The US Navy counts on the Suez canal for rapid deployment of vessels from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.
[For background to Egypt's working-class movement see also "Egypt: Historian Joel Beinin on the role of the labour movement" and "Egypt: Workers hold key to uprising".]
* * *
Kamal Abbas, director of the Center
for Trade Union and Workers Services, interviewed by Jane Slaughter
February 9, 2011 – Labor Notes – Though all eyes are on Cairo and its Liberation Square, few could
know that Egyptian workers have been protesting and striking in huge
numbers for years.
In a 2009 AFL-CIO report
Stanford historian Joel Beinin wrote, “The current wave of protests is
erupting from the largest social movement Egypt has witnessed in more
than half a century. Over 1.7 million workers engaged in more than 1900
strikes and other forms of protest from 2004 to 2008.”
Today, workers’ strikes became part of the protests that are rocking
Egypt, with more than 20,000 workers out and more scheduled for February 10.
The New York Times reported that in the textile town of
Mahalla, more than 1500 strikers blocked roads and that more than 2000
workers from the Sigma pharmaceutical company in Quesna went on strike.
Labor Notes interviewed Kamal Abbas, director of the Center
for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS), an independent workers' group, about
workers’ participation in the Egyptian revolt.
[The Center for Trade Union and Workers Services, now a
part of the newly formed non-state Federation of
Egyptian Trade Unions (FETU), had its headquarters closed by the government in
2007, and was only allowed to reopen in July 2008. The new FETU confederation immediately
issued a call for a general strike. The call has been widely taken up,
and many reports now link the uprising to unity with the workers,
particularly in Suez, where the battle has been fought most intensely with state police. ]
* * *
The media said around 20,000 factory workers stayed away from work on February 9. Where did they work?
This day in the revolution could be named for the labour
unions. They have moved all over, with more than 20 strikes in the
railroads and also textiles, nurses and doctors, a hospital, in
government-owned factories and also private factories. The numbers are more than
20,000.
Independent journalists have been publicising the corruption, that US$3 billion are somewhere missing. The Guardian
published $12 billion for the Mubarak family. This has provoked
horrible disgust, in a country where 40 per cent are under the poverty
level. Now the demands are “I want my rights, where are our rights?”
Were women involved in the strikes?
Yes, of course, the textile workers were 1200 people. Also a hospital participated.
Eight million people in the country are participating in the
protests. There are a million people in Tahrir Square, and there are
thousands of workers among them. In the people’s movement, they are
learning its lessons. Of course, the working class is apt to organise,
and they have been moving in a very deliberate, organised way to make
demands.
Were today’s strikers demanding pay increases or that Mubarak should go, or both?
Today they are asking for both.
Let me emphasise a good development: we expect one of the textile factories, with 24,000 people, to go on strike tomorrow.
Tell us more about the strike wave of the last few years.
There were 3000 strikes which included all sectors, both
government and private. Of course, these actions were making economic
demands—higher pay. The prime minister claimed that 90 per cent of the
demands were accepted and executed. We have a minimum wage of $60 a
month now. It used to be much less before [just $6 a month, stuck at
that level since 1984].
Is there a connection between those strikes and the current protests? Did the strikes raise workers’ expectations?
Yes, no question. It’s not just my opinion. There’s no question
that that pattern led to involving and breaking the fear of the rest of
the people, among them more workers.
Has the official government trade union federation, the Egyptian
Trade Union Federation (which is the only legal union), been involved in
the protests at all?
They still are on the side of Mubarak. But they have disappeared.
They don’t even appear at all. Yesterday, for example, the strikers
resolved to remove the leadership. They talked about corruption and
going to the prosecutor.
On January 30, a new federation was established, the Federation of
Egyptian Trade Unions (FETU), across many cities, both private and
public sector. It has been recognised across the globe, in Germany, the
AFL-CIO, the International Labor Organization. Therefore the Egyptian
workers actually turned a new page, breaking the pattern of what was past.
Ever since 1952 [when Gamal Abdel Nasser took over the government],
the government tried to stop trade unions and put many leaders in jail.
They established a loyal trade union, the ETUF. Our struggle never
stopped but it was repressed very hard. I personally participated in a
strike when I was working in Helwan [an industrial suburb of Cairo] with
the steelworkers; 1000 people participated. Security used all kinds of
live munitions, tear gas, rubber bullets. One person was killed and
1000 people were jailed. They served one month to three months.
What salaries do Egyptian workers make?
It varies from sector to sector. If we take starting teachers,
they are actually temporary workers. They make about $34 a month. The
older ones take more. Other governmental workers, about 5 million
people, make about $70 a month. In the private sector, $110 a month.
Egyptian society suffers from two things: hiking prices all the time
and of course unemployment. We have 7 million people unemployed [about
10 per cent of the workforce].
And many are not considered part of the official labour force?
Four million people are without any rights to health care,
anything. They are not even recognised as part of the working force in
any contractual way.
What happens if Mubarak refuses to leave? Will many people go to jail?
This revolution will never stop until he goes. We don't want his trial, we just want to get rid of him. At least for now.
There are many scenarios that are being discussed. People are
blocking roads, there are clashes, millions of people are pouring out
every day to Liberation Square. Five people got killed in the Wahat area
on the east side of Egypt. A security center was burned down.
[On February 11] nobody will predict the numbers, there may be 8 million people all over the districts. All scenarios are possible.
The news is showing clashes within the government, between the army
generals and Mubarak. I am not impressed with the fact that the army is
friendly. Some sort of US intervention may develop, but we don't
know. These are all possibilities.
On February 8 some unions demonstrated at Egyptian embassies
around the world, to support the protesters. What can workers
do to help your cause?
We expect you to continue the pressure on Obama, because he still continues supporting Mubarak and his regime.
[Many thanks to Hasan Newash of Detroit for translation. This article first appeared at the US-based Labor Notes.]
Suez Canal strike could rattle Egypt’s regime
By Evan Rohar
February 10, 2011 – Labor Notes – Protests in Egypt escalated this week when thousands of emboldened workers across the country walked off or sat down on the job. More than 20,000 workers across Egypt stayed home February 9. 2011, demanding economic rather than political concessions.
Some, however, are calling for the authoritarian government’s
officials to leave power. Striking electrical workers in Cairo called on
the director of the state-owned South Cairo Electrical Company to
resign and public transit workers locked buses in garages February 10,
threatening to shut down the city’s bus service if Mubarak remains in
office. A full-scale public transport strike could provoke major problems for the
government in a society where most people don't have cars. Postal, petroleum
and rail workers also lent their clout to the movement this week.
Workers in the critical Suez Canal Authority have taken perhaps the
most important action of all, launching a 6000-strong sitdown strike
that began February 8 evening. While their demands centre on pay and
working conditions, the sheer force of their leverage has implications
for the entire Egyptian uprising. The action appears to be a wildcat
strike.
The Suez Canal enables ships to travel from Asia to Europe by way of the Red and Mediterranean seas, bypassing a journey around the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa that would take more than a week.
The canal handled 559 million tons of cargo in 2009, nearly three times the tonnage handled by the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest port in the US. The canal handles cargo amounting to about 8 per cent of global maritime trade.
It also transits up to 2.5 million barrels of crude oil each day,
with oil-exporting countries using the canal to move their crude to
market and to import refined petroleum products. The canal is of further
importance for US military interests; the US Navy counts on it for rapid deployment of vessels from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.
So far, most industry analysts insist that canal traffic is either
minimally affected or unaffected by the strike actions and will remain
so. Many, such as the Journal of Commerce and Logistics Week,
quote Egyptian government officials who have an interest in keeping a
lid on the effectiveness of any protest. If canal workers affect
traffic, or if the strikes spread, enormous international pressure would
come down on the Mubarak regime to get the cargo flowing again.
Reports contradicting the official line are starting to appear. Egypt’s state-controlled newspaper Ahram Online reported on February 8 that “disruptions to shipping movements, as well as
disastrous economic losses, are expected if the strike continues.” By February 9, the article had been changed to state that no delays are expected.
Regardless, the waterway’s strategic and economic significance
amounts to a massive bargaining chip for the pro-democracy protesters if
leveraged correctly, and its importance won’t end with the uprising. If
democracy prevails and the people of Egypt take power, the new regime
could use the canal for any number of political and economic purposes.
Egyptian authorities are beefing up security around the canal,
claiming that Hamas and Hezbollah plan to dispatch saboteurs to aid the
rebellion. Maybe they're acting on real intelligence, or maybe they're
afraid of what the workers could do for themselves and for their
revolution.
[Evan Rohar is a former dockworker.This article first appeared at the US-based Labor Notes.]
