An IPS report by Cam McGrath, that includes an interview with me on the fight for free unions in Egypt:
CAIRO, Aug 18 (IPS) – Property tax collectors from across Egypt gathered last week in Cairo to protest fresh attempts by the official state trade union to undermine their independent syndicate.
“By soul, by blood…we will fight for our fund”, they chanted, accusing state union leaders of attempting to “hijack” their worker retirement fund.
It is the latest charge in the escalating feud between the mammoth Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) and members of the newly formed Union of Real Estate Tax Authority Employees (URETAE), Egypt’s first independent trade union since 1957.
Property tax collectors established the independent union in April – a bold move that raised hackles at ETUF, the state-controlled body that has monopolised union organization and worker affairs for more than half a century. ETUF officials have vehemently denounced the unaffiliated worker syndicate, declaring it an “illegal entity” and pressuring authorities at all levels to disavow its existence.
Over 37,000 of the country’s 55,000 property tax collectors are reported to have joined the independent union, which was formed after tax authority workers grew frustrated by the lack of support they received from pro- government union leaders during a strike in 2007. The 11-day sit-in ended when state officials conceded to workers’ demands for better pay.
“We slept on the streets to secure our rights once before, and we’re ready to do it again if that’s what it takes,” says URETAE president Kamal Abu Eita.
The struggle for an independent union did not end with its creation; members have had to defend it. Abu Eita accuses state union leaders of carrying out a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the free union’s staff and members, including several cases of physical assault.
Property tax collectors complain that while they pay subscription fees to URETAE, the government has refused to accept their resignation from ETUF, and is still deducting the state union’s dues from their monthly salaries. Moreover, ETUF lawyers have filed corruption charges against the independent union, accusing its leaders of soliciting illegal funds in the form of membership fees.
“It is forbidden for a union to collect money unless it has been established in accordance with Egypt’s union laws,” a senior ETUF official told IPS. “Therefore, all fees collected by this syndicate are illegal.”
Abu Eita says the independent union filed all the required registration paperwork at the labor ministry on Apr. 21. The government had 30 days to challenge the establishment of the union in court, but did not.
The latest showdown came after finance minister Youssef Boutros Ghali issued a decree Jul. 28 to establish a social welfare fund for URETAE members. The following week, reportedly at the behest of ETUF chairman Hussein Megawer, the minister revised the decree, assigning the management of the fund to the National Trade Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Affairs, one of 23 ETUF subsidiaries.
Tarek Mostafa, a tax collector and the independent union’s treasurer, vowed to keep the fund out of government hands.
“For more than a year and a half our union has been struggling to create this social welfare fund, and everything was financed from the members’ own pockets,” he said in an interview to the independent El-Masry El-Youm newspaper. “Attributing ownership of the fund to ETUF means they will control everything. The fund’s assets are almost 1.12 billion Egyptian pounds (216 million dollars). Now that it has cash, they want to get their hands on it.”
The ongoing struggle for the recognition and rights of the independent union is part of a wave of labor unrest that has rippled across Egypt for nearly three years. In December 2006, more than 27,000 workers at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in the northern industrial city Mahalla El- Kubra defied the state’s ban on unauthorised labor stoppages and went on strike over unpaid bonuses.
The industrial action kicked off a wave of wildcat strikes across the country – involving everyone from textile workers to train conductors to oil company employees.
Strikes can be contained – pro-government union leaders, riot police and hired thugs see to that. But labor experts say the formation of an independent union represents a more corrosive threat to the 28-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak, as it erodes the power of state’s primary structure for controlling and mobilizing the masses.
“The state-backed general federation (ETUF) is not a labor union in the proper sense, rather it’s the arm of the state for controlling working class movements,” says Hossam El-Hamalawy, journalist and labor activist. “When it comes to parliamentary elections, the government may strike deals with the Muslim Brotherhood, or sometimes turn a blind eye to opposition…but with general federation elections, which happen every five years, the government will never (relinquish) a single seat.”
According to El-Hamalawy, ETUF elections are carefully orchestrated to ensure that union heads are loyal to Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP). The federation, in turn, busses workers to polling stations during general elections to vote for the NDP, mobilizes workers for pro-government rallies, and suppresses strikes to ensure that the state has a steady supply of cheap labor.
“Once you start getting cracks in the federation, you can start talking about the end of the dictatorship,” he asserts.
El-Hamalawy highlights the historical role that independent unions played in the political transformation of authoritarian regimes in South Korea and Poland. “Getting free unions was always the silver bullet,” he says. “When free unions strike, mobilize mass protests and get the machines to stop working – that’s when you hit (the regime) where it hurts the most.”
Opinion is divided whether the launch of the independent union has enough force to spill over into other sectors. Analysts point out that in the four months since the property tax collectors registered their union, no other professional group has followed suit. Employees of the textile and postal sectors have called for free unions, and threatened to impeach local labor leaders, but divided leadership and heavy police crackdowns have thwarted any progress.
“The question of free trade unions has been on the agenda in recent years, and will remain so,” says labor expert Ragui Assaad. “Whether this is the experiment that will actually start the process rolling, I am not sure – it very much depends on how strong the reaction from the state will be.”
So far, police have allowed striking property tax collectors to demonstrate in cordoned off areas outside government buildings. But the presence of several hundred riot police and the Mubarak regime’s track record of using force to suppress labor unrest make a violent confrontation likely.
