By Rana Assem

Following the previous strikes by the students of the American University in Cairo (AUC), housekeeping workers are currently striking on campus ever since the administration published its plan to release 170 employees and replace them with a new external company to handle housekeeping duties on campus. The date of this transition has not yet been fixed, but it’s expected to happen no later than August 2017. This has created a huge buzz among AUC students since they are outraged by the administration’s decision and attitude.

On July 17th, the university’s website published an article about their decision to hire a new housekeeping company claiming that this action is to help improve service quality standards for the benefit of the students, faculty and all who work at AUC. They also claim that this action will increase efficiency with a cheaper price, while of course supporting all current workers through this transition. It seems that supporting employees according to AUC administration means laying them off with recommendation letters to help them find alternative employment.

(Find the full statement’s link below)

As an AUC student, I know that the whole community is more than frustrated with such an act because we as well as the administration are fully aware that these hardworking employees might not have a chance at finding new jobs, since most of them are over 40 and we know how hard it is in this current economic crisis to find employment. In addition, some of these workers are financially responsible for multiple families, so what would happen to all these people when they get released?

In support of the workers, the student body is running petitions to demand the administration to reverse such a decision before it’s too late. If you want to sign the petition and help AUC workers not lose their jobs, feel free to do so through this link:

https://docs.google.com/a/aucegypt.edu/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSei0ZTFIuJy6HT7T80EEnfx2-LyUjFZ_QPiVHPgkIHa911F9g/viewform

AUC Press Release:
http://www.aucegypt.edu/news/stories/streamlining-auc-management-re-inventing-housekeeping-grounds-cleaning-services?utm_source=newsatauc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news