Since the early morning, a delegation of labor leaders from Ghazl el-Mahalla has been in negotiations with the General Federation of Trade Unions, in an attempt by the government to avert the scheduled 21 July strike by the workers.
The delegation includes five activists, among them Muhammad el-Attar and Sayyed Habib.
The invitation for the meeting came from the General Union of Textile Union bureaucrats, who are racing against time to abort the scheduled 21 July protest.
I still cannot find out what happened in the meeting, since those I know among the delegation have their mobile phones switched off. I don’t think any thing bad has happened to them, though.. So let’s wait a bit, and I’ll give it another try later tonight and in the morning to try to find out more… But there is a couple of points we have to consider here:
1-It is VERY significant that the General Union invited those five workers, and not the members of the Factory Union Committee. This means that the union bureaucracy understands well now who is running the show inside the factory: It’s those independent labor leaders, not the corrupt officials from the state-sponsored union.
2- My sources tell me that the mood in the factory is pretty militant. What has been scheduled on 21 July originally as a “sit-in”… has now turned into a “STRIKE” plan… and the mood on the ground means, if the industrial action is not averted by a compromise from the govt (or mass crackdown on the labor leaders), the 21 July strike may well last for more than a day.