Hossam el-Hamalawy
Ghazl el-Mahalla activist and blogger Kareem el-Beheiri is reporting that Mubarak’s police troops have deployed around the factory, and security presence in the city has been stepped up.
Kareem is also reporting there’s solidarity with the workers in the factory coming from Tanta University students, as well as a militant mood among the town citizens. Everyone is anxious, and waiting to see if a strike will break out on Sunday morning or not.
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.
The Egyptian Workers and Trade Unions Watch has put out two reports on the industrial action during the month of August.
The first report keeps tabs on the industrial conflicts during the third and fourth weeks of August: 68 conflicts in the following sectors: Mining/Engineering, Chemicals, Textile, Transportation, Commerce, Health, Civil Servants. The report includes details on the factories, types of protests and industrial actions, and the numbers of workers involved.
The second report gives an overall picture of the industrial struggle during the whole month of August: 100 conflicts in 88 facilities and companies, distributed among 18 provinces.