Workers at Amoun Pharmaceutical in Obour City, Qalyoubia, have temporarily suspended their eight-day strike following a preliminary agreement with management. The deal includes a bonus with May salaries in lieu of 2025 profit shares, two workers told Al Manassa.
Brokered Wednesday with mediation from the Qalyubia Labor Directorate, the accord grants management one month to address remaining demands including a 30% increase tied to basic salaries, at least a 20% annual raise, and direct contracts replacing subcontract arrangements.
One worker told Al Manassa that Labor Directorate officials had spent the past two days at the company, stepping in to mediate after workers turned down management's precondition: suspend the strike before any talks.
“The labor official told the HR director, 'Management needs to sit down and hear their demands,'” he recounted, speaking anonymously out of concern for repercussions.
The worker added that an Emirati manager had struck a similar note during an online meeting with staff last Sunday.
A second worker at Wednesday's meeting said management declined to specify the promised bonus amount, citing the need for financial review and UAE executive approval.
Speaking anonymously, he noted that employees agreed to suspend the strike to give management the time requested for reviewing demands.
Still, many worry the bonus may not match the withheld 2025 profit share, which workers pegged at no less than 20 months' wages based on 2016 basic salaries.
Strikers previously told Al Manassa their pay has barely budged, with only small raises over three years—monthly salaries hovering at 6,000 pounds (about $112), below the 7,000-pound minimum ($130).
Job security lies at the unrest's core: roughly half of Amoun's 3,000 workers are with third-party subcontractor IBS and seek direct, indefinite contracts from parent company Arcera for lasting stability.
The industrial dispute marks a turbulent period for the firm since its acquisition by the tax-exempt Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, ADQ, in 2021 for $740 million. ADQ subsequently launched Arcera, an Abu Dhabi-based life sciences powerhouse, to consolidate its pharmaceutical assets, including Amoun, under a single corporate umbrella.
