The women garment workers whose strikes fed into the 2011 Egyptian Revolution are out again.
Plus: more bombing of Yemen
Textile workers out on strike
By Charlie Kimber
SOCIALIST WORKER
Monday 26 February 2024
Thousands of women garment workers in Egypt’s biggest textile factory in Mahalla al-Kubra struck last week. They occupied the factory square and declared they would fight until bosses meet their demands for a pay rise. They were joined by men from the weaving and spinning sheds. All of these workers were still out at the beginning of this week.
Last Saturday around 7,000 strikers gathered in the factory square for a mass meeting. The huge factory in northern Egypt employs 14,000 people. It was the detonator of a major wave of strikes which fed into the eruption of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.
It is struggles like this that can fuse with the agitation over Palestine and show the path to wider revolt across the Middle East. A supervisor at a clothing factory, told Mada Masr online newspaper that on Thursday of last week the workers in her building started chanting slogans. They then stopped work as the chants spread from one building to another.
Security personnel sealed off exits to prevent the women from spilling into the complex’s central square, known as Talaat Harb Square. But the scale of the revolt forced security personnel to unlock the factory gates as workers began to gather inside the plant and hold meetings.In an effort to hold down working class anger, Egypt’s repressive president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi recently announced a rise in the minimum wage for state workers.
The figure he decreed is more than many Mahalla workers receive. Although the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla is owned by the state, the decision to raise the minimum wage does not apply to it as it is affiliated with business companies that are not included in the state’s budget. Workers marched out chanting, “We want our rights. What’s happened about the president’s decisions?”
A worker at the company said, “The workers are boiling over, and the salaries of a large number have not reached 4,000 pounds (£100) a month. This is despite the long years of service—and the president raised the minimum to 6,000 pounds (£150 a month).” They added, “We are now living in a daily nightmare to meet the needs of our families.” The strike is also a battle to save jobs.
The worker said, “The company’s machines have been idle for a long time due to mismanagement. Recruitment has been halted for many years because they want to liquidate the assets and keep us at home. This happened at other textile companies. If our demands are not met, things will escalate.”
The Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists said many people will remember the role Mahalla workers played in the 2011 revolution. They said the battle now is in “a different context. The security grip adopted by al-Sisi’s regime has had a profound impact on the decline of the labour movement.
“It opened the door wide to the crushing of workers’ wages. Hence the Mahalla workers’ strike comes as good news and a central event in light of these unbearable conditions.”
Mahalla workers are not the only ones fighting back. Around 2,500 workers at the Universal electrical appliances production company in 6 October city, part of the greater Cairo area, struck for two days last week. They returned after winning a rise of £12 a month.
Bosses had threatened to withhold January’s wages if the strike continued. A big escalation in the struggles of workers and the poor in Egypt, Jordan and other parts of the Middle East would be the biggest challenge to imperialism and Zionism in the region.
The strikes come as Sisi—by closing the Rafah crossing—helped Israel to pen in the people of Gaza and starve them of basic supplies and other aid. Ruling classes everywhere will fear economic and political revolt against imperialism and the Arab regimes’ rulers.
Imperialist bombs continue to blast Houthis
Britain and the United States launched their fourth wave of military assaults against Yemen last weekend. Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand provided support for the operation. Apart from the joint action, the US has also been carrying out almost daily raids on Yemen.
The blasts hit 18 targets across eight locations in Yemen—revenge for Houthi attacks on Western shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis are carrying out their action in solidarity with the Palestinians. After the latest blasts, the Houthis responded with defiance.
Yahya Saree, a spokesperson for the group, pledged that the Houthis would “confront the American-British escalation with more military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arab Seas”. The Houthis will “persist in upholding their religious, moral and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people.
“Military operations will not stop unless the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” he added. According to a tally by The Associated Press news agency, the Houthis have launched at least 57 attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since 19 November. And the pace of attacks has picked up in the last two weeks.
Monday 26 February 2024
Thousands of women garment workers in Egypt’s biggest textile factory in Mahalla al-Kubra struck last week. They occupied the factory square and declared they would fight until bosses meet their demands for a pay rise. They were joined by men from the weaving and spinning sheds. All of these workers were still out at the beginning of this week.
Last Saturday around 7,000 strikers gathered in the factory square for a mass meeting. The huge factory in northern Egypt employs 14,000 people. It was the detonator of a major wave of strikes which fed into the eruption of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.
It is struggles like this that can fuse with the agitation over Palestine and show the path to wider revolt across the Middle East. A supervisor at a clothing factory, told Mada Masr online newspaper that on Thursday of last week the workers in her building started chanting slogans. They then stopped work as the chants spread from one building to another.
Security personnel sealed off exits to prevent the women from spilling into the complex’s central square, known as Talaat Harb Square. But the scale of the revolt forced security personnel to unlock the factory gates as workers began to gather inside the plant and hold meetings.In an effort to hold down working class anger, Egypt’s repressive president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi recently announced a rise in the minimum wage for state workers.
The figure he decreed is more than many Mahalla workers receive. Although the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla is owned by the state, the decision to raise the minimum wage does not apply to it as it is affiliated with business companies that are not included in the state’s budget. Workers marched out chanting, “We want our rights. What’s happened about the president’s decisions?”
A worker at the company said, “The workers are boiling over, and the salaries of a large number have not reached 4,000 pounds (£100) a month. This is despite the long years of service—and the president raised the minimum to 6,000 pounds (£150 a month).” They added, “We are now living in a daily nightmare to meet the needs of our families.” The strike is also a battle to save jobs.
The worker said, “The company’s machines have been idle for a long time due to mismanagement. Recruitment has been halted for many years because they want to liquidate the assets and keep us at home. This happened at other textile companies. If our demands are not met, things will escalate.”
The Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists said many people will remember the role Mahalla workers played in the 2011 revolution. They said the battle now is in “a different context. The security grip adopted by al-Sisi’s regime has had a profound impact on the decline of the labour movement.
“It opened the door wide to the crushing of workers’ wages. Hence the Mahalla workers’ strike comes as good news and a central event in light of these unbearable conditions.”
Mahalla workers are not the only ones fighting back. Around 2,500 workers at the Universal electrical appliances production company in 6 October city, part of the greater Cairo area, struck for two days last week. They returned after winning a rise of £12 a month.
Bosses had threatened to withhold January’s wages if the strike continued. A big escalation in the struggles of workers and the poor in Egypt, Jordan and other parts of the Middle East would be the biggest challenge to imperialism and Zionism in the region.
The strikes come as Sisi—by closing the Rafah crossing—helped Israel to pen in the people of Gaza and starve them of basic supplies and other aid. Ruling classes everywhere will fear economic and political revolt against imperialism and the Arab regimes’ rulers.
Imperialist bombs continue to blast Houthis
Britain and the United States launched their fourth wave of military assaults against Yemen last weekend. Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand provided support for the operation. Apart from the joint action, the US has also been carrying out almost daily raids on Yemen.
The blasts hit 18 targets across eight locations in Yemen—revenge for Houthi attacks on Western shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis are carrying out their action in solidarity with the Palestinians. After the latest blasts, the Houthis responded with defiance.
Yahya Saree, a spokesperson for the group, pledged that the Houthis would “confront the American-British escalation with more military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arab Seas”. The Houthis will “persist in upholding their religious, moral and humanitarian duties towards the Palestinian people.
“Military operations will not stop unless the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” he added. According to a tally by The Associated Press news agency, the Houthis have launched at least 57 attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since 19 November. And the pace of attacks has picked up in the last two weeks.
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