I’m passing a message from the Higher Strike Committee for the Real Estate Tax Collectors’ Strike.
If the government does not respond to the demands of the 55,000 strong strike today, then tomorrow Thursday escalation is expected. More buses carrying striking tax collectors and their families will descend on Cairo from the provinces, and the downtown Cairo sit-in participants can well amount to 20,000.
The strikers (who receive a basic monthly salary of roughly US$50) are demanding their inclusion to, or receiving similar treatment to their colleagues at, the Ministry of Finance, as well as impeaching the corrupt head of the Real Estate Tax Collection Authorities Ismail Abdel Rassoul. This is probably the first time the tax collectors go on strike since the 1919 revolution against the British occupation. There is large presence of Copts and women in this branch of the government. Anyone who visits the strikers camping outside the Ministerial Cabinet building in downtown Cairo can see for themselves the fantastic solidarity between Muslims and Christians, men and women, in a society that often stands accused of sectarianism and chauvinism.
Yesterday some NDP MP showed up at the sit-in and summoned the strike leaders to the parliament to negotiate with Fathi Surror, the parliament speaker. They went there, but no meeting took place! They were promised a meeting the following day (ie, today). This was interpreted as a confusion among the govt ranks on how to handle the strike, which is turning into a national and international embarrassment for the govt.
Meanwhile, another 6 million govt civil servants are watching closely what’s happening. The latter have their grievances and a victory for the Real Estate Tax Collectors will be a victory “to the whole mowazzafin (civil servants) and the Egyptian people,” as one of the strikers from the Kafr el-Sheikh province told me.
This strike is no less important than Ghazl el-Mahalla‘s. And the strike leaders are calling on the international labor unions to issue solidarity statements on their behalf, and lobby the Egyptian government to respond to the strikers’ legitimate demands.
