EGYPTIAN WORKERS FIGHT
BACK AGAINST MUBARAK POLICIES
(The
following article is from
the December 1-31,
2007
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
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Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak faces
mounting discontent from workers who have broken away from
government-controlled unions and staged sporadic strikes across the
nation. A recent report in the Los Angeles Times says that "ragged and
often disorganized picket lines present a widening crisis for a
president viewed as detached from the working class and unable to lift
wages and stem double-digit inflation."
During a
strike in October at
the Misr Spinning and Weaving Factory in the Nile Delta city of El
Mahalla El Kubra, thousands of male and female workers hanged their
company president in effigy and took over the textile mill's courtyard,
banging drums and giving speeches. Riot police and undercover security
officers made a passive show of force, not wanting to provoke the
bloody unrest that characterized strikes in Egypt decades ago.
The weeklong
strike ended when
the government-owned company made concessions on wages and
profit-sharing bonuses. But the mill and its 27,000 employees have
become a focal point of the labour unrest. Nearly a year ago, the same
workers struck for several days, igniting solidarity across Egypt as
work stoppages spread to railway, flour and other industries whose
salaries and benefits have not kept pace with sharp rises in the cost
of living.
"This is the
largest, most
militant strike wave since the 1940s," said Sameh Naguib, a labour
expert and sociology professor at the American University in Cairo.
"Hundreds of thousands of workers are involved and it's spreading quite
rapidly... The question is how this labour movement may play into a
larger democratic movement against the government."
Mubarak's
program of
privatization and lower corporate tax rates have boosted economic
growth rates, without benefitting workers whose salaries have been
slashed by inflation rates as high as 15% monthly.
The strikes
come as Mubarak's
ruling National Democratic Party, or NDP, has cracked down on political
opposition, jailing journalists and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The government claims the Brotherhood is trying to influence the
unions, a tactic which it hopes will divide the country's opposition
along secular and religious lines. But the textile workers say they are
taking action over falling living standards and corrupt union leaders
who have failed to defend them against Mubarak's neoliberal policies.
The aging
Mubarak has ruled
Egypt for the last 26 years. His government has moved quickly to
resolve recent strikes, fearing that an alliance of labour and
opposition groups could jeopardize its grip. But a country-wide labour
movement, including up to 300,000 textile employees, may undermine the
government's divide and rule strategy.
Found at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint08/13__EGYPTIAN_WORKERS_FIGHT_BACK_AGAINST.html