Tag: mahalla

Solidarity from international trade unionists

Posted on By 3arabawy

The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation has sent Hosni Mubarak the following letter:

Egyptian Government Urged to Intervene to Protect Rights of Striking Textile Workers
FOR THE PRESS
Egyptian Government Urged to Intervene to Protect Rights of Striking Textile Workers
For immediate release: September 27, 2007
The Egyptian government been urged to act immediately to protect the rights of thousands of workers at one of the country’s biggest state-owned textile factories.
In a letter to President Hosni Mubarak, the Brussels-based International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation expressed concern at the Misr Helwan Spinning and Weaving Company in El Mahalla el Kubra, where workers have been on strike since Sunday demanding improvements in their wages and working conditions.
Said ITGLWF General Secretary Neil Kearney in his letter: “We have noted and fully agree with the statement of the General Board of the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU) endorsing these demands, calling for a halt to retaliatory action against the workers including those at the forefront of the strike, condemning the uncaring stance of the company towards the plight of the workers and demanding that the Egyptian government ensure that workers rights are fully respected and that the fair, just and legal demands of the workers at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in El Mahalla el Kubra are met, thus contributing to the economic and social stability of Egypt”.
“We believe it is vital that the government of Egypt act immediately to protect the rights of all textile workers in El Mahalla el Kubra and agree and to enforce their demands”, concluded Mr. Kearney.The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation is a global union federation bringing together 220 affiliated organizations in 110 countries with a combined membership of 10 million workers.
For more information, contact:
Neil Kearney (General Secretary) at 32/475932487 (mobile) or nkearney@itglwf.org
ITGLWF Secretariat at tel: 32/02/511.26.06, fax: 32/02/511.09.04 or office@itglwf.org
Visit our website at www.itglwf.org

Great!

Solidarity needed from international rights groups

Posted on By 3arabawy

Despite all the criticism I level against Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International regarding some of their stands towards the Palestinian cause, I’ve always respected their sincere solidarity campaigns launched with Egyptian activists. But one thing I cannot comprehend at the moment, is how these two rights watchdogs have paid so much attention to demos organized by (and the security crackdowns against) Kefaya activists, who managed at best to mobilize a thousand in downtown, yet I haven’t seen up till now a single statement from their MENA divisions regarding 27,000 Mahalla strikers and their families in the ME’s biggest textile mill, who are clearly under the threat of police assault as Hosni’s regime officials come out almost everyday in the press and on TV denouncing the “illegal” action by the workers.

I hope our friends in HRW and Amnesty do not forget about the Mahalla workers, and join in the calls to the Egyptian government not to use force against the strikers.

We do not welcome any intervention by any Western govt. These are the officials who have been pimping for Mubarak over the past 26 years of his martial rule. It’s them who broker the economic deals that impoverished Mahalla and the Egyptian provinces. It’s them who stay silent and at best “express concern” while pro-democracy activists as well as ordinary Egyptians get sodomized in Mubarak’s police stations. They are hypocrites, criminals and liars.

But we always welcome solidarity from the international civil society activists, labor unions and citizen groups…. and it has never been as much needed as it is the case today.

Solidarity with the Mahalla strikers grows

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received a statement issued by the Mahalla Solidarity Committee on Thursday, with more details about the solidarity action with the Ghazl el-Mahalla strikers.

According to the statement, a number of textile labor activists in Bolivara, El-Soyouf, and Alexandria Spinning and Weaving have met and are mobilizing for solidarity protests in their factories. Kafr el-Dawar workers are also mobilizing for a new protest, while the Helwan Iron and Steel Mills workers are fund raising for the Mahalla strikers.

The Socialist Alliance is also calling on Egyptians to join the protest against the General Federation of Trade Unions this Sunday, 12 noon, Galaa St.