[Onthebarricades] EGYPT: Massive factory occupation by striking workers

[Andy]

*Egypt's biggest factory occupied by striking workers - show your
solidarity***

*26 September*

Thousands of workers at the biggest textile factory in the Middle East, Misr Spinning and Weaving in Mahalla al-Kubra north of Cairo have been occupying their plant since 23 September. The strikers are demanding wage rises to meet the spiraling cost of living, payment of bonuses and the impeachment of the factory management and the leaders of the factory's pro-government official union committee. Thousands of workers across Egypt have already joined strikes and protests in solidarity with the Mahalla strikers. In December 2006 a successful strike by workers at the same company set off Egypt's biggest wave of industrial action for decades, involving strikes by textile workers, postal workers and teachers.

Independent trade union activists frequently face harassment and
intimidation by the Egyptian authorities, while the official trade union movement is controlled by the government. The following appeal for international solidarity with the Mahalla strikers has been issued by the Centre for Socialist Studies in Cairo, which is part of a wider network of opposition and human rights groups campaigning for change in Egypt.

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*To add your name to the solidarity statement below, or to send a message of support to the strikers: e**mail **rabab100 at yahoo.com*

*To send condemnation letters to the Egyptian General Federation of Trade Unions Fax # (+202)25740308 or Ministry of Labour Fax # (+202)24037562 *(please email a copy of the letter to the address above). Send protests to the Egyptian embassy in your country.

*Read more about the strike here:*

*http://arabist.net/arabawy/ ;
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN454477.html *

**

*Solidarity with the Mahalla Workers *

We call upon all workers and fighters for justice to support *Mahalla
Spinning and Weaving Company 27,000 workers currently on strike for their rights,* which are basic and legitimate rights for all workers. We shall use all means to express our solidarity with the workers and their families for their courageous stand and their struggle to seize their rights.

*We also call upon all workers in all locations to act in solidarity with their colleagues at the Mahalla Spinning and Weaving Company*.

We salute the initiative of the Grain Mills workers for their symbolic solidarity sit in, which they organized on the 23rd of September 2007 and their release of solidarity statements together with their colleagues in Shebin El Kom Spinning and Weaving Company. We also salute the weaving workers in Kafr El Dawwar for their decision to organize a solidarity sit in with their Mahalla colleagues on the 25th of September 2007. We also salute
the students, foremost the Tanta university students, for their release of several solidarity statements with the workers. We also salute all centres and movements who expressed solidarity with the workers.

*We condemn the policy of terror and arrests which the regime is using in the face of the legitimate demands of the masses of workers.*

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We condemn the policy of blockading the workers in the factory, which has failed to intimidate them and has increased their determination to continue their strike for their rights. We condemn the yellow puppet General Federation of Trade Unions and the Ministry of Labor who stand against the will of the workers and against their interests.

*We call upon workers around the world and their unions to show their
support to their fellow workers in Mahalla in everyway possible.*

Center for Socialist Studies, Cairo

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http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN454477.html

Egyptian workers take over giant textile plant
Mon 24 Sep 2007, 14:08 GMT
 

[-] Text [+] By Wael Gamal

MAHALLA EL-KUBRA, Egypt (Reuters) - Seven thousand workers controlled one of Egypt's biggest textile mills on Monday, the second day of a strike by 27,000 employees of Misr Spinning and Weaving in the Nile Delta town of Mahalla el-Kubra.

Five of the organisers went to the public prosecutor's office on Monday to answer accusations that they incited the strike and caused the state-owned company 10 million pounds in losses on the first day of the stoppage.

The workers are demanding higher wages, more benefits, a larger share of the company's profits and the release of their five colleagues, one of the organisers said.

Several workers said they took home about 150 Egyptian pounds a month, while the company posted a profit of 217 million pounds in the 2006/7 financial year.

"It is in the hands of (President Hosni) Mubarak himself now. We want to eat and send our children to school. What can we do with 150 pounds a month?" said one of the workers, who asked not to be named.

At the factory site on Monday groups of workers beat drums and chanted slogans against Misr Spinning and the management of the government holding company which owns it.

Police kept their distance and no managers were present. Workers said representatives of the government-approved union came to visit on Sunday but the workers drove them away.

The strike is one of the biggest in a long series over the past year in Egypt, where economic growth has not yet improved the conditions of many low-paid workers.

In many cases managers have met most of the demands of the workers within days or at the most a few weeks.

But the authorities have shown some signs of alarm at the strikes, usually led by groups of workers independent of the trade unions backed by and loyal to the government.

In April the government closed down the headquarters of a group which gives advice to workers and unofficial unions.

The Egyptian economy has been growing at about 7 percent a year for the past 18 months but inflation, at more than 8 percent for the past year, has eroded much of the value of any wage increases they have received.

Price increases have been larger for foodstuffs, on which the poor spend a higher percentage of their income.

Workers at Misr Spinning and Weaving went on strike in December last year and won a promise that workers would receive annual bonuses equivalent to 45 days' wages.

They say the company has not fulfilled its promise and they are now demanding the equivalent of 12 months' basic pay as their share of the 2006/7 profits, representatives said.
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