Mada Masr reported that workers of Cairo based Egyptian steel maker Beshay Steel conducted a three day sit for higher wages on 25 August, claiming that company’s compensation is low compared to other competitors in the industry. Workers told Mada Masr “I have been working in the company since 2013 and my net salary is less than EGP 4,200-5,000 (USD 218-260). We face threats, such as being denied annual pay raises, or receiving very low raises if workers insist on continuing with permanent contracts.”Ten days before starting the strike, the workers sent a list of wage-related demands to the company’s management, the worker said, which included 30 percent annual increases to 2020 net salaries, a cost-of-living allowance for 2021 set at 15% of net salary, as well as increases to hazard pay and housing, transportation and meal allowances. Workers are also demanding the end of a practice used by management to skirt the legal requirement to offer workers permanent contracts and annual wage increases after four years of employment. Workers are also demanding the end of a practice used by management to skirt the legal requirement to offer workers permanent contracts and annual wage increases after four years of employment.The company’s trade union committee did not support the current strike, according to several other workers, who accused the union of siding with Beshay Steel’s administration.The wage complaints come as Egypt’s rate of domestic inflation, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effect on global supply chains, hit a three-year peak over April and May. Consumer goods and strained household budgets nationwide were stretched once again in July by hikes to the cost of diesel and other fuels.Beshay Steel group is the largest privately owned steel producer in Egypt and the Middle East with an annual liquid steel capacity of up to 4 million tonnes per year. Currently, the company is focused on producing Direct Reduced Iron, Billets, Re-bars, Wire Rods and Light Sections for the domestic and global markets.In 1948 Mr Gaber Beshay established the International Steel Trading Company for importing steel to Egypt during a very difficult political time. After he passed away in the 1960s his four sons took over the trading business and decided to build a workshop to produce nuts and bolts, as well as a heat treatment workshop to fulfill the needs of the local industries. As the 90s approached, the Beshay family embarked on their first long product project, when they contracted with MORGAN Construction USA to supply a 700,000 tonnes per year rebar rolling mill. This project was very successful and enabled the group to expand to a further 1.2 million tonnes per year in 1998, when they commissioned 2 cutting edge SIMAC re-bar rolling mills, with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year each. Those mills produce superior quality steel re-bars and wire rods. Due to the growing demand for steel billets and quality long products, it commissioned 1.2 million tonnes per year EAF melt shop to ensure a high quality continuous supply of billets for its rolling mills. Recently, Beshay Steel completed its largest project yet, a 2.0 million tonnes per year DRI facility with MIDREX technology featuring the first 2G-HOTLINK® where HDRI is directly fed to an SVMT EAF melt shop with a 1.5 million tonnes per year capacity. Two SVMT EAF melt shops with a capacity of 3.0 million tonnes per year also feed Danieli’s Light Section Mill with a capacity of 500,000 million tonnes per year.
Mada Masr reported that workers of Cairo based Egyptian steel maker Beshay Steel conducted a three day sit for higher wages on 25 August, claiming that company’s compensation is low compared to other competitors in the industry. Workers told Mada Masr “I have been working in the company since 2013 and my net salary is less than EGP 4,200-5,000 (USD 218-260). We face threats, such as being denied annual pay raises, or receiving very low raises if workers insist on continuing with permanent contracts.”Ten days before starting the strike, the workers sent a list of wage-related demands to the company’s management, the worker said, which included 30 percent annual increases to 2020 net salaries, a cost-of-living allowance for 2021 set at 15% of net salary, as well as increases to hazard pay and housing, transportation and meal allowances. Workers are also demanding the end of a practice used by management to skirt the legal requirement to offer workers permanent contracts and annual wage increases after four years of employment. Workers are also demanding the end of a practice used by management to skirt the legal requirement to offer workers permanent contracts and annual wage increases after four years of employment.The company’s trade union committee did not support the current strike, according to several other workers, who accused the union of siding with Beshay Steel’s administration.The wage complaints come as Egypt’s rate of domestic inflation, exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effect on global supply chains, hit a three-year peak over April and May. Consumer goods and strained household budgets nationwide were stretched once again in July by hikes to the cost of diesel and other fuels.Beshay Steel group is the largest privately owned steel producer in Egypt and the Middle East with an annual liquid steel capacity of up to 4 million tonnes per year. Currently, the company is focused on producing Direct Reduced Iron, Billets, Re-bars, Wire Rods and Light Sections for the domestic and global markets.In 1948 Mr Gaber Beshay established the International Steel Trading Company for importing steel to Egypt during a very difficult political time. After he passed away in the 1960s his four sons took over the trading business and decided to build a workshop to produce nuts and bolts, as well as a heat treatment workshop to fulfill the needs of the local industries. As the 90s approached, the Beshay family embarked on their first long product project, when they contracted with MORGAN Construction USA to supply a 700,000 tonnes per year rebar rolling mill. This project was very successful and enabled the group to expand to a further 1.2 million tonnes per year in 1998, when they commissioned 2 cutting edge SIMAC re-bar rolling mills, with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year each. Those mills produce superior quality steel re-bars and wire rods. Due to the growing demand for steel billets and quality long products, it commissioned 1.2 million tonnes per year EAF melt shop to ensure a high quality continuous supply of billets for its rolling mills. Recently, Beshay Steel completed its largest project yet, a 2.0 million tonnes per year DRI facility with MIDREX technology featuring the first 2G-HOTLINK® where HDRI is directly fed to an SVMT EAF melt shop with a 1.5 million tonnes per year capacity. Two SVMT EAF melt shops with a capacity of 3.0 million tonnes per year also feed Danieli’s Light Section Mill with a capacity of 500,000 million tonnes per year.
