basis and they have the right to practice their activities freely and defend the rights of their members.

Also article 93 of the constitution, according to the statement, stipulates the State’s commitment towards the international human rights resolution and conventions it endorsed and published.

The Interior Ministry said the Ministry of Manpower had asked for the unions to be invalidated because they are not subject to the provisions of Law No. 35 of 1976 on trade unions, which prohibits union pluralism.

Article 13 of that law states that workers in the same occupational groups or industries, or in industries correlated to each other or jointly working for the same production, can only form one trade union across the republic and no other.