Dozens of reporters, administrative employees, technicians and workers at the state-owned MENA news agency staged a protest on Tuesday calling for better salaries.
The reporters say their salaries do not line up with rising prices, particularly since some of them receive monthly salaries as low as LE500 after working for nine years at the agency.
The new chairperson and chief editor of the agency Shaker Abdel Fattah Gamal Eddin, who was recently appointed by the Shura Council, met with the protesters, who asked him to communicate their demands to state officials. The protesters want to increase their salaries particularly because their institution has a long history that dates back to 1956.
Gamal Eddin expressed support for the demands of the employees and pledged to communicate their demands to political leaders, urging them to continue their work to improve the status of their agency.
Gamal Eddin said that he previously submitted a request to Prime Minister Hesham Qandil to raise the agency's budget, which has not been raised for 10 years, but added that he has not yet received a response.
When he was appointed, privately-owned Al-Watan newspaper suggested that Gamal Eddin’s ties may have gotten him the job. The paper reported that Gamal Eddin is the cousin of Shura Council member Gamal Heshmat, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Edited translation from MENA
