Category: Blog

Statement from Helwan iron and steel mills workers

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received the following statement from iron and steel mills workers in Helwan.

Statement from Helwan Iron & Steel Mills workers بيان من عمال الصلب بحلوان

The statement, signed by the “Workers’ Consciousness Committee in the Steel Mills,” slammed the labor union bureaucracy, blaming the latter for failing to push for the implementation of the ministerial decrees, announced by Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif in 2006 and 2007 related to the bonuses and allowances. The statement warned this will result in a “wave of strikes in all Helwan companies. The minister hasn’t announced he revoked his decrees, still the management officials in the companies are objecting (to implement the decrees), and the unions are complicit.

“We demand a public meeting, attended by the head of the union in the company Salah Heikal, who attended already a similar meeting in the Light Transportation Company, but refuses to do the same in the Iron and Steel (Mills).

The Statement concluded by addressing the Factory Union Committee officials: “We call up on you today to implement the decree immediately, and stand on the side of workers. Tomorrow, there will not be anytime for more calls. The steel mills workers, just like the Mahalla workers, have the ability to achieve their demands without you.”

Sinai Bedouins fear losing homes

Posted on By 3arabawy

From Al-Jazeera:

At least 700 Egyptian Bedouins have protested over fears the Egyptian government plans to remove their houses from an area along the border with the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of police surrounded the Sinai desert Bedouins as they set several tyres ablaze in the Massura area, on the main road between Rafah and the nearby city of Al-Arish in Egypt.
The demonstrations followed a visit two days earlier by local officials who surveyed land and houses near the border.
This prompted fears among Bedouins that an anti-smuggling measure, that has not been implemented to date, could be used to remove their homes.

Daily attacks in Iraq hit new high in June

Posted on By 3arabawy

Via Reuters:

Attacks in Iraq last month reached their highest daily average since May 2003, showing a surge in violence as President George W. Bush completed a buildup of U.S. troops, Pentagon statistics show.
The data, obtained by Reuters from the Defense Department, showed an upward trend in daily attacks over the past four months, when U.S. and Iraqi forces were ramping up operations against insurgents and militants, including al Qaeda, in Iraq.
Pentagon officials were not immediately available to comment on the statistics.
The June numbers showed 5,335 attacks against coalition troops, Iraqi security forces, civilians and infrastructure.
June’s total was 2.5 percent below an October 2006 peak of 5,472 attacks and slightly lower than the 5,365 attacks in May.
But because June has only 30 days, the average daily number of attacks was 177.8, higher than the 176.5 last October and 173.1 in May.
The Pentagon statistics, which come as pressure mounts in the U.S. Congress for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, depicted the most intensive month for daily attacks since Bush declared major combat operations at an end in May 2003.