EGYPT: Strikes Sound a New Warning

By Adam Morrow Reprint | | Print |

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

CAIRO, Oct 24 2007 (IPS) - A week-long sit-in strike last month achieved limited gains for employees of the state-owned Mahala Company for Spinning and Weaving in Egypt’s Nile Delta region. Although government spokesmen have accused opposition movements of standing behind a recent spate of workers’ strikes, independent critics attribute the labour unrest to the widening gap between public salaries and the rising cost of living.

“Poverty and hunger are the real reasons behind the recent sit-in strike,” Saad al-Husseini, MP for the Greater Mahala district and assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood movement’s parliamentary bloc, told IPS.

On Sep. 23, an estimated 27,000 workers from the Mahala Company declared an open-ended sit-in strike on company premises, quickly bringing all production to a standstill. Labour leaders made several demands, including salary increases, payment of overdue profit-sharing bonuses, and improved medical services and transport facilities.

Workers also demanded suspension of company chairman Mahmoud al-Gibali pending investigation into use of company funds, as well as the resignation of certain trade union officials.

Striking labourers were soon met by state security forces, which occupied major roads in and around the city of Mahala. After limited clashes between workers and security personnel, contingents of anti-riot police were reportedly called up from nearby provinces in an effort to contain the situation.

On Sep. 29, after the arrest of several strike leaders on charges of “inciting disorder”, government representatives signalled their readiness to negotiate.

Following lengthy talks, company officials – along with the ministers of investment and manpower – promised Mahala employees immediate payment of bonuses. In a further victory for striking workers, labour leaders also received assurances that al-Gibali would be investigated for the possible misuse of funds.

In exchange for these concessions, Mahala employees returned to work Oct. 1.

The Mahala Company has seen more than its share of recent labour actions. In December of last year, some 25,000 employees held a similar sit-in strike, which ultimately resulted in comparable pledges from government officials. After three days of striking that reportedly cost the firm some 12 million dollars, workers were given assurances that bonuses would finally be disbursed.

Labour leaders say the promised payments were never made.

“Government promises from the December sit-in were never kept,” said Husseini. “This was the main reason for the recent resumption of the workers’ strike.”

The Mahala strike in December was followed by a spate of similar labour actions in other local industries, including public transport, construction and manufacturing. According to the Cairo-based Land Centre, a non-government organisation devoted to workers’ rights, the first half of 2007 witnessed a total of 283 labour actions in both the public and private sectors.

Notably, recent labour unrest has been marked by the absence of official union representation, with most strikes being independently organised by workers. The reason for this, say labour organisers, is that the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) – the only legal union representation available – has largely failed to stand up for workers’ rights.

Critics say that ETUF lacks genuine independence, and ultimately answers to the ruling National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak, not to the workers it is meant to represent. In several cases, in addition to better pay and benefits, labour leaders have demanded the resignation of their official union representatives.

“ETUF is little more than a state agency, which always stands on the side of the government against workers’ interests,” said Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of the Socialist Labour Party, officially frozen since 2000. “In the absence of a respectable trade union, I doubt workers will ever see their legitimate demands met.”

Spokesmen for the government, meanwhile, have accused clandestine communist groups and the Muslim Brotherhood of standing behind the wave of labour unrest.

Shortly after the recent Mahala sit-in, minister for manpower Aisha Abdel-Hadi claimed the strike had been arranged “off the company’s premises.” Quoted in the Oct. 1 edition of official daily al-Gomhouriya, she hinted at “the assistance of external and internal powers” in organising the strike.

Critics of the government’s labour policies, however, challenge this assertion. They point to the lack of evidence implicating any political movement – external or internal – in the recent spate of labour strikes and demonstrations.

“Government claims that opposition parties or the Muslim Brotherhood were involved in organising strikes reflect the regime’s tyrannical disposition,” Hussein told IPS. “After all, it isn’t illegal for political representatives to be in contact with discontented workers.”

Far from being the result of an orchestrated conspiracy, most close observers say the recent labour unrest has no political dimension. Rather, they attribute the phenomenon to insufficient salaries.

“After several years of rampant inflation, most government salaries are no longer sufficient to meet basic daily needs,” said al-Husseini.

He added: “Many of these workers literally don’t make enough money to buy bread for their families.”