Construction and Woodwork Symposium: The wage gap between men and women requires women to engage in trade union work

Wrote Nagwa Ibrahim .. 

Translated by: Moustafa Rostom

Mona Ezzat, Director of the Women and Work Program at the New Women’s Foundation, reviewed the role and objectives of trade unions in defending the rights of its members, improving the conditions and conditions of work, expressing the demands of its members and working to achieve their demands.

The training session witnessed many discussions of the members revealed many practices during the labor elections aimed at the marginalization of union work and pressure to exclude women in particular.

The training session raised many questions about the role of members of the trade union committees and trade unions in the professional and economic axis, working on developing the profession and drawing up plans for national development projects and working on developing economic conditions and improving productivity.

The training course was divided between the role of the trade union committee and the general union in developing these policies as an integrated system, each of which turns away from randomness to support community issues.

The role of the trade union on the work level of workers with general trade unions in defending national issues and public laws and addressing the protection of the rights of the working class was discussed.

Wafaa Boltia, secretary of women at the General Union of Construction and Wood Industry Workers, said that members of the new women’s committee were in dire need of training and education on the importance of trade union work and its role.

Pointing out that the labor elections have undergone significant changes in the trade union committees and it was necessary to educate them about the new law of trade unions and know what they have and what they have within the trade union organization to do their role to the fullest and become effective fingerprints in the trade union movement and within their companies and defend the rights of their colleagues.

Ezzat said that the cultural and social situation increased the discrimination against women at work, pointing to the importance of integrating women in union work to defend their rights and reject discrimination in light of the increasing gap between men and women in wages, which exceeded 17%.