Picture via Tunisian Popular Front on Facebook Thousands joined a march to reinforce a protest camp outside the Tunisian Constituent Assembly on 6 August, following a call by opposition parties and trade unions to support the call for a new government. The Tunisian trade union federation, the UGTT, was among the main supporters of the…
Picture: Mahalla workers join protests against Morsi, 28 June 2013 Workers at the giant Misr Spinning complex in Mahalla al-Kubra staged a lightning strike today, demanding 2 days paid holiday over the Eid-al-Fitr festival and the payment of part of their annual profit-sharing bonus. The strike was sparked by a notice from the publicly-owned mill’s…
By Hisham Fouad A new rash of strikes across the Egyptian textile industry shows the challenges faced by the military-backed government installed in the wake of Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow. The new government has been in power less than a month, but workers’ protests are already on the rise. This is the result of the continuation…
Statement from Fatma Ramadan, member of the Executive Committee of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions – original Arabic here Thanks to Sara Ajlyakin for the translation, edited by Anne Alexander Al-Sisi’s “Permission” is a Deadly Poison My comrades, the workers of Egypt are struggling for their rights and for a better Egypt. Egypt’s…
Egyptian Army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi’s call for massive protests against terrorism on 26 July has won wide support with many independent unions endorsing the demonstrations. The April 6 Youth Movement and the Revolutionary Socialists, along with activists in the Constitution Party’s student groups have rejected al-Sisi’s appeal. The demonstrations come after two weeks of tension…
Mohamed Ahmed Salem – President of the Regional Federation of Independent Unions in Gharbiyya province, which is part of the Egyptian Democratic Labour Congress. From the Union of Workers in Gharbiyya Province local adminstration. “We took part in collecting signatures for the Rebel campaign in Gharbiyya and our petitions were handed in with others collected…
Still fighting for social justice… How workers in the Middle East are resisting neo-liberalism, austerity and privatisation By Jonathan Maunder and Anne Alexander In 2011, when revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt toppled dictators, British government ministers rushed to congratulate the Tunisian and Egyptian people on their democratic achievements. Two years later, they are forcing an…
Interview with Fatma Ramadan, a civil service trade union leader and member of the Executive of the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions [picture by Hossam el-Hamalawy]. I will answer your questions in a personal capacity, rather than officially on behalf of the unions, because whenever there is a split in society, you find a…
Muhammad Hardan, deputy president of the Independent Union of Workers in the Cairo Water Company, spoke to MENA Solidarity on Facebook after the overthrow of Morsi, explaining why he and other trade unionists had joined the revolt against the Muslim Brotherhood. “We didn’t even have to issue a call from the union for participation in…
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions 14th Fl. Kyunghyang-shinmunsa Bldg., 22 Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul 100-702, Korea Tel.: +82-2-2670-9118 Fax: +82-2-2635-1134 E-mail: inter@kctu.org July 1, 2013 Re: Solidarity Message for the struggling Workers in Egypt We, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) extend our warm hearted solidarity to the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) and…
MENA Solidarity Network 