Bill collectors and meter readers at Cairo’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Company staged a work stoppage for a second consecutive day on Monday at the Bahtim, Heliopolis, and 10th of Ramadan branches, demanding the regularization of temporary workers and the integration of overdue allowances dating back to 2016, two workers at the company told Al Manassa.
Photographs circulated by workers at several branches and reviewed by Al Manassa show collection devices stacked, bearing the phrase “until regularization and allowances,” dated June 21 and June 22.
Workers at Heliopolis refuse to collect payments to demand permanent employment and the inclusion of allowances, June 22, 2026The two workers described the action as “just the beginning,” expecting the protests to expand in the coming days to include all workers in branches and stations, as happened last year.
In November 2025, the company saw a wave of protests across dozens of sites that lasted about 15 days, during which workers demanded the incorporation of allowances overdue since 2016, payment of tax refunds due, increased allowances, and permanent contracts for temporary workers.
“Management does not learn that stalling and procrastination will push workers into a dead end, leaving them with no option but to protest to obtain their rights,” one worker said. “For years, we have demanded permanent contracts and the incorporation of allowances, and all we get are promises that are never kept.”
A second worker said conditions for workers, especially collectors who have been demanding permanent contracts for years, are worsening. Their monthly incomes range between 5,000–6,000 Egyptian pounds ($100–$120), and they are denied many benefits, including annual profit shares. The required collection rates, which reach 90%, also prevent them from earning performance bonuses.
The second worker said the stoppage also covered permanently appointed collectors, who are standing in solidarity with their colleagues in all their demands. “Even permanent staff, whether collectors or branch and station workers, are suffering from low wages. Workers who have been here for 25 or 30 years, their net salaries do not reach 7,000 or 8,000 pounds. How are people supposed to live given the cost of living?”
Workers previously told Al Manassa that they were forced into constant borrowing to meet their families’ needs because of low wages, while many had accumulated large debts on their credit cards amounting to tens of thousands of pounds.
Workers at Bahtim refuse to collect payments to demand permanent employment and the inclusion of allowances, June 21, 2026In response, Hamdy El-Saadawy, head of the union committee at the Cairo Drinking Water and Wastewater Company, denied that collectors had refrained from collection work yesterday or today.
When Al Manassa confronted him with the photos, El-Saadawy said he had not received any information indicating that collectors had stopped working. He noted that the Holding Company for Drinking Water and Wastewater is currently preparing a report on the overdue allowances file ahead of submitting it to the housing minister, after several members of parliament filed briefing requests over the failure to incorporate the allowances since 2016.
On June 6, bill collectors and meter readers working under precarious conditions at the Qalyoubia Drinking Water and Wastewater Company succeeded in securing the application of the minimum wage and the signing of new contracts stipulating their financial and insurance rights, during a negotiation meeting between workers’ representatives and Qalyoubia Drinking Water Company Chairman Mohamed Fouda, after months of continued protests.
