Discrimination or not: BBC staff in Cairo ask for fair salaries

Employees at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) office in Cairo went on strike on June 14, announcing their protest against the British entity’s policy of paying the staff in the local Egyptian currency despite the inflation striking the country.

BBC employees in Cairo told The Washington Post that despite being instructed by their employer that only those who planned to work might enter the office, many nevertheless showed up but refused to do their jobs, turning the protest into a sit-down strike. 

It is worth mentioning that Egypt is going through a serious economic and currency crisis. The Egyptian pound is currently the sixth poorest performing currency since January 1 after losing more than half of its value since 2022, according to CNBC. 

One BBC staff member in Cairo, who asked not to be named, told Jusoor Post that BCC staff members in any country other than Egypt are paid ten times more than Cairo’s staff.

“It is a discrimination,” the staffer said, adding that “the BBC knows well that we cannot be hired by any other media entity in Egypt. That is why it is putting pressure on us.” 

The staff member explained that media and journalistic corporates in Egypt consider those who work in the BBC as spies and traitors, so they do not hire them, and they cannot leave their job due to security issues. 

“The BBC is taking advantage of this situation and trying to impose its financial rules on us in Cairo,” the staffer continued, adding that those working for the news outlet are forced “either to accept injustice or be unemployed.”

When asked whether this was their first time to take action, the staff member told Jusoor Post that they had a silent standing protest weeks ago, stressing that this action shall not be their last if their demands are not met. 

“We negotiated with the administration before and we had a slight raise in the salaries, but it is not aligned with the prices and the value of the currency,” the staffer added.

In a statement, the BBC announced its disappointment for the strike taken by its employees in Cairo and promised to review the economic situation in Egypt and to work on finding a resolution, The Washington Post reported. 

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) announced their support for the BBC journalists in Cairo. It stated that the current approach systematically discriminates against the personnel at the bureau.

For his part, Khaled El-Balshy, head of Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate, stressed his total support for the BBC employees in Cairo. He told Jusoor Post that he has been following and working on this issue since it started.

“I met the head of the BCC office in Cairo and contacted the BBC administration to respond to the staff’s demands,” he said, emphasizing that “the administration should take into consideration the economic situation in Egypt just like they pay their staff in Turkey in their local currency but equivalent to the US dollar rate.”