More than 500 trade unionists and activists from around the world have signed the Emergency Statement on Egypt, initiated by trade unionists in the UK affiliated to MENA Solidarity. Signatories to the letter include Labour MP John McDonnell, and representatives from dozens of different trade union bodies.

Nick Grant from the National Union of Teachers and Andy Reid from the civil servants union PCS, who were among the initial signatories to the letter, joined a delegation which took the letter to the Egyptian embassy in London on Wednesday 20 August.

What you can do:

• You can still add your name to the statement. We will hand in further signatures at the beginning of September
• Pass the resolution below in your trade union branch
• Mobilise solidarity for Egyptian workers facing repression for leading strikes and protests – such as the Suez Steel strikers (details here)
• Join protests initiated by Egyptian activists abroad outside embassies worldwide in protest at plans to release dictator Hosni Mubarak from jail and against the military crackdown

Emergency motion for trade union branches

This union notes:

• the murder of hundreds of protesters by Egyptian security forces and army during the forced dispersal of protest camps in Cairo on 14 August;
• the wave of attacks on Christians and churches in Egypt in the wake of the dispersal of the camps;
• the violent break up workers’ strikes and protests by the Egyptian army and police, including the arrest of striking workers at Suez Steel (12 August), the attempt forcibly to conscript striking rail workers (April), and use of police dogs against strikers at Portland Cement (February).

This union condemns:

• the repression by the Egyptian armed forces of peaceful protests and strikes,
• sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt.

This union calls for:

• an immediate lifting of the State of Emergency
• the next elected government to bring to justice the perpetrators of all crimes both against protesters and against the Christian community
• the Egyptian authorities to respect all Egyptian citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and association including the right to strike, and to cease all prosecutions which violate these democratic rights
• the British and US governments to end all aid and arms sales to the Egyptian Armed Forces and police.

This union affirms:

• its continued support for Egyptians’ struggle to win bread, freedom and social justice, and for free trade unions. These demands were denied by the Mubarak government, the Muslim Brotherhood-led government and by the two military regimes since 2011.

 If you are raising this motion in a UK trade union and your union is not already affiliated to MENA Solidarity, please add the following point

This union resolves:

• to affiliate to MENA Solidarity at the appropriate rate (details here) and to circulate information about MENA Solidarity’s campaigns to our members.

We regret that we can’t accept affiliations from unions outside the UK at the moment.

If your union passes the resolution please let us know by email menasolidarity@gmail.com or via a comment on this page.