helwan archives — Page 22 of 31

Mahalla updates

Posted on 27/09/200714/01/2021 By 3arabawy

I’ve spoken with a Socialist activist inside the factory. He says around 3am one of the members of the company board showed up and “tried to offer the workers a weak settlement, but they refused. Then around 8am in the morning a delegation from the (govt-founded) National Council for Human Rights and said they were here part of a fact finding mission to investigate the conditions of the workers.

These are positive signs that the police is not going to storm the factory soon, as they were planning earlier. But of course I could be wrong, who knows how the Interior Ministry thinks. It looks like the government may be heading for a compromise to end the strike.

“If the strike ends in victory,” he continued, “can you imagine the domino effect it will have? That could well open a new season of strikes like what happened in December (2006). Anyways, let’s wait and see.”

On another front, the Socialist Students in Helwan and Cairo Universities issued a statement in solidarity with the strikers.

Update on Helwan Iron & Steel Mills

Posted on 29/08/200714/01/2021 By 3arabawy

Just a brief update about the troubles in Helwan’s Iron and Steel Mills.

After the workers’ protests, the (state) managers decided to bring down the cuts in bonuses from 11% to 3%. The workers accepted the compromise and were paid their salaries.

Troubles in Helwan’s Iron & Steel Mills

Posted on 26/08/200714/01/2021 By 3arabawy

1500 workers in the furnaces’ section of Helwan’s Iron and Steel Mills have refused en masse Sunday morning to receive their salaries from the management, after they were shocked to find out their bonuses were cut by 11% under the claim there was a decrease in the over-time shifts.

State Security officers tried to pressure the workers into receiving their pay, but the workers held out their position.

Faced with this, the state-owned company board chairman Abdel Aziz Hafez “verbally” decreed a decrease in the cuts from 11% to 8%, but workers are demanding a decree written on paper and signed by Hafez; And based on this “written” decree, the workers announced, they would then decide whether to continue their protest or suspend it.

The total labor force in the factory is 13,000 workers.