Tag: workers

Strike wave rocks the UAE’s dictators

Posted on By 3arabawy

From Socialist Worker…

Thousands of construction workers walked out on strike in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last Saturday. The laborers, mainly from South Asia, were attacked by police as they protested for higher wages.
They responded by occupying a building and pelting police cars with stones. The state rounded up workers and deported them.
Strikes have now become commonplace in a country where unions are banned and the overwhelmingly migrant workforce faces repression and exploitation.
Oil dollars have made the UAE, a key US ally, a haven for the global rich, where huge glittering seven star hotels, indoor snow parks and mega building projects have sprouted from the sands.

21 industrial conflicts during first two weeks of October

Posted on By 3arabawy

A new report by the Egyptian Workers and Trade Unions Watch documents 21 labor protests during the first two weeks of October, in 20 locations.

7000 workers took part in strikes, protests and/or sit-ins, while 70,000 threatened to launch an industrial action. Half of the protests (10 protests) occurred in the textile sector, following the victory of the Ghazl el-Mahalla Sept strike, over similar demands.

2,500 Ghazl Shebeen workers strike

Posted on By 3arabawy

I received the following message from Cairo:

اضرب عمال شركة غزل شبين الكوم من الساعة الحادية عشر مساء السبت حتى الساعة الحادية عشر ظهر اليوم احتجا جا على التعسف الادارى للمستثمر الهندى .شارك فى الاضراب 2500 عامل .وبعد اتستمرار الاضراب عقد اجتماع بين اللجنة النقابية واتحاد المساهمين من جانب وادارة الشركة من جانب آخر ، وتراجعت ادارة الشركة عن قراراتها التعسفية المتعلقة بمواعيد العمل والخصومات فى حال التأخير

Around 2,500 textile workers at Ghazl Shebeen el-Kom struck Saturday 11pm till Sunday 11am, protesting abusive administrative treatment by the new Indian investor. A meeting was held between the Factory Union Committee officials, the shareholders association, and the company management, resulting in the revoke of the newly imposed working hours regulations and penal codes.

You can read more background information on Ghazl Shebeen el-Kom here.