I received news from Kafr el-Dawar:
Half of the factory’s labor force, around 5000 workers took part in a demonstration from roughly 6:30am to 7:30am, and chanted slogans in solidarity with the Mahalla strikers, and raised demands related to their own factory. But the sit-in did not escalate into a total strike.
After rounds of phone calls with labor activists, I was told the strike plans for Kafr el-Dawar were “not totally scrapped off, but postponed. There’s still so much to be done to guarantee it’ll be a full strike. Labor leaders (at the factory) have decided not to push it now, and wait. But they sent the management a strong message by the protest, and made a clear threat that a total strike will break out soon if the Mahalla Five are not released and if the Kafr el-Dawar demands about work conditions are not met. I expect things to take a much heated turn these coming few days” said one source.