Ray Abernathy of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) paid a visit to Cairo, from where he sent two dispatches to the AFL-CIO Weblog about the Egyptian working class.
The first is about the struggle of the women workers at the Mansoura-España Garments Company. And the second is on child labor in the so-called “Carpet Schools”.
I received a statement from Kafr el-Dawar Textile Workers for Change denouncing the witch-hunt against labor activists in Ghazl el-Mahalla, Ghazl Shebeen el-Kom and Arab Polvara Spinning and Weaving. The statement called for unity among the textile workers in the above-mentioned factories to resist the crackdown.
One other thing about the statement (which I really liked) was the fact that it was mostly written in Egyptian slang. This tells a lot about who wrote it, and who the target audience is. In other words it is written by a worker, not some “intellectual,” to fellow workers.
I received more photos of the protest held Saturday by the Mahalla textile workers, taken by journalist Muhammad Abul Dahab…
Al-Masry Al-Youm, I have to say, screwed up again with its sensationalist coverage. The report it ran claimed that 27,000 workers took part in the industrial action. This is NOT true. 27,000 is the total labor force at the company. Those who took part in yesterday’s action were 3000 according to Kareem el-Beheiry. Another estimate I heard from a journalist put the number of demonstrators at 10,000, saying most of the (morning) first shift workers participated in the demo.
Keep your eyes on Mahalla.