"AUC cleaners strike against nonrenewal of contracts", 19 July 2017

A cleaners’ strike at the American University in Cairo entered its fourth day on [19 July] after the university administration announced it would not renew contracts for 170 cleaners, preferring to lease the services to two cleaning companies. Ahmed Hashem, the spokesperson for the striking workers, told Mada Masr that approximately 110 cleaners are taking part in the strike...Since the strike began the university has not communicated with the workers, according to Hashem, aside from the human resources which reached out to the workers in an effort to convince them to resign and take a six-week pay severance package. Hashem described such a settlement as unfair, saying that anything less than two-months pay for every year of work for all workers is unacceptable. Most cleaners have worked at the university for between six and nine years...