Tag: state backed unions

Ghazl el-Mahalla workers threaten strike on Sunday

Posted on By 3arabawy

Comrades, Keep your eyes on Ghazl el-Mahalla…

My labor sources in Egypt tell me there is a militant mood among the workers, who are threatening industrial action this Sunday, unless the company management concedes to their demands over annual shares of profits. The workers are demanding what’s worth a five-month salary, while the state-owned management is offering only 21 days! My sources said the labor leaders in the factory may settle for three months, but consider the management’s 21-day profits offer an insult. This is coupled with frustration over the failure of the state to abide by the agreement brokered last July between seven of the labor leaders (who constitute more or less the leadership of the December 2006 strike) and the General Federation of Trade Unions.

If the management does not respond before Sunday morning by issuing an official statement conceding to the workers’ demands, then a strike action is to be expected Sunday, in the Arab World’s biggest textile mill, home to 27,000 workers.

My heart and thoughts go out to every man and woman fighting in the factory. The outcome of the current battle may well trigger a new cycle of industrial action… Not being in Egypt of course means I can’t be as swiftly updated about the developments as I’d have liked it to be… I hope other bloggers and journalists will pay more attention to the Nile Delta province in this coming few days. If the situation is not diffused, this can turn into a new catastrophe for the dictator Mubarak’s neo-liberal regime.

Statement from Helwan iron and steel mills workers

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received the following statement from iron and steel mills workers in Helwan.

Statement from Helwan Iron & Steel Mills workers بيان من عمال الصلب بحلوان

The statement, signed by the “Workers’ Consciousness Committee in the Steel Mills,” slammed the labor union bureaucracy, blaming the latter for failing to push for the implementation of the ministerial decrees, announced by Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif in 2006 and 2007 related to the bonuses and allowances. The statement warned this will result in a “wave of strikes in all Helwan companies. The minister hasn’t announced he revoked his decrees, still the management officials in the companies are objecting (to implement the decrees), and the unions are complicit.

“We demand a public meeting, attended by the head of the union in the company Salah Heikal, who attended already a similar meeting in the Light Transportation Company, but refuses to do the same in the Iron and Steel (Mills).

The Statement concluded by addressing the Factory Union Committee officials: “We call up on you today to implement the decree immediately, and stand on the side of workers. Tomorrow, there will not be anytime for more calls. The steel mills workers, just like the Mahalla workers, have the ability to achieve their demands without you.”

Mahalla Updates

Posted on By 3arabawy

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.