Egyptian factory workers end week-long massive strike

Sep 29, 2007, 12:25 GMT

Cairo - A massive week-long workers' strike ended on Saturday after demands of the 27,000 Egyptian textile workers were 'mostly met,' said local officials in the northern Gharbiya province.

The masses of workers took over control of one of the state's biggest mills, the Mahala al-Kobra factory of Misr Helwan Spinning and Weaving Company, early last week in a strike over low wages and overdue benefits.

The workers have demanded 150 days' worth of profit-sharing in addition to bonuses as promised by the factory administration. According to their leaders, their monthly salaries range from 100 to 600 Egyptian pounds (18 to 107 dollars).

They had also called for the resignation of the head of the top company officials.

According to Abdel-Hamid Nouier, member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and representative of the city of al-Mahala al-Kobra in Gharbiya province, most of these demands were met and the protesters went back home at dawn on Saturday.

Work in the factory will resume on Monday, he added.

The workers will reportedly receive a temporary 70-day payment on Monday, and then a 40-day payment in addition to remaining wages to be paid in November after the company's general assembly meets.

They were also promised that Misr Helwan chairman Mahmoud al- Gibali would be forced to submit his resignation.

Egypt Workers Union head Hussein Mogawer confirmed this adding that no worker will be harmed or targeted by state security police because of the protests. The workers will not be financially penalized for the duration of the strike which they had spent out of work, he said.

The workers were also promised a higher share of the company's profits and a raise in benefits that accounts to seven per cent of their monthly salaries, said the officials.

The major strike had reportedly caused the company a 40-million- pounds loss, according to the latest news reports.

The government had expressed fear that the impact of the strike would spread to other factories if the demands of the workers were quickly met. According to observers, the government did not want to look like it caved in under pressure.

The incident revived the memory of a 2006 crisis where protests popped up in several factories, and where laborers, encouraged by their colleagues, organized mass protests in both major plants and low-paid industries.

During the past week, truckloads of security forces have been cordoning off streets leading to the site bursting at the seams with protestors, their families and relatives. The protest had been confined to the factory grounds during the entire week.

On Friday, the independent al-Masri al-Yom had said that troops of riot police had been mustered from seven nearby provinces, in order to contain the protests if they ever got out of hand.

Establishing a makeshift tent city inside the factory, the workers thronged the facility's yards day and night during the holy month of Ramadan during which Muslims fast.

Last week, eight of the textile worker leaders were briefly detained and questioned over charges of fomenting protests and causing damage to public property.

An opposition member of parliament, Hamdein Sabahi had told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that workers were seriously considering setting up a self-directed administration as an act of defiance if they did not receive reconciliatory bids.

This was confirmed Saturday by local newspapers, including al- Masri al-Yom, which said that the workers had marked Saturday as the day to take over the company's administration, choose interim administration members and form a special syndicate-directed council to manage the affairs of the company until a new leadership is chosen

On another note, the Minister of Labour Aisha Abdel-Hadi accused 'unlicensed parties and outlawed groups' - an apparent reference to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood - of being responsible for inciting the strike.

The workers and their leaders denied the allegation. In its Thursday edition, al-Masri al-Yom had shown pictures of dozens of striking workers holding up their NDP membership cards in order to deny their affiliation with the Brotherhood.