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Struggling Cleopatra Ceramics workers ask President to pressure CEO Dozens of Cleopatra workers travel from Suez to Cairo to ask President Mohamed Morsi to pressure CEO Abul-Einein to fulfil deferred promises on wages and benefits
Ahmed Salah, the representative of the Cleopatra Ceramics workers union in Suez, stated that President Mohamed Morsi will meet with a delegation of five workers from Cleopatra Ceramics Factory in Ain Sokhna to listen to their requests and concerns in the struggle they face with Cleopatra's chairman Mohamed Abul-Einein. The meeting will also be attended by five workers from Al-Asher Ramadan branch of the company, who are in solidarity with their colleagues from the Ain Sokhna factory. The workers say that Abul-Einein has reneged on a recent pledge to pay staff bonuses and share profits. The Cleopatra Ceramics workers dispute has been the largest workplace struggle in Egypt throughout the last six months. During his presidential campaign, Morsi pledged that he would address the demands of the Cleopatra workers. In March around 4,000 of the 6,000 workers at Cleopatra Ceramics factory in Ain Sokhna initiated a strike demanding salary increases, bonus payments and a share of company profits. In May, work at the factory had been frozen for 12 days after management stopped the complementary transport which takes employees between their homes and company premises. Employees accused Abul-Einein of cutting the service to punish them for demanding pay increases and additional benefits, and said that the cost of public transport was a large expense out of their salaries. In response to cutting the transport service, around 4,000 of the factory's employees staged a long-running sit-in in front of the governor's office in Suez city to protest the company's actions. Established in 1983, Cleopatra Ceramics says it has a presence in more than 100 world markets. Its factory in Ain Sokhna is one of the largest ceramics plants in the Middle East. The firm's chairman, Abul-Einein, was a member of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's now-defunct National Democratic Party.Following last year's uprising he was summoned for questioning in a number of corruption cases. No charges were brought against him. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/46700.aspx
