Monday 31 January 2011

Egypt: Independent unions announce a new Trade Union Federation

See the press release below, taken from here: http://www.solidaritycenter.org/
Solidarity with the Egyptian Revolution! See here for the CWI's Marxist analysis of events so far: http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4816

Today, representatives of the of the Egyptian labor movement, made up of the independent Egyptian trade unions of workers in real estate tax collection, the retirees, the technical health professionals and representatives of the important industrial areas in Egypt: Helwan, Mahalla al-Kubra, the tenth of Ramadan city, Sadat City and workers from the various industrial and economic sectors such as: garment & textiles, metals industry, pharmaceuticals, chemical industry, government employees, iron and steel, automotive, etc… And they agreed to hold a press conference at 3:30pm this afternoon in Tahrir Square next to Omar Effendi Company store in downtown Cairo to announce the organization of the new Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions and to announce the formation of committees in all factories and enterprises to protect, defend them and to set a date for a general strike. And to emphasize that the labor movement is in the heart and soul of the Egyptian Peoples’ revolution and its emphasis on the support for the six requirements as demanded by the Egyptian People's Revolution. To emphasize the economic and democratic demands voiced by the independent labor movement through thousands of strikes, sit-ins and protests by Egyptian workers in the past years.

2 comments:

  1. sounds kind of syndicalismish

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  2. How so? The Egyptian people can not expect much from it's current political parties - The NDP itself is part of the second international, or was until a few days ago, the MB, the Nasserites and so on...and previously also trade unions have been very much controlled by the state. What is needed is an independent working-class political party, and not just a union federation. But that can't happen overnight, not least in a time a great upheaval, so this initiative to try and co-ordinate a general strike and broaden the struggle...is surely to be welcomed?

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