tax collectors archives — Page 52 of 58

A Visual Diary of a Working Class: The Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike

Posted on 14/12/200705/02/2021 By 3arabawy

Several bloggers visited the strikers’ camp before its suspension.

Check out some pix by IRC President and by Spellz. Also, Mak forwarded me some shots he took with his mobile:

Tax Collectors sit-in, Photo by Demagh Mak

More photos by journalist and friend Jano Charbel:

اعتصام موظفي العقارية بشارع حسين حجازي، تصوير جانو شربل

And some pix by Farah.

Good job ya shabab. I hope the blogosphere continues to devote this excellent attention to the current wave of strikes. Mubarak’s dictatorship will not be overthrown except by a general strike or another Jan 1977.

We need to continue disseminating the photos of the struggles both locally and abroad. “Seeing” the industrial action by photos and/or videos has a ultra-empowering effect on those who are fighting for the same cause in Egypt and elsewhere, more than just “hearing” or “reading” about it.

Statement on the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ strike

Posted on 13/12/200714/01/2021 By 3arabawy

I received a statement signed by the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the Workers’ Coordination Committee and the Egyptian Workers and Trade Unions Watch with more details of the agreement between the government and the strikers.

There’s a mistake however in the last line. The statement says the tax collectors are threatening to resume their “strike” on 9 January if the govt betrays its promises. In reality however the strike resumes. The civil servants will go to their offices but will not collect the taxes. They are threatening to resume the downtown Cairo “sit-in” once again on 9 Jan if the agreement is not fulfilled.

Real Estate Tax Collectors’ strike update: Partial agreement reached with minister; Sit-in and demos called off; STRIKE CONTINUES

Posted on 13/12/200714/01/2021 By 3arabawy

I’ve received news from the strikers’ camp in downtown Cairo:

Negotiations took place yesterday between the Finance Minister and State Security officers on one side and the strike leaders on the other… A partial agreement has been reached. I still need to confirm the details, but roughly here are the highlights:

1-Two month salary will be paid to the 55,000 strikers before Eid.

2-The Minister will meet with the strikers on 23 or 24 December to finalize a decree granting the Real Estate Tax Collectors the same bonuses and incentives as those received by their colleagues at the Ministry of Finance.

3-No striker will be victimized.

4-The camp set up by the strikers in front of the Ministerial Cabinet in downtown will be disbanded today temporarily for two weeks, and the solidarity demonstrations will be called off. However, the strike will continue until the above mentioned ministerial decree is issued.

UPDATE: Nora has some details in Arabic here.

UPDATE: It’s 12:30pm now, and the downtown sit-in is suspended by the strikers who folded their tents, carried their bags, exchanged hugs and kisses, chanted for hours confident about victory, and are now mounting buses back to the provinces. A group of the strike leaders, I was told, are meeting with the Finance Minister again today for further negotiations. Police troops had stepped up their presence since the morning. Agents from Qasr el-Nil Police Station, as well as State Security’s Counter-Communism Bureau, were spotted around the parliament and in el-Qasr el-Eini St.

UPDATE: It’s confirmed the strike is continuing in Cairo and the provinces, despite the temporary supension of the downtown sit-in.