In an unusually coordinated display of dissent, employees at Cairo’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Company staged simultaneous protests across several branches on November 12, demanding long-overdue compensation, wage equity, and an overhaul of top financial management.
Workers from a broad range of departments—network operations, plant maintenance, administration, billing, warehousing, and meter reading—convened at company facilities in Zeitoun, Heliopolis, Basatin, Mostorod, and Nasr City. Among their grievances: unpaid bonuses dating back to 2017, fair implementation of the national minimum wage according to job grade seniority, and the dismissal of Ali Amasha, the board’s vice chair for financial and administrative affairs.
Videos obtained by Al Manassa show placard-bearing protesters chanting slogans such as: “Why are you silent? Demand your rights,” and “Amasha must go.” One banner asked pointedly, “Where are the bonuses?”
Frustration with eroded benefits
Cairo water workers at the Heliopolis branch raise placards with their demands, Nov. 12, 2025At the heart of the unrest lies a cumulative erosion of compensation, workers say. “The meal allowance is 100 pounds ($2) a month,” one employee told Al Manassa, requesting anonymity. “That’s less than 3 pounds a day—when the cheapest sandwich costs 10.”
Beyond better food and transport allowances, workers are also calling for the cancellation of consultancy contracts for retirees allegedly drawing excessive salaries without demonstrable output. They further demand promotion-based wage adjustments for those with advanced degrees, permanent contracts for temporary workers, and an expansion of healthcare coverage to include dependents.
An offer that fails to satisfy
Meter readers and collectors had initiated work slowdowns the previous week by halting payment collections, which led to an 80% drop in collection revenues, a second worker told Al Manassa.
In response, the company issued an internal memo on Tuesday aimed at appeasing collectors and meter readers. It promised to refer demands for higher collection incentives to the board, pledged to count digital payments via Fawry towards monthly targets, and suspended biometric sign-outs for field staff. However, it stopped short of promising structural wage reform or resolving the issue of unpaid bonuses.
Devices for collection payment are out of use as collectors refuse to work“This memo is just window dressing,” said a third worker. “It doesn’t address the real issue—salaries that have failed to keep pace with inflation.”
Indeed, wage compression is a sticking point: “A worker who’s spent 20 years with the company earns the same as a new hire—around 7,000 pounds a month,” the worker added.
A wider pattern of unrest
The Cairo protests follow similar actions elsewhere in Egypt’s water utility sector. In July, staff at the Alexandria Drinking Water and Wastewater Company organized sit-ins demanding retroactive bonuses dating back to 2016. Earlier, in March, contract-based collectors in Qalyoubia province protested to demand full-time employment status and minimum wage guarantees.
The pattern suggests growing disaffection within Egypt’s essential service workforce—one that may continue to bubble up in the absence of meaningful reform.
