Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab met with notary officials Sunday evening at Cabinet headquarters in an effort to solve problems with striking employees at the State Notary Office, according to a board member of the State Notary Office Association, Momen Khairallah.
Khairallah told The Cairo Post on Sunday the prime minister promised to ensure employee equality on the condition that they postpone their strike for three months to provide him the time to solve their problems.
Mahlab met with Judge Tarek Azouz, head of the advisers of the State Notary Office Association, and the association spokesperson, Deif el-Nagar, Khairallah said.
Khairallah said that employees of the State Notary Office are holding a strike because they have several demands dating back to before 2011. He added that they are seeking equality with judiciary experts and forensics employees, “financially and morally.”
State Notary Office employees are facing problems including the freezing of legal rights by the Ministry of Justice, he said. Also, the head of the Notary Office should be sworn in before the president under the law, which indicates that his standing is equivalent to a minister, he said. However, two positions are superior to the notary head, which contradicts the law, he said.
The employees are also requesting the digitizing of the notary database, renovations of its headquarters, and a security escort and a method of transportation for some employees, Khairallah added.
Khairallah said he met with the assistant of the Minister of Justice to discuss employee problems but received no response. He said he decided to organize a protest, and went to the Sayeda Zaynab Police Station to request a protest order from authorities to protest outside of the Ministry of Justice.
The protest received media attention, and led to the meeting with the prime minister Sunday, who promised to solve employee problems, Khairallah said.
