Tag: Textile

Kafr el-Dawar set to strike tomorrow; Five Mahalla labor leaders charged

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received a new message from a Socialist journalist with updates on Kafr el-Dawar and Mahalla.

Here’s an English translation…

I’ve spoken with leaders in Kafr el-Dawar, and they said there will be a solidarity strike tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, and that the 12,000 workers in Kafr el-Dawar have added a set of demands specific to their conditions, like upgrading the factory hospital; restructuring the company bus service, as there are 70 buses in the company, almost all beyond expiry; looking into the problem of delayed promotions for a big number among them. During my talk with one of them, he told me there was a state of jealousy regarding the Ghazl el-Mahalla workers, and the men in Kafr el-Dawar want to prove they can do the same, as well as expressing their solidarity of course, and pressuring for their own demands.
The latest from Mahalla…
Five labor leaders were summoned to the State Security Prosecutor, on charges of sabotage and instigating riots. The workers are: (Muhammad) el-Attar, Faisal Laqousha, and three other workers you don’t know. I’ll bring you their names soon. The important thing is the workers are still on strike for the second day on the row. And now they added a new demand, which is the release of the five workers.

It’s 5:30am now in Oakland. I gotta get some sleep. I hope other bloggers and journalists will keep us updated.

My heart and thoughts go out to the Mahalla and Kafr el-Dawar workers.

Solidarity needed from international labor activists

Posted on By 3arabawy

During my phone conversations with the strike leaders and activists inside the company, they always ask me if “the people in America and the world have heard about the strike”? I tell them I and others are doing our best to spread the word… but that’s not enough.

Labor activists reading this, the Mahalla workers are asking for your solidarity. This is the biggest textile mill in the Middle East. Whatever happens in that factory could have a huge impact on the industrial struggle in the country and the rest of the region.

Any statements of solidarity from your labor unions and organizations would be very much appreciated. Please send them to me, and I’ll make sure they will reach the strikers.

Ghazl el-Mahalla workers threaten strike on Sunday

Posted on By 3arabawy

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.