1500 workers in the furnaces’ section of Helwan’s Iron and Steel Mills have refused en masse Sunday morning to receive their salaries from the management, after they were shocked to find out their bonuses were cut by 11% under the claim there was a decrease in the over-time shifts.
State Security officers tried to pressure the workers into receiving their pay, but the workers held out their position.
Faced with this, the state-owned company board chairman Abdel Aziz Hafez “verbally” decreed a decrease in the cuts from 11% to 8%, but workers are demanding a decree written on paper and signed by Hafez; And based on this “written” decree, the workers announced, they would then decide whether to continue their protest or suspend it.
The total labor force in the factory is 13,000 workers.