Hossam el-Hamalawy
The Center for Socialist Studies is organizing a lecture, Tuesday May 22, at 6pm, on: Present and Future Challenges facing Egypt’s Labor Movement.
Speakers will include strike leaders from Cairo, Daqahliya, Mahalla, Beheira, and the 10th of Ramadan.
Members of Parliament will also take part, including: Saber Abul Fotouh of the Muslim Brotherhood, Saad Abboud of the Karama Party, and independent parliamentarian Gamal Zahran.
The Center is located 7 Murad Street Giza.
This is the Mansoura-España Garments Company factory, where around 150 workers out of a total 284 labor force (75% of them are women) have been staging a sit-in since 21 April, demanding their bonuses, unpaid since 1999, amid rumors their company is to be liquidated.
The women left their husbands, children and parents for 29 days now, sleeping on the factory floors, with little food and water supplies.
They are refusing to leave the factory, fearing the owning bank Al-Masraf Al-Muttahid (United Bank) will shut it down with the help of the police.
The 500-strong workers’ strike at NuNu Ikhwan Textile factory was suspended Thursday 7pm with the strikers scoring a victory. The workers had been on strike in the 10th of Ramadan industrial city since last Sunday, demanding their salaries, unpaid for six months.
The strike ended after an agreement was reached with the private owner and State Security officers, whereby:
1-The December 2006 salary was immediately paid to the workers.
2-The workers will be paid an extra third of their salary every month from now on, till the rest of their five-month unpaid salaries are received.
I’m APPALLED to say I did not come across a single news report in the Egyptian press about this strike, despite its militancy and the big number of workers taking part in the industrial action, facing intimidation from State Security officers who panicked with the workers taking their action outside the boundaries of their factory. During the strike, the workers assembled in front of the factory, carrying banners, and demonstrated on the highway where cars are traveling between Cairo and Ismailia.
Mabrouk…