Around 300 workers from Tanta Flax and Oils Company were in occupation for a second day on 13 November in a bid to enforce a recent court decision to return the company to the public sector. The occupation has been organised by workers who were forced to leave the company under the ‘early retirement’ scheme which operated at the time it was sold to a private investor.
Tanta Flax is one of several companies named in a historic court ruling which annuled their sale to private investors by the Mubarak regime. Although the courts ruled that the company should be handed back to the public sector by 21 September, the process had still not begun by November, prompting workers to take matters into their own hands.
Like other companies named in the court ruling, such as the Indorama textile plant in Shibin al-Kom, Tanta Flax has been the site of fierce battles between workers and management over the past few years. Workers in the plant organised an epic five-month long strike in 2009 over deteriorating conditions which was followed by further protests and strikes.
Find out more about what you can do to mobilise solidarity for the Tanta Flax occupation and the workers’ movement in Egypt at our conference on 20 November. More information here
MENA Solidarity Network 