According to sources in the Mansoura-España Garments factory, the United Bank has issued a sacking decree against the four workers it reported earlier to the police, in addition to the deputy head of the Factory Union Committee Adel Hassaballah. The order will be implemented tomorrow, according to the workers, but a strike is expected to take place 8am if the five workers are barred by the security from entering the company compound.
I spoke with two workers today in the factory.
The security guard at the company gate, whose name is Yasser, will be punished by the management for “allowing journalists into the factory” and for refusing to testify against a colleague accused by the management of letting the workers out of the warehouses exit, after the management tried locking them up inside the factory. They will deduct 10 days from his salary.
Mohsen el-Sha’er’s saga continues, while it seems the management has halted its earlier move against the four other workers.
There was production yesterday in the company as an order for 1,600 pieces of garments came through. The workers complain since the brokering of the agreement last year (which was betrayed by the United Bank), the management did not seek any new clients for the firm and the total time spent in production amounted to one or two months out of the entire year. Prior to 2006, the workers say the company used to produce 6,000 pieces of garments a month to client around the world, including the US.
The meeting scheduled today between the Labor Ministry officials, Mansoura-España trade unionists and the representatives of the United Bank was canceled, after the latter claimed they were “busy” and “had not time to show up” to discuss the workers’ problems.
