Co-ordinated national strike action by university workers across Egypt greeted the first day of the new academic year. The Coalition of University Workers set 15 – 17 September as strike days, and planned escalation to an open-ended sit-in outside the Cabinet offices on 18 September. The Coalition represents non-academic staff and is calling for equalisation…
Guest blog by David Paenson in Cairo 15 September 2012 Politics meets Economics Spent Friday afternoon with teachers’ picket in front of the education ministry. Their picket is only one among many up and down the country. Today will be their first actual national strike day. Teachers are demanding 3000 Egyptian Pounds monthly salary (300…
Leaders of the independent teachers’ unions called on their colleagues across Egypt to strike on the first day of the new school year, 15 September as teachers’ protests escalated over the past week. For the past week teachers have been encamped outside the Cabinet Offices in central Cairo, demanding an end to the ’empty promises’…
Extracts from a statement by the Egyptian Teachers’ Federation at the teachers’ sit-in outside the cabinet offices 10 September 2012 “Once again teachers have restarted their revolution, in order to demand a radical and comprehensive solution to the issue of their wages, which have declined and are the lowest not only in Egypt but across…
Activists involved in organising the recent wave of protests which have spread across Sudan since mid-June have been arrested and tortured by the regime, sources in the Sudanese opposition told MENA Solidarity Network this week. Demonstrations by students on 16 June against austerity measures have sparked a wider protest movement which has begun to raise…
Hala Kamal is a member of 9 March Movement, a network of academics which campaigns for freedom of expression on the university campus. She addressed UCU Congress 2011 and here gives an update on recent struggles (interview on 6 June, by members of the MENA Solidarity delegation to Egypt). “Today there are continual attempts at…
NUT activist Sara Tomlinson responds to a message of greetings sent by Hala Talaat of the Egyptian Teachers’ Federation. ترد سارة توملينسون ناشطة في النقابة العامة للمعلمين في بريطانيا ومعلمة في لندن إلى رسالة تضامنية من هالة طلعت من إتحاد معلمي المصري اسمي سارة توملينسون وأنا معلمة في لندن وأنا أيضاً عضو في النقابة العامة…
Hala Talaat, a founding member of the Egyptian Teachers’ Federation sent this message to colleagues in the National Union of Teachers in the UK. She talks about the experience of organising the mass strike by teachers in September 2011, which brought thousands of Egyptian schools to standstill, and about why the independent teachers’ unions are…
Solidarity greetings from National Union of Teachers activists for the Egyptian teachers’ protest on 31 March (English below) إلى الأخوة والأخوات من نقابات المعلمين المصرية تحيات طيبة من بريطانيا نحن أعضاء في للجنة التنفيذية للنقابة العامة لمعلمي بريطانيا ونرسل أطيب تمنياتنا لكم لنجاح إعتصامكم في 31 مارس. من الواضح أن مطالبكم بزيادة الميزانية التعليمية هي…
Video made by teacher activists calling on colleagues to join the protest on 31 March Independent teachers unions have called for a million-strong protest on 31 March in front of the Cabinet Offices demanding a rise in the state budget for education to 6.5% of GDP. The Egyptian Teachers’ Federation said in a statement: “Every…
MENA Solidarity Network 