I’m receiving news that that workers have started a strike and a sit-in at the Fine Textile factory in Kafr el-Dawar, in a conflict with their government management over bonuses.
The sit-in started yesterday with the workers of the second shift (around 2pm), only to be joined by the night shift workers, and today’s morning shift workers. This means the entire factory is on strike now.
The total labor force of the factory is 14,000 workers. I don’t have information about the total number of workers occupying the factory now. I’ll post more updates later when I receive additional info.
The Kafr el-Dawar Fine Textile factory triggers so many memories for Egypt’s leftists and workers. This is the Nile Delta factory where Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser started his reign in 1952 by executing two Communist workers: Khamis and el-Baqari. This is the same factory that was stormed by the Interior Ministry’s Special Forces in 1984 and 1994 to break the workers’ strike using live ammunition, leading to casualties among the strikers and their families who flocked to the factory in solidarity.
