Tag: banks

Strikes domino effect

Posted on By 3arabawy

The dominoes keep rolling and falling.

The Grain Mills workers demonstrated last week, demanding equal treatment to that received by the Mahalla textile workers.

The Tax Collectors were cited as an inspiration for bank workers slamming their incompetent state-backed union officials.

The Education Ministry’s civil servants are moving nationally, forming new structures of mobilization parallel to the state-backed General Union. The latter, coming under strong pressure is moving against the government, but in a very very very regulated way that diffuses the militancy of what amounts to more than half a million civil servants. But just like what the tax collectors did in 2007, the Education civil servants’ grassroots leaders are pushing for an occupation in Hussein Hegazi St., due to start this Sunday.

The above are just few examples of how the domino effect works. Small victories snowball into mass strikes by blue and white collar workers, spilling from one sector to the other.

Thank you Mahalla.

Unions in a dire state, says MP as more workers protest

Posted on By 3arabawy

Michaela Singer reports:

Employees and union members of a bank and a holding company staged a double demonstration on Sunday outside the parliament to protest against what they described as “prejudice” and “persecutory” behavior taken against them by their respective work officials.
Muhammad Abdel Hamid, an employee of the Masraf United Bank and a member of the Bankers Union, told Daily News Egypt, “I am here to present my complaints to Members of Parliament. The Union has frozen my membership because I dared to take up workers’ demands.”
In a written statement to the PA, Abdel Hamid has accused the union board of conspiring with the General Union of Banks to prevent employees’ rights from being implemented, including the annual salary increase mandated by a 1987 law, which was later ratified in 2006.
Workers from the contracting company Atlas were also present to deliver their complaints. Yasser Muhammad Yassin, who has worked for Atlas Holding Company for 14 years, told Daily News Egypt, “I have been discriminated against because I took workers demands to the authorities. I have a Masters degree in business, and was an accounting advisor [for the warehouses], and after I complained they demoted me to accounts secretary and denied me my annual raise.
“My colleague, Hussein Sorour, who is here with me today, was moved to the Alexandria branch because he took my side.”
In a written statement previously presented to the Atlas General Union, workers demanded full insurance and pension funds as well as paid holidays, travel expenses and over-time pay of 100 percent rather than the current 40 percent. They also demanded the holding company to implement a system for an annual wage raise.
Standing with them was MP Muhammad Abdel Aziz Shabaan, who promised the employees that he would present their cases to the PA to ensure action is taken.
“We will have to study their demands and find out what is relevant and what is not. The assembly will hopefully meet next week to discuss these affairs among the issue of wages in general,” he said.
“However, what I can say now is that the labor unions are in a poor state, and are no longer active. There are some real leaders in companies and factories, but when they try to act on behalf of their colleagues they are inevitably persecuted by officials.”

Update on the Mansoura-España Garments Company sit-in

Posted on By 3arabawy

The United Bank (Al-Masraf Al-Muttahid) has notified the Mansoura-España Garments Company workers it will liquidate the firm, disregarding the agreement reached between the government and the parliament, as it decided the fate of the company already, without showing any signs it is interested in holding the agreed meeting with representatives from the Factory Union Committee, the General Federation of Trade Unions and Labor Ministry.

Browsing thru the Bank’s website, I found this in the Background:

The United Bank is an exciting new name in the Egyptian banking and finance sector with a one billion Egyptian pounds paid in capital. It was established by the Central Bank in June 2006, as a part of its reform strategy in Egypt, the United Bank acquired three banks; the United Bank of Egypt, the Islamic International Bank for Investment and Development, and the Nile Bank.

This is probably the most recent scandalous case I come across where “Islamic capitalism” is a party to the conflict, and involved in shameful exploitation of their workers. A couple of years ago, activists were involved in another solidarity campaign with the asbestos workers who were facing slow death on the hands of Hagg Abdel Azim Loqma of the Muslim Brothers, and now we get the United Bank, which brags about its “Islamic” roots and which makes the Mansoura-España workers toil under conditions which remind us of may be the Industrial Revolution in Britain.

It is once again, a clear proof that money is money. Capitalism is capitalism.. be it bearded or shaved or whatever.. the core dynamics of workers’ exploitation, capital accumulation rule over whatever banner the capitalist is raising.

Meanwhile, the sit-in by the men and women workers at the factory, which started 21 April, continues.