Per reports:
The sit-in of independent union leaders in Mahalla continues, now entering the eight day. I just spoke to one of them, who accused the state-controlled union to conspire with the management to fire those who have taken part in the sit-in. Previously during the week, negotiations have taken place between the workers and local union officials, but the latter have consistently demanded that the workers end their sit-in before the union can take any measures on their behalf.
I received the following message from Mostafa Nayed, one of the leading Helwan steel mills workers:
Workers from the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company in Helwan addressed a note to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company asking to donate part of their pay to the people of Gaza. The donation is to mark workers’ support of the Palestinian people’s struggle against the Zionist enemy. Accordingly, the Company union addressed a note to the CEO asking to deduct a day from the workers’ pay to be donated to the Palestinian people. The company CEO agreed to deduct one day pay from the fixed January wage of all workers at the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company in Helwan.
It is also worth noting that workers at the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company in Helwan have donated one day from their fixed wage during the month of October 2000 in support of the second Palestinian Intifada. The donations were delivered to various Palestinian aid institutions. They have also stood against the visit of the President of Israel’s to the Iron and Steel Company in 1980.
We call upon and invite all workers in Egypt to donate to the Palestinian people resisting occupation in Gaza. We also call on the Egyptian people to support the people of Palestine by giving donations and boycotting Israeli goods, which facilitate the buying of arms used in the killing of the elderly, women and children of Gaza and the appalling house demolitions.
