The Solidarity Center Press Release:

Increasing number of strikes, protests in Egypt, Egyptian labor policies must change

Tanta Flax workers

Workers from the Tanta Flax and Oils Company fiercely attacked MP Ahmed Shoubeir in a statement they issued on Tuesday. They accused him of having opposed them since they began their sit-in, despite the fact that he is the representative for their constituency.

The protesting workers also criticized Aisha Abdel Hadi, manpower and migration minister, for her absence, along with that of other concerned government officials from the People’s Assembly’s Manpower Committee, which discussed the workers’ demands on Monday.

The workers, have been protesting for 16 days, and suspended their sit-in on Tuesday 6 PM, after accepting a government offer of early buyouts of LE40,000 for each worker.

Physically disabled persons

Dozens of physically disabled persons protested in front of the Cairo governorate to demand their rightful 5 percent share of apartments and kiosks provided by the state. The protesters said they had staged several protests before but with no result.

Ahmed Ali, a protester, said that for the last 20 years he has been requesting an apartment. He currently rents an apartment for LE350 a month, while his salary is LE300, which means he has to depend on charity to pay his children’s school fees.

Ayman Sobhi, another protestor, said he submitted a request for an apartment 12 years ago, but hasn’t received anything so far. Without a job, he has asked officials several times to give him a kiosk to enable him to make a living.

Nurses

Gharbiya–Around 400 nurses from the Tanta University Hospital protested on Tuesday in front of the Emergency Hospital demanding that their bonuses and allowances be paid. They also requested equal treatment with their Zagazig, Alexandria and Cairo counterparts.

Some nurses reported being assaulted by university guards, who allegedly caused three injuries. El-Geish Street was cordoned off to prevent the protesting nurses from exiting the area.

Meanwhile, President of Tanta University Dr.Abdel Fattah Sadaqa held a meeting with a number of nurses and other concerned officials. He promised to resolve the problem.

In Alexandria, 15 members of the Community Medicine Unit also protested in front of the health ministry’s offices to express dissatisfaction with what they termed “random dismissals” from work after 13 years of service. They called on First Lady Suzanne Mubarak to intervene on their behalf.

The protesters were not allowed into the ministry until security leaders accompanied one of the protesters into the building to submit a complaint on behalf of all her protesting colleagues.

Pharmacists

Around 300 pharmacists protested on Tuesday in front of the Doctors Syndicate against a decision by the health minister requiring pharmacies to have a minimum floor area of 40 square meters. Security forces prevented the pharmacists from staging their protest in front of the health ministry’s headquarters.

The syndicate issued a statement in which it said it had requested the Minister of the Interior for permission to organize a march from the Doctors Syndicate to the Ministry of Health. The request had been declined, said the statement.

Although a protest in front of the ministry had been approved by both security forces and the syndicate, according to the syndicate’s statement, security “notified the syndicate at short notice” that the protest in front of the ministry was not in fact approved. The pharmacists questioned what security concerns their “professional” protest could possibly pose.

Zein el-Abideen, syndicate treasurer, said the syndicate was planning a gradual escalation against the health minister.

Translated from the Arabic Edition.

CAIRO: An ongoing workers’ strike and sit-in currently taking place in front of the house of Parliament in Cairo has left lawmakers frustrated and divided over how to deal with the workers from the Tanta Flax Company an hour north of the capital. On Monday, the frustration between members of Parliament who support the workers and government MPs ended in a fist fight, local newspapers reported.

Muslim Brotherhood MP Yousry Bayoumi and ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) MP Ahmed Shobeir traded insults at each other on the Parliament floor before engaging in a phsyical fight over how to deal with the workers stationed just outside their windows. Other MPs were forced to pull the men off each other.

The employees of the Tanta Flax and Oils Company have been staging daily protests in front of the Egyptian Parliament for three weeks and are continuing to demand their rights and pay be upheld by the government. Their ordeal began last summer when they started to protest at their Tanta factory over back pay never given by their new Saudi Arabian businessman overlord, who had purchased the company from the Egyptian government as part of Cairo’s push toward privatization.

The government has largely ignored the workers’, although reports of a deal has been reported. Sources say the government is willing to pay some LE 800,000 to the workers as back pay, however, some of the workers believe this to be a form of bribery to force the workers away from their downtown demonstration.

“I will believe it when I see it,” said Safwat Michel, a woker who spoken to media throughout the past 9 months. He says that last year Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif’s office also offered a monetary sum in an attempt to force the workers away from his Cairo office. “It won’t work, we don’t need a one-time solution, what we need is a long term agreement with the company adminstration that will let us go back to work without fear of being not paid again.

The protesters have called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to intervene in the matter after workers complained the Saudi investor had fired all the employees without notice after they began demanding appropriate pay and overtime.

Police have yet to violently intervene on the protest, although last year during the workers’ sit-in in Tanta, police were in full force, barring journalists from entering the factory, including pushing and punching Bikya Masr’s editor as he attempted to gain access to the workers in front of the factory.

“We hope that for our families we can resolve this situation and go back to living,” said Michel. “All we want is to live our lives without having to worry about the future.”

Other factories in the Nile Delta have also gone on strike in the last year, highlighting the growing frustration among factory workers in the country. Arabawy, Egypt’s top blogger, reported that many of the employees across the Nile Delta are working on less than $2 per day and have been at the job since they were young teenagers.

Source: http://bikyamasr.com/?p=8975

—————————

A conflict at the privatized Tanta Flax and Oils Company has left some 850 workers with no source of income since January. Workers launched a strike on 9 December after the dismissal of their local union head, Salah Mosallam. The company administration responded to this strike by imposing a lock-out  withdrawing all raw materials from the production lines.

In light of this impasse, around 400 workers have relocated their protest from the company’s headquarters in the Delta village of Mit Hebeish to the Council of Ministers in downtown Cairo, where they have been demonstrating and sleeping-in for the last nine days. So far they have not been offered a resolution for their grievances.

The workers had been demanding the payment of overdue bonuses, periodic pay-raises, the reinstatement of ten sacked workers (including three local union members), an increase in their food allowance, and the re-operation of the company. Having lost faith in their company’s administration, these workers have recently called for the company’s liquidation and a guarantee for end-of-service reimbursements and early retirement packages amounting to no less that LE60,000.

A statement issued on  February 13, by the company’s legal consultant, Ahmed Atta, described the workers’ strike as illegal, and accused the media of inaccurately portraying the crisis.

“There are no talks or negotiations between the Manpower Ministry and the company administration regarding early retirement packages,” Atta said. The statement added that the ongoing demonstration outside the Ministers’ Council “is an escalation orchestrated by political currents who aim to secure private gains.”

Abdel Aziz Mohamed, a worker who has been employed in the company for the past 25 years, said, “I used to make LE450 per month, but have not been able to generate any income for the past two months. I have to pay rent for my apartment, utility bills and school fees for my three children.”

“How am I supposed to pay these bills and expenses? Have my wife work on el-Haram Street?” he added angrily, referring to a street famed for its belly dancing nightclubs.

“Following 32 years of service at the company, my monthly wage was only LE518, which was barely enough for my own expenses,” said Mohamed Gad Allah, another factory worker. “What am I supposed to do now with no source of income? Must I steal and become a thief? I would do so if I knew how, but I don’t.”

“Aisha Abdel Hady cannot possibly be the Minister of Manpower,” he continued. “She neither speaks for the workers nor in their defense. Clearly she has forgotten her past, when she used to be a worker and a unionist.”

In near-unison a group of workers shouted “no governmental officials have come to visit us or hear our pleas. Neither Hussein Megawer President of the Egyptian Trade Union Federation,  Abdel Hady,  or Saeed el-Gohary President of the General Union for Textile Workers.” The only official from the Ministry of Manpower who has visited these workers at their campsite was Wael Allam, the ministry’s undersecretary in Gharbiya Governorate.

According to Hisham el-Okal , one of the sacked unionists, “Allam asked us to evacuate the premises and in return promised that the ministry would cover our unpaid insurance premiums for the past five months, in addition to our wages for  January. Naturally, we couldn’t believe him after so many unkept promises. We will remain here until we have an acceptable written resolution from the officials.”

Despite repeated attempts to contact Saeed el-Gohary, he could not be reached for clarifications as to the General Union’s stance. At the onset of the strike 39 days ago, el-Gohary, in an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, ruled out the possibility of re-nationalization and said it was up to the investor to re-operate or liquidate the company.

Minister of Manpower Aisha Abdel Hady was not available for comment, while a spokesperson for the ministry, Ibrahim Ali, was unable to respond to Al-Masry Al-Youm’s queries by the time of publication.

A handful of MPs from the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as independents, have visited the workers and expressed solidarity with their demands.

“The example of the Tanta Flax Company has proved that the policy of privatization is a failure,” said Gamal Zahran, leader of the independent bloc in parliament. “I will be filing an urgent parliamentary petition to this effect,” he added.

Brotherhood MPs Ibrahim Zakariya and Saber Abul Fotouh have also petitioned People’s Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour, and a special session is due to be conducted on Monday regarding the crisis facing the Tanta Flax Company. Parliamentary recommendations regarding this crisis are reportedly due to be issued Monday evening.

Ramadan el-Dessouqi, one of the ten sacked workers, is looking to parliament for a solution. “I really hope that a binding decision will be issued on Monday. I’ve had no source of income for the past two and a half years.”

Dessouqi added that while during the last strike, from May 31- November 10, the Ministry of Manpower had paid the workers basic wages, but he wasn’t paid because he was fired and has not yet received a court order for his reinstatement. “I have filed a case against my dismissal,” el-Dessouqi explained, “and the court in Tanta will issue its verdict regarding my reinstatement on Thursday.” A total of six sacked workers have received court orders for their reinstatement. I have two wives, and a total of 11 children,” el-Dessouqi said. “Due to my inability to pay the utility bills we no longer have electricity or running water in our home. I used to be the breadwinner of the family, but now my eldest son–an electrician–is the one providing for the household. I am indebted to so many friends and family members. May God help us all.”

February 18, 2010