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Textile workers protest over unpaid wages Egypt's Holding Company for Cotton, Spinning and Weaving says workers sit-in must end for salaries to be released
Mit Ghamr Spinning workers will not get their salaries until they end their sit-in and return to work, says Mohsen El Gilani, Chairman of the Holding Company for Cotton, Spinning and Weaving. Over eight hundred workersfrom the public sector Mit Ghamr Spinning Company, have continued their sit-in for the second day in protest of unpaid August salaries. ''We won't respond to any pressure. Everyone has the right to strike by law, but we're not going to hang on their actions, we have real important things to do,'' says El Gilani. He added that there is no reason for the unrest workers are causing, claiming the company's 1070 workers are paid the highest salaries in the spinning sector. The protesters stopped work yesterday demanding pay they haven't received since 2004, including bonuses and overtime, according to Said El-Gohari, head of the General Union of Textile Workers. "Yesterday, during working hours, the chairman suddenly cut the electricity which upset the workers and they launched their mass sit-in," says El-Gohari. El-Gohari, who blames the workers' anger on unfair decisions by the company's chairman, also adds that the company hasn't promoted workers in 11 years. “The chairman has taken several unfair decisions against the workers," says El-Gohari, ''I will meet with the chairman and the 800 workers to negotiate and reach a solution." El-Gohari expects work in Egypt's spinning and weaving factories to be suspended due to a shortage of raw materials, especially cotton. Mit Ghamr Spinning Company, founded in 2000, operates as a subsidiary of Holding Company for Cotton, Spinning and Weaving,withtotal capital reaching LE40,297 million by 2009, and total sales amounting to LE 35.574 million in 2008/2009.
