Workers in Cairo’s vital public transport sector threatened to go on strike earlier this month if the state did not meet their list of demands. The incident was only the latest in a spate of strikes and protests in recent months that local commentators attribute to the steadily rising cost of living.
"These workers’ actions are a result of the crushing economic situation," Magdi Hussein, secretary-general of the Labour Party, officially frozen by the government since 2000, told IPS. "But with the current political upheaval in Egypt, workers have begun breaking down the wall of fear by wielding the weapons of the strike and the sit-in."
Egypt has seen an unprecedented number of organised labour actions in the last six months. Since the beginning of this year, more than 50 strikes and labour protests have been called, with 11 in the last week of April alone.
Labour actions have been organised in several of Egypt’s most important industries, in both the public and private sectors. In addition to pubic transport, these have included the textiles, construction and industrial manufacturing sectors.
The biggest labour action was in December, when some 25,000 workers participated in a strike at the state-owned Egypt Company for Spinning and Weaving in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla. After three days of striking, which reportedly cost the company some 12 million dollars, workers’ demands for promised bonuses were finally met.
Notably, the recent labour unrest has been marked by the absence of official union representation, with most actions being independently organised by workers themselves. The reason for this, say labour organisers and commentators, is that the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) -- the only legal union representation available -- has largely failed to protect workers’ rights.
Spokesmen for the government, meanwhile, have suggested that clandestine communist groups or unlicensed workers’ associations have had a hand in organising the recent wave of strikes. Late last month, authorities shut down the Cairo-based Centre for Trade Union & Worker’s Services, an independent organisation devoted to labour rights issues, triggering a storm of condemnation from human and civil rights groups.
But far from being the result of a political conspiracy, most informed observers say the current labour unrest lacks any political dimension. They attribute the phenomenon to the rising cost of living, noting that inflation has continued to rise steadily ever since a major currency devaluation in 2003.
Source : IPS
