Labor & Employment Law

Egypt Workers? Strikes Added New Strength to Protests

By James Parks

Thousands of workers and protesters walked the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, during a ?day of leaving? demonstration.

The resignation of Egypt?s President Hosni Mubarak comes one day after huge numbers of workers went on strike to protest working conditions, adding a new and powerful emphasis to the massive ongoing protests throughout the country.

Thousands of  workers are on strike across Egypt, including  workers in factories, railway and bus workers, state electricity staff and service technicians at the Suez Canal.  

More than 6,000 Suez Canal Co. workers in the port cities of Suez, Port Said and Ismailia began an open-ended sit-in yesterday and vowed not to go home until their demands are met. They are protesting poor wages and deteriorating health and working conditions.

Here are some other examples of the strikes:

• Employees at the Ministries of Health and Culture walked off the job demanding more fair allocation of wages among staff and also fair employment for youths.
• Some 10,000 telecom workers in several cities staged sit-ins over wages and working conditions and also highlighted the big discrepancy between the salaries earned by high-level managers and average workers.
• Workers in industrial zones walked out over issues around back pay, wages, bonuses and working conditions.

Over the past five years, courageous efforts by Egyptian workers to have a voice through independent unions helped inspire the protestors, several experts have said. 

The global trade union movement has supported the Egyptian workers and the protests from the beginning. Just yesterday, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)  issued a statement praising the “tens of thousands of Egyptian workers as they continue to fight for democracy, social justice and trade union rights.”

Union leaders around the world, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka,  also delivered video messages of support to the workers. Click here to see the videos.

On Tuesday, trade union members joined with community allies for a Day of Action for Democracy in Egypt. In the United States, union members and Egyptian American activists held a rally in front of the White House.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 11, 2011 (boomark / email).