Gamal Oweida, Daqahliya Tax Collector:
We have to build our new union structures on the ground, to be solid. They (govt) will fight us hard. The (state-backed General) Federation (of Trade Unions) will not like any new independent union entities in the country… Are there others thinking of (building) independent unions? Yes, in Mahalla and other places. We have to build bridges with them, and with our colleagues in civil service.
Make sure you check out Mostafa Bassiouny’s article in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, on the fight of the Egyptian civil servants for free unions. A booklet on the Egyptian labor movement, coauthored by Mostafa and Omar Said, is available in English here.
Salah Abdel Salam, Daqahliya Tax Collector:
All union presidents work for State Security. And all State Security (officers) serve only the regime… Egypt has turned from a welfare state to a savage capitalist state… Strikes are the only means to get our rights, as we saw in the Real Estate (Tax Collectors’ strike), Mahalla, Mansoura-España and others… There is marriage between the regime and capital. If the workers stick together they will be able to confront (this marriage).
