News

The second UNI-MEI Arabic speaking broadcasting workers conference took place in Cairo, Egypt, 17-19 November, with assistance from the German foundation FES. Participants came from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Sudan, in addition to a sizeable number from Egypt itself.



The conference was opened by Aisha Abdel-Hady of the labour minister and the overall chair was Talaat El-Mansy, president of the local Egyptian union.



After an in-depth review of the broadcasting situation in Egypt substantial attention was given to health and safety in the media. This was in the context of a fire recently in a historic Cairo theatre where several lives were lost. The participants called on UNI-MEI to sponsor a programme in Egypt specifically focusing on heath and safety issues.



The immediate concern regarding new technology is the planned switch in most countries to digitalisation. The two top technical engineers of Egyptian broadcasting spoke to the group, emphasising the improved service that will result. But participants were concerned with the probable effects on jobs. One afternoon the group visited the Egyptian broadcasting company’s main facility downtown on the Nile River. They were impressed by the recent and state of the art renovation of much of the operations. They also remarked the exceptionally large military presence in the building which, while improving safety in case of some attempt against the company, seemed to be a potential danger of accidental incidents in itself.



The participants were graciously received by the General Manager for Technical Operations, who oversees most of the 20,000 employees working in the building.



After a thorough presentation on women in broadcasting by Egyptian union member Galila Osman, the group discussed the situation of women both on the job and in the unions. While several women took part in the meeting it was noted that they were still quite under represented. While some of the men said that more women simply were not interested in more participation the women said the main problem was having to get home on time for their “second job” there. The group observed many women technicians as engineers in Egyptian broadcasting; several said this was because qualified Egyptian men get jobs at much higher pay in other countries of the region which are not available to men.



One woman participant had in fact become president of her union, Nada Soliba Alshewiri of Lebanon. She said that the situation at her station for women was good yet still imperfect. Their main concern, however, was the fact that their building had been bombed, operations suspended for three months (after which the union had to be re-established), assassinations and continued civil strife.



In country reports most participants said that an increasing problem was the growth of private broadcasting in their countries without equal access to unionisation. Several said they looked to their governments to solve this problem.



Among other activities of the conference was a role playing exercise of collective bargaining. UNI-MEI was represented by President Heinrich Bleicher-Nagelsmann and Director Jim Wilson. Noel Howell, UNI Information Officer, also attended, as he is preparing a report of various UNI activities recently in the Arabic speaking region.