Egypt

SCA workers call for improved conditions

Ahram Online

With photo of the SCA protest. (There's also a photo of Hawass apparently trying to address the SCA protest on the BBC website).

Protesting employees demonstrated Wednesday outside the ministry's Zamalek premises demanding better wages and the appointment of seasonal employees. Another of their demands was the removal of the culture ministry's supervisor, who supervises the construction work of the National Museum of Civilization, the Grand Egyptian Museum and the rehabilitation project of historic Cairo.

Zahi Hawass, minister for antiquities, met with the protesters and announced that procedures to increase the salaries were taken in January. As for the appointment of new employees, he said this will be studied once the country is stable, archaeological sites reopen and tourists return; the main source of the ministry’s budget.

ABC13

With photo of the protest. The Associated Press report that Supreme Council of Antiquities employees gathered in protest ouside their Cairo building:

Egyptian museum workers stage a protest outside the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek in Cairo, Egypt Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. In another indication of state employee unrest, dozens of museum workers demanding higher wages and criticizing the practices of former Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni staged a protest in front of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, arguing with Antiquities Chief Zahi Hawass who came out to address them, and pushing past doormen into the building. Posters in Arabic read "No to corruption, no to oppression, Farouq Abdel-Salam", "Steadfastness, steadfastness" and "Increasing pay"

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Egypt