Thousands of Egyptians are expected to
demonstrate across the country on the second anniversary of the
revolution that toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Workers played a pivotal role in the mass uprising that led to Mubarak’s downfall. Now, two years on, the same labour movement that helped topple the dictator is locked in a stalemate with the government and employers over long-denied labour rights and untenable working conditions. The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic movement that dominated last year’s parliamentary and presidential polls has a poor track record on worker rights, and a history of anti-union activities. In recent months, thousands of disenfranchised workers across Egypt have taken collective action to secure better wages and working conditions. There were over 2,000 labour protests in 2012, with the rate of protests more than doubling during the second half of the year. Labour Minister Khaled El-Azhary, a prominent Brotherhood member, has repeatedly urged striking workers to return to work while the government considers their demands. He says Egypt’s fragile economy cannot afford any more loss of production and must be given a chance to recover from the 2011 revolution.
“We had a revolution but the only change is from (Mubarak’s) National Democratic Party to the Muslim Brotherhood,” says labour activist Kareem El-Beheiry. “The Brotherhood has never done anything for the labour movement, and never supported workers or independent unions.”
Morsi’s government has also borrowed the old regime’s tactic of using state media outlets to smear labour movements and intimidate their leaders, says Hadeer Hassan, a local labour journalist. “The Muslim Brotherhood views strikes as undermining the economy and Morsi’s rule,” she says. “Rather than addressing workers’ demands, it has tried to turn public opinion against striking workers by using the press to portray them as traitors and thugs.” And where that fails, she adds, the same “lies and false accusations of worker sabotage” are fed to sympathetic courts. “The Muslim Brotherhood only wants unions it can control.”
“We cannot but notice the clear failure of Morsi’s administration to resolve these protests or even set a clear plan for dealing with their demands. Rather, the administration has continued to adopt the same old policies, which only aggravates the matter,” a new study by the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights said.
At least a dozen workers have been convicted under legislation passed by Egypt’s military-run transitional government in March 2011 that criminalises “economically disruptive” strikes. President Morsi has yet to strike down the controversial law or overturn the sentences, though he has the power to do so. The government is formulating new legislation that labour activists fear will restrict freedom of association and re-establish the state’s dominance over union activities. An early draft of the Trade Union Liberties Law, intended to replace antiquated and restrictive legislation on union organisation, would have enshrined the right to strike and legally recognised the hundreds of independent unions that have sprung up since Mubarak’s fall. The draft law was scrapped, however, in favour of a new bill drawn up by labour minister Khaled El-Azhary and other prominent Brotherhood figures. Their version proposes stiff penalties for striking workers who disrupt production. It also curtails union pluralism by requiring each enterprise to select just one trade union to represent its workers. The bill would complement “anti-union” articles in Egypt’s new constitution, which was passed last month in a highly divisive referendum. Article 52 affirms the right of workers to form syndicates, but another article stipulates that each profession can have only one trade union. The new legal framework threatens to eliminate many of the more than 1,000 independent trade unions that exist alongside their larger and more established state-controlled counterparts.
In the months following Morsi’s appointment, riot police broke up labour protests and arrested local strike organisers, while public sector employees found engaging in collective actions were fired, transferred or referred to disciplinary hearings. “More than 200 employees and workers were individually sacked during the first three months of Morsi’s term, and more than 100 others were subjected to investigation after they were arrested while peacefully protesting…In addition, many employees and workers were physically assaulted during their sit-ins by thugs hired by (their) employers and businessmen,” the ECESR report said.
Workers played a pivotal role in the mass uprising that led to Mubarak’s downfall. Now, two years on, the same labour movement that helped topple the dictator is locked in a stalemate with the government and employers over long-denied labour rights and untenable working conditions. The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic movement that dominated last year’s parliamentary and presidential polls has a poor track record on worker rights, and a history of anti-union activities. In recent months, thousands of disenfranchised workers across Egypt have taken collective action to secure better wages and working conditions. There were over 2,000 labour protests in 2012, with the rate of protests more than doubling during the second half of the year. Labour Minister Khaled El-Azhary, a prominent Brotherhood member, has repeatedly urged striking workers to return to work while the government considers their demands. He says Egypt’s fragile economy cannot afford any more loss of production and must be given a chance to recover from the 2011 revolution.
“We had a revolution but the only change is from (Mubarak’s) National Democratic Party to the Muslim Brotherhood,” says labour activist Kareem El-Beheiry. “The Brotherhood has never done anything for the labour movement, and never supported workers or independent unions.”
Morsi’s government has also borrowed the old regime’s tactic of using state media outlets to smear labour movements and intimidate their leaders, says Hadeer Hassan, a local labour journalist. “The Muslim Brotherhood views strikes as undermining the economy and Morsi’s rule,” she says. “Rather than addressing workers’ demands, it has tried to turn public opinion against striking workers by using the press to portray them as traitors and thugs.” And where that fails, she adds, the same “lies and false accusations of worker sabotage” are fed to sympathetic courts. “The Muslim Brotherhood only wants unions it can control.”
“We cannot but notice the clear failure of Morsi’s administration to resolve these protests or even set a clear plan for dealing with their demands. Rather, the administration has continued to adopt the same old policies, which only aggravates the matter,” a new study by the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights said.
At least a dozen workers have been convicted under legislation passed by Egypt’s military-run transitional government in March 2011 that criminalises “economically disruptive” strikes. President Morsi has yet to strike down the controversial law or overturn the sentences, though he has the power to do so. The government is formulating new legislation that labour activists fear will restrict freedom of association and re-establish the state’s dominance over union activities. An early draft of the Trade Union Liberties Law, intended to replace antiquated and restrictive legislation on union organisation, would have enshrined the right to strike and legally recognised the hundreds of independent unions that have sprung up since Mubarak’s fall. The draft law was scrapped, however, in favour of a new bill drawn up by labour minister Khaled El-Azhary and other prominent Brotherhood figures. Their version proposes stiff penalties for striking workers who disrupt production. It also curtails union pluralism by requiring each enterprise to select just one trade union to represent its workers. The bill would complement “anti-union” articles in Egypt’s new constitution, which was passed last month in a highly divisive referendum. Article 52 affirms the right of workers to form syndicates, but another article stipulates that each profession can have only one trade union. The new legal framework threatens to eliminate many of the more than 1,000 independent trade unions that exist alongside their larger and more established state-controlled counterparts.
In the months following Morsi’s appointment, riot police broke up labour protests and arrested local strike organisers, while public sector employees found engaging in collective actions were fired, transferred or referred to disciplinary hearings. “More than 200 employees and workers were individually sacked during the first three months of Morsi’s term, and more than 100 others were subjected to investigation after they were arrested while peacefully protesting…In addition, many employees and workers were physically assaulted during their sit-ins by thugs hired by (their) employers and businessmen,” the ECESR report said.
Class war in Europe
ReplyDeleteWorkers on the Athens underground had been striking over a public sector unified wage scheme that would see their salaries reduced by up to 25%. The workers had been on the ninth successive day of strike action. The Greek government used an emergency law to threaten the strikers with arrest unless they went back to work. Police have stormed a metro train depot in the capital Athens, breaking up a sit-in by striking workers. Bus and tram workers have joined the strike.