Hind Abdel Gawad, a trade unionist and revolutionary activist from Zagazig in Sharqiyya province, Egypt, talks about the challenges facing the workers’ movement in Egypt in a video message for Manchester TUC’s May Day rally, 4 May 2013. Hind, who played a leading role in strikes by Information Centre workers before the revolution, visited London…
أصدر قادة عمال السكك الحديدية والنقل البحري والمواصلات بالأمس بيانا هاجموا فيه تعامل الجيش مع إضراب سائقي القطارات في مصر. فقد تم إرسال خطابات تكليف لسائقي القطارات للعمل في القوات المسلحة. يمكنكم النقر هنا لمعرفة ما يمكنكم عمله للتضامن مع عمال السكك الحديدية المصرية. بيان بشأن إضراب سائقي القطارات في مصر: ندين نحن الموقعين…
Striking Egyptian train drivers explain their demands and the repression they faced from the army during their strike. The opening title says: “7 April 2013 – train drivers began a national strike for the first time since 1986 in order to win the following demands: 1. Bonus payment 2. Meal allowance payment 3. Increase in…
In a statement released today, railworkers’ union leaders in the UK hit out at the Egyptian army’s intervention in the train drivers’ strike. Striking drivers were issued letters telling them that they had been conscripted into the armed forces. Read more here about what you can do in solidarity. Statement on the Egyptian railworkers’ strike…
Picture: trade unionists and activists protest in Cairo in solidarity with the rail workers, 10 April (via revsoc.me) Stop the militarisation of the railway! Stop terrorising the train drivers! Joint statement 10 April 2013 (original Arabic here) For the first time, the armed forces have blatantly intervened to break the train drivers’ strike – not…
The Egyptian army has intervened in an attempt to break the national strike by train drivers and guards, which has paralysed train services in much of the country for the last three days . Around 100 drivers have reportedly been transferred to the transport directorate in the Army in an attempt to crush the strike. …
Calls for civil disobedience and a general strike on 11 February are gaining momentum across Egypt in the wake of the massacre of football supporters in Port Said. The Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions and the Egyptian Democratic Labour Congress, which between them claim a membership of around 2 million workers in affiliated unions…
One year ago in Tunisia workers were playing a vital role in the protests sweeping the country against the Ben Ali regime. “The trade unions’ role is one of the most striking aspects of the December protests”, wrote the Tunisia expert Christopher Alexander in the magazine Foreign Policy. On the 7th January thousands of lawyers…
Hundreds of striking railworkers blockaded the tracks on 25 July at the main railway station in Cairo, paralysing the movement of trains. They are demanding improved bonuses and death-in-service benefits as well as the resignation of managers and officials from the corrupt pro-mubarak trade union. Monday’s strike and protest came after management failed to meet…
4 June 2011 Translation of report by Ashraf Omar and Haitham Muhammadain (http://www.e-socialists.net/node/6969) The Disciplinary Court of the Presidency of the Republic today reserved judgement in the case against Ali Fattouh, president of the Cairo Independent Public Transport Workers Union, until its session on 25 June. Dozens of workers from the Public Transport Authority attended…
MENA Solidarity Network 