The draft law places excessive financial burdens on business owners, for example:

• It calls for the creation of multiple funds such as the Penalties Fund, the Vocational Training Fund, the Irregular Employment Fund, which represents significant financial burdens for industries.  
• It is overly permissive regarding vacation leave—the number and types of leave entitlements are way exaggerated; time-off can reach over 190 days a year, including the weekly day of rest.
• It obligates bankrupt employers to compensate workers in case of a total or partial shutdown, in addition to obligating employers to pay bonuses to workers if a fixed-term employment contract is not renewed on expiry. 

• Ensure that the foundational goal of the draft law is the fair balancing of employer and worker interests. In other words, the law should serve the interest of workers, however, without causing material damage to business owners. An efficient and profitable business ultimately benefits workers as it ensures employment security and increased incomes associated with higher productivity. 
• The law should align with the National Development Plan, namely the objective of increasing the productivity of Egyptian labor, which is essential for enhancing competitiveness; it should also give adequate considerations to the rights and responsibilities of workers. 
• A worker should not be entitled to bonus compensation if the employment contract is not renewed. 

• The Manpower Committee of the House of Representatives approved the draft new labor law.

• The Vocational Training Fund is not economically feasible, and it does not serve its intended purpose.

• Reconsider the management mechanism of the Vocational Training Fund; the private sector, the main financier, should be adequately represented on the board of directors, and decisions should be made by vote. Additionally, the board of directors should create sectoral councils, each to be allocated a budget, the percent of which should be commensurate with the sector’s contribution to the fund’s overall budget.  This will ensure that benefits are shared fairly among sectors. 

• The draft law does not establish a careful balance between workers' and employers' rights. It revives the concept of open-ended employment contracts, under which an employer has no choice but to resort to the courts to dismiss a worker who has committed a serious infraction.

• Discard the concept of open-ended employment contracts and ensure that employers and employees comply with the terms and conditions of the employment agreement.

• The absence of a fair mechanism to regulate the right to strike.

• The right to strike should be regulated in a manner that does not undermine the interests of the business enterprise, and at the same time, be in line with international labor standards. The power of the authorized labor representative to organize strikes must be well-defined. 

• Manufacturers are facing increased financial burden from the additional fees imposed on them, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Temporarily reduce fees associated with the following services:

1. New logistic services in the customs department.
2. Special roads toll rates on containers. 

• Activate the Emergency Fund of the Ministry of Manpower and Migration, which is partially financed through monthly contributions by factories (1% of the basic wage of workers), to pay the salaries of workers in the event that it was decreed that industrial establishment should shut down. 
• Exceptional Measure: Exempt all incoming shipments (that were already contracted for) from all the fees associated with customs clearance delays in Egyptian ports. 

• Due to the COVID-19 crisis, workers in small workshops across governorates faced challenging wage issues; many of the small workshops employ a very large number of non-regular workers.

• The minimum number of workers required for establishing a trade union committee at the level of the establishment, as well as the number of general unions required for establishing a federation is high.  
• The draft law includes penalties involving the deprivation of liberty.
   

• Lower the number of members required to form a trade union committee at the establishment level or an occupational committee from 150 members to 50.
• Lower the number of union committees required to form a general union from 15 committees with 20,000 member workers to 10 committees with 15,000 members.
• Lower the number of general unions required to form a federation from 10 unions with 200,000 members to 7 unions with 150 members.
   

On August 5, 2019, the President ratified Law No. 142 of 2019, which amended a number of provisions of Law No. 213 of 2017.
The new law introduced a number of changes, including:

• Reducing the number of members required to form a trade union committee at the establishment level to 50 members.
• Reducing the number of union committees required to form a general union to 10 committees with 15,000 members. 
• Reducing the number of general unions required to form a federation to 7 unions with 150,000 members.