Tag: unions

On the so-called Free Union of Egyptian Workers

Posted on By 3arabawy

Happy May Day ya shabab…

I received some queries from friends and readers about the “Free Union of Egyptian Workers,” announced by Al-Masry Al-Youm, which is supposedly holding a May Day “symbolic” protest in Tahrir Sq. today and in “15 other provinces,” according to the paper’s report. (UPDATE NOV07: The hyperlink is pointing to another article now. I’m gonna try to locate the original article again online)

I don’t know if I should laugh or cry over Al-Masry Al-Youm’s sensationalist headlines… 15 provinces?! A national union?! I know a couple of activists who are involved in this project, and indeed “symbolic” action will be the best they can get. Despite my sincere wishes for their success, I’m afraid they do not have grass-root support. And there’s no way in hell they could organize (even “symbolic”) protests in 15 provinces.

Free and parallel associations can NOT parachute in from above. You do not announce a national labor union, and then descend on the working class opening the door for membership, expecting the workers will flock in. It works the other way around: You start establishing local union committees in a factory, two or three, and then you evolve into a national structure.

There are currently several initiatives (other than the elitist one mentioned above) in activist and labor circles about how to take the movement forward. I’ll try to post something about them in the near future.

More later…

Intl solidarity with CTUWS

Posted on By 3arabawy

The International Trade Union Confederation has issued a statement in solidarity with the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services:

Cases of repression by the Egyptian Government against the Center for Trade Union and Worker Services (CTUWS), an independent civil society organization committed to defending trade union and other workers’ rights in Egypt, have occurred recently in Egypt. The ITUC is concerned in particular about the decision to shut down the CTUWS branch in Naj Hamadi, in Southern Egypt. CTUWS staffs have also been intimidated in the Mahalla City branch office.
An official from the Social Solidarity Regional Office, who was under instruction to file a report on this subject with his ministry, investigated the CTUWS work and the nature of its activities while the the CTUWS Branch of Naj Hamadi was shut down by Administrative Decision issued on Thursday 29 March 2007 by General Al Sherbeeny Hasheesh, Chairman of the City of Naj Hamadi.
In a letter sent to the authorities, the ITUC urge Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, to issue instructions to the relevant governmental bodies to rescind the restrictions and other measures imposed on the CTUWS.

CSF troops deploy in Mahalla

Posted on By 3arabawy

My sources in Mahalla confirmed that today at least four Central Security Forces trucks loaded with conscripts were deployed around the town’s train station. At least another six trucks are deployed around the company’s compound gates. Plainclothes security agents are EVERYWHERE inside the compound and outside.

I was also told there’s an emergency meeting happening now for the company management.

No strikes or sit-ins happened today in any of the company’s factories, though I was told there is a general mood of militancy, and there’s talk about the crackdown that happened yesterday. Some workers, I was told, brought food supplies with them to the factory, just in case a strike and factory occupation break out suddenly.

Below is a video I took of Ghazl el-Mahalla activist Sayyed Habib, who managed to escape the security siege yesterday, and arrive in Cairo to join the protest in front of the Ministry of Social Insurance. ‘Am Sayyed bashed the corrupt Factory Union Committee officials, calling for their impeachment. He also said that the number of resignations mailed to the General Federation of Trade Unions has reached 9,000.

Here’s also a Daily Star Egypt report by Liam Stack:

A delegation of 100 factory workers from the delta town of Mahalla was barred from holding a demonstration at the Downtown Cairo headquarters of the General Federation of Trade Unions on Sunday to demand the removal of their local union officials.
The workers charge their union leaders with corruption, and say they have been co-opted by the management of their state-owned factory.
But the delegation was prevented from leaving Mahalla by a phalanx of state security personnel, who stopped them at several points along the way.
According to witnesses, state security officers first stopped the group from leaving town by bus by confiscating the the driver’s license of their hired bus driver. When the workers then tried to reach Cairo by train, they were surrounded inside the station and kept from boarding.
“At the station, state security surrounded us and would not let us board. The police were everywhere, and they threatened to arrest all of us,” said Muhammad El Attar, a spokesperson for the Mahalla workers
In defiance of this crackdown, workers in Mahalla say they may launch a new strike early this week.
The Ghazl El-Mahalla factory became iconic within the labor movement after a successful December strike brought 27,000 workers together to demand their annual bonuses, and it is unclear what effect a new strike there would have on workers elsewhere in the country.
Workers in nearby Shebeen El Kom, who staged a strike of their own this winter, have already declared that they are “in solidarity with the Mahalla workers,” although they have stopped short of declaring a new strike.
The Mahalla workers first demanded the removal of their local union representatives in January, say organizers, and today’s protest was meant to pressure the General Federation into responding to that demand.
If the local representatives are not impeached, the workers threaten to resign from the General Federation en masse and form an independent union, which would be the country’s first.
“The workers are saying now that under no conditions will they accept the continuation of those labor union officials,” Kamal Abbas, the General Secretary of the CTUWS, told The Daily Star Egypt in February.
“Just the idea of presenting your resignation from the General Federation is unprecedented. It never happens. This is going to have a ripple effect in the same way that the Ghazl El-Mahalla strike sent a message to the entire working class of Egypt.”
According to the government, the message that the CTUWS sends is one of unrest and instability that threatens the social peace of the country. The state says the group “causes unrest” and “puts stability at risk,” and in the last month has shut two of its branch offices.
Labor organizers and a coalition of human rights advocates organized a separate demonstration on Sunday in front of the Ministry of Social Affairs, to protest the most recent CTUWS closure, which also took place in Mahalla.
Activists say the shutdowns are not about keeping the peace, but are part of a larger crackdown on political opposition, and accuse the regime of a campaign of harassment and intimidation.