Widespread Discontent among Egypt's workers

Several reports and round-ups reposted via LBO-talk (Left Business Observer mailing list) point to a widening out in labour activism in Egypt as the strikes reported here in the Egyptian textile industry [http://www.metamute.org/en/Egyptian-Textile-Worker... earlier this year continue to spread to other sectors and geographical areas. There is a summary of recent activity in different sectors including a tax collectors strike that looks set to continue up to at least Dec 1st. As the first report points out, workers in Egypt are striking largely without the support of their nationalised and state-directed unions - in fact in many cases they are striking explicitly to rid themselves of rule from above by these unions

Discontent among Egypt's workersMilitancy by laborers who have split from regime-controlled unionspresents President Mubarak with a widening crisis.

By Jeffrey FleishmanLos Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 27, 2007

EL MAHALLA EL KUBRA, Egypt — President Hosni Mubarak faces discontentfrom many quarters, but perhaps the most intense criticism resonatesfrom the banners and shaking fists of militant workers who have brokenaway from government-controlled unions and staged sporadic strikesacross the nation.

The Egyptian government frequently muffles free speech and politicaldissent, but these ragged and often disorganized picket lines presenta widening crisis for a president viewed as detached from the workingclass and unable to lift wages and stem double-digit inflation.

"Mubarak doesn't care about workers at all anymore," said MohammedShorbagy, who held a Koran in a plastic bag and stood amid litter andlean-tos during a strike last month at the Misr Spinning and WeavingFactory in this Nile Delta city. "Why is the president asleep? We'vebeen here for four days and he's done nothing."

Shorbagy was one of thousands of male and female strikers who hangedtheir company president in effigy and took over the textile mill'scourtyard, banging drums and giving speeches. Riot police andundercover security officers made a passive show of force and gaveworkers room to vent, appearing not to want to provoke the bloodyunrest that characterized strikes in Egypt more than half a centuryago.

The weeklong strike last month ended peacefully when thegovernment-owned company made concessions on wages and profit-sharingbonuses that fell short of workers' demands. But the mill and its27,000 employees have become a focal point of the labor unrest. Nearlya year ago, the same workers struck for several days, ignitingsolidarity across Egypt as work stoppages spread to railway, flour andother industries whose salaries and benefits have not kept pace withsharp rises in the cost of living.

"This is the largest, most militant strike wave since the 1940s," saidSameh Naguib, a labor expert and sociology professor at the AmericanUniversity in Cairo. "Hundreds of thousands of workers are involvedand it's spreading quite rapidly. . . . The question is how this labormovement may play into a larger democratic movement against thegovernment."

Mubarak's economic reforms, including privatization and lowercorporate tax rates, have led to 7% economic growth in each of thelast three years. Those otherwise impressive statistics have notbenefited workers whose stagnant salaries have been decimated bywildly surging prices that have recently pushed inflation to monthlyrates as high as 15%. This has created resentment among the lower andmiddle classes, who say Mubarak's economic liberalization hasbenefited only those with government connections.

The strikes come as Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, orNDP, has cracked down on political opposition, jailed journalists andeditors, closed a human rights organization and imprisoned hundreds ofmembers of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The repression has drawn rebuke from the Bush administration, a closeMubarak ally, which recently blamed Egypt for backtracking on itscommitment to democracy; Cairo receives about $2 billion annually inU.S. economic and military aid.

Egyptian officials contend that the Muslim Brotherhood, which adheresto strict Islamic law and has been accused of inspiring militants, andother anti-Mubarak elements, including the secular Kefaya politicalorganization, are attempting to radicalize the nation's unions.

The textile workers say they are not influenced by outside forces, butby disillusionment over salaries and what they see as corrupt unionleaders poorly representing them during Egypt's opening of itseconomy.

"Of course we will see more strikes, and the reason is clear toeverybody," said Kamal Abbas, head of an independent worker advocacygroup that was shut down by the government this year on charges ofinciting labor unrest. "This union is totally subordinate to thestate, and all its members are appointed by the state securityservices. There must be a [genuine] union that represents workers."

Abdullah Kamal, an NDP member of the upper house of Parliament andeditor of a state-owned weekly magazine, mocked what he described asattempts by "failing political groups" to benefit from union turmoil.

"The revolution will not start in Mahalla or at any other place with aconcentration of workers," Kamal wrote in a recent column. "We askinstigators to look for another incendiary game."

The labor unrest, however, does add an explosive dimension to acountry uneasily contemplating the post-Mubarak era. Mubarak has ruledEgypt for the last 26 years and, for weeks, the 79-year-old presidenthas been denying rumors that he is ill; several editors who printedsuch stories face criminal trials.

Analysts say that regardless of the health questions, the Mubarakgovernment is in its twilight and that there is no clear successor,although the president's son Gamal is viewed as a favorite among theNDP's younger, rising power brokers.

The government has moved quickly to resolve many strikes, fearing thatan alliance of labor and opposition groups could jeopardize the NDP.The party has been successful in recent years at tainting politicalenemies, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood, as dangerous radicals.This, along with a historically apathetic public, has fragmented thesecular and religious wings of the opposition.

But a national labor movement, which could include up to 300,000textile employees alone, may undermine that strategy, especiallybecause many Egyptians sympathize with workers.

Naguib, the labor expert, said Mubarak faces a new class of unionorganizer demanding less government interference, and questions of howmuch to give in to labor demands to avoid triggering strikes acrossthis country of about 80 million people.

"We are tired of promises that only hypnotize workers," said MahmoudAbdel Whab, who last month protested in front of the Mahalla mill. "Imake 300 pounds [about $54] a month and have worked here for nineyears. I can only buy food. I can't buy shirts. Next year my oldestdaughter will start school. How can I afford those costs?"

Mohammed Attar was arrested during the Mahalla strike and accused ofstoking labor disobedience, inciting workers and costing the company$1.8 million a day in lost productivity. He said the state securitypolice questioned him for two days.

"They told me that if I cooperated and went to the workers and toldthem to settle for only 40 days' worth of bonus pay, that the policewould tell the prosecutor that I committed no crime. But if you don'tcooperate . . . they said, 'We'll receive a call asking us to detainyou indefinitely.' "

jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com

Noha El-Hennawy of The Times' Cairo Bureau contributed to this report.

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Egyptian Workers and Trade Union Watch (EWTUW)http://arabist.net/arabawy/

A short update on labour struggles in Egypt in late October.

Egypt's workers' unrest is continuing unabated. According to theEgyptian Workers and Trade Union Watch (EWTUW) there have been a totalof 580 industrial actions in the period January- September. Almostevery month sees an increase in workers' actions: from around 20 inearly 2007 to the peak of 100 and 94 actions in August and Septemberrespectively.

The number of workers participating and threatening to join in strikesis also on the rise, and the unrest has also spread geographically. Inall of 2006 the Land Centre for Human Right documented a total of 222strikes, which was a significant increase in workers' unrest from 2005.

Real Estate Tax Collectors StrikeOn Sunday 21st 55,000 real estate tax officers started a strike,demanding improvement in work condition to be on par with theircounterparts in other government civil service sectors. In effect thestrike started right after the Eid holidays through work stoppages;there was a 90 percent drop in tax collection activity. Thegeographical scale of the strike is significant as it will includeprovinces from Upper (South) and Lower (North) Egypt.

The real estate tax officers are employed by the local councils andreceive only one-fourth of the monthly salary (LE 1200/$216, includingbonuses) of their colleagues at the Ministry of Finance.

Approximately 3000 strikers from Cairo, Giza, Fayoum, Monofiye, BeniSueif, Menya, Daqahlia and Beheria gathered outside the Ministry ofFinance and chanted slogans against Fianance Minister Youssef BoutrosGhali and Islamil Abdel Rasul, head of the Real Estate TaxAdministration.

There are rumours that the government will solve the tax collectorsproblems by December 1st, though this has not stopped the strike andstrike organizers have promised that no taxes will be collected untilthat date. If demands are not met by then the tax collectors willlaunch another round of protests.

Strike at Telephones Equipment Company in Ma�assaraAround 500 workers at the Telephones Equipment Company in Ma�assara(south of Cairo), have been on strike since Monday 22nd over thenon-payment of quarter-annual bonuses, equal to 90 days wages.

The majority of the 1400 strong workforce is on temporary contracts,hired after the company�s privatization in 2001. The workers on strikeare those with permanent contracts from before privatization. Thetemporary workers were already involved in struggles for permanentcontracts before the recent strike started. The two groups of workersare now attempting to unite the struggles.

Demonstrations in Ghazl el-MahallaDemonstrations broke out at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company inGhazl el-Mahalla against a propaganda campaign by the company�smanagement to try to get workers to not pursue the overthrow of Madmoudel-Gebally, chairman of the company, at the coming general assembly.

Between 1500 and 3000 1st and 2nd shift workers took part in theprotest that lasted for half and hour and ended at 4 pm.

On Saturday 20th, microbus drivers in Mahalla struck over improvementin working conditions. This comes after drivers in Alexandria, Monofiyaand Dakhaliya struck over similar demands.

800 garment workers struck in Alexandria on Sunday 21 over unpaidbonuses.

MORE:http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/844/eg4.htm

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