Tag: strikes

Mahalla updates

Posted on 25/09/200714/01/2021 By 3arabawy

I received a statement from the Workers’ Coordination Committee regarding the Ghazl el-Mahalla Strike.

The statement describes how the political forces are now united behind the Mahalla workers, and includes details about the solidarity movement with the strikers that is mushrooming. Not only was there a solidarity protest at the Grain Mills, and a strike looming in few hours at Kafr el-Dawar.. but there were statements issued by the Textile workers in Ghazl Shebeen workers, as well as a strong fundraising campaign for the strikers among the workers in Mahalla, Tanta, Helwan, Shobra, the Tenth of Ramadan City, Suez, Alexandria, Beheira, Mansoura, Ismailia and Port Said.

The statement also includes more details about the case against the Mahalla Five, and it turns out there are new charges leveled against two journalists from the opposition Al-Wafd newspaper for “inciting the strikers”!!!!! Basically it’s a move by the Mubarak’s regime to intimidate labor correspondents from covering the strike.

Down with Mubarak… Victory to the Mahalla Strikers…

Ghazl el-Mahalla on STRIKE!

Posted on 25/09/200704/02/2021 By 3arabawy

Excerpts from a message I received from journalist Jano Charbel:

I went to the Mahalla Strike on Sunday.
7aga Gamda Gamda! (This is solid solid!) 25,000 men and women on strike.. very uplifting!
The company’s security guards wouldn’t let me in, they then took me and photographer Ahmad Ismail to the security chief – some brigadier general – who told me that we couldn’t enter. He said “da beiti wenta deif, wana ka sa7eb el beit men 7a2i en amna3ak men dukhoul beiti (This is my house, and you are my guest. It’s my right to ban you from entering my house).”
He told us to do our work outside the company’s walls.
Workers whom I don’t know saw that we couldn’t get in, so they brought us inside by force.
Around 10 workers intertwined their arms in mine and cannon-balled me through three lines of security guards.
The mood inside was one of total defiance. People are sick of the ultra low wages, company corruption, and financial fraud.
The security is totally pissed off, and will crackdown and arrest the heroes.
This (Mahalla strike) looks likes it could very well spread further and beyond – to Kafr El Dawwar to elsewhere across the country.

Here are some of the pix taken by Jano:

September 2007 Mahalla textile workers' strike, Photo by Jano Charbel.

Microbus drivers abused by police, threaten to strike

Posted on 25/09/200729/03/2015 By 3arabawy

From the Daily Star Egypt…

Firmly stuck at the bottom of the pecking order, Egyptian microbus drivers are forced by the police to transport investigation teams to security missions on a daily basis.
In addition to the social stigma attached to being a microbus drivers in Egypt, drivers at the Ataba-Helwan (Downtown Cairo) line have been ousted from their bus station by the local authorities, who now have no alternative but to pick up patrons from Port Said Street.
Drivers are threatening to go on strike due to a hectic situation where they have no protection from police harassment or even space where they can pick up commuters.
“We now stand in the middle of the road, which makes us vulnerable to traffic police officers who confiscate licenses for any reason,” microbus owner, Muhammad Negima told Daily News Egypt.
When the buses were removed, street vendors invaded the space where only a week ago microbus drivers used to pick up patrons, turning it into a miniature market area.
“There are more than a 100 buses on this line, which means that it supports at least 300 families,” said Negima.
Most of the commuters are either lawyers from Helwan that come to Baab El Khalq court house or Helwan residents who sell merchandise in Ataba.
“This line in particular is a major transport artery because it moves thousands of people everyday,” Negima explained.
A similar scenario took place three years ago when the buses were removed from the area previously known as the Gaza market.
“We went on strike and they reacted by impounding a number of buses and detaining drivers. When they saw that things were getting out of hand, they provided us with space beneath the intersection of Azhar Bridge. This is the space they removed us from a week ago,” Negima said.
Negima also complains that on a daily basis, security personnel from the Gamalia police station force drivers to transport them on their raids, denying them a full working day’s income.

There’s nothing that describes the abuse faced by the Egyptian microbus drivers and Mubarak’s pigs more than the case of Emad Kabeer.