The Qalyoub Esco workers ended their four-months-long industrial action after mediation by the NDP, reports Faiza Rady The Qalyoub branch of Esco textiles is getting a face-lift following the end of a sit-in at the plant that also included an open-ended hunger strike. The workers finally ended their four-months- long protest on 12 May. General Abdel-Rahman Shedid, secretary of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) in Banha, negotiated the settlement with the workers on behalf of the plant's new owner, industrialist Hashem El-Deghri. The package offers the strikers seasonal contracts "guaranteeing them all the benefits given to workers under the new unified labour law [12/2003], LE 10,000 per worker in lieu of an early retirement package and wage arrears for the last three months". The majority of workers have now received the early retirement package and wage arrears with the exception of eight who were, instead, given the sack. The eight, all of whom acted as spokesmen for the workers, are still negotiating with the authorities. No seasonal contracts, though, have been offered as yet and there is a growing fear that this part of the deal will not be honoured, with many workers fearing that they are now, in effect, unemployed. "El-Deghri is fuming because he has lost millions in profits as a result of the strike," says Mohamed Gaber, one of the workers. "Now he will probably be looking to hire a new and more compliant work force." However unhappy with the results, many of the striking workers are grateful their ordeal is over. "Nobody from the outside, no matter how sympathetic, can even begin to understand what we went through," says Raafat Salem. "In the middle of winter we were sleeping on cement floors, covering ourselves with cardboard boxes. More often than not we were hungry. And we constantly worried about the fate of our families because we went without pay for the last three months." While many workers share Salem's sense of relief El-Deghri's offer is also seen as the most that could be salvaged from a bad deal. "After the majority accepted the settlement I cried for two days," says Gaber. "We are all tired and we have no money but LE 10,000 will not solve our problems. What will we do after the money is spent?" The workers began their strike on 13 February in protest at the government's backdoor privatisation of the plant. Claiming huge losses the textile holding company sold the mill to El-Deghri in September 2004. Though the workers own a 10 per cent stake in the plant they were not informed of the sale. Following the sale, say the workers, the situation went from bad to worse. They claim El- Deghri refused to pay benefits and bonuses. It was then the workers opted to strike, demanding that they remain in the public sector where they have accrued social security and pension benefits, or else be offered an acceptable early retirement package. The workers' actions included a sit-in at the Cairo headquarters of the government-controlled General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) on 12 and 13 March to protest the union's dismissal of their strike as "illegal" and the company's rejection of their demands as "unacceptable". Following the sit-in at the union and several visits to the plant by members of the Committee in Solidarity with the Workers and the Poor of Shubra Al-Khayma, the authorities began to pressure the strikers. Three armoured personnel carriers arrived outside the factory gates on 21 March as scores of state security officers blocked the entrance to prevent anyone from talking to the workers. "We lived under siege for seven weeks. To all intents and purposes we were prisoners inside the plant," says Salem. "Towards the end, on 8 May, they stopped people going out to buy food. This is one of the reasons 16 of us decided to go on a hunger strike. More often than not we went hungry anyway, but then they attempted to starve us out." The hunger strike seems to have alarmed the authorities, preceding General Shedid's intervention to resolve a situation which, he says, was "detrimental to both sides". "The ruling National Democratic Party's role was to mediate. We are not a party to the conflict," Shedid told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The point is that Esco cannot keep workers on their payroll. The company is suffering tremendous losses. They face an annual deficit of LE98 million. The public sector's bloated workforce is bleeding the government dry. This hemorrhaging cannot go on for ever." The workers have a different story to tell. "Our plant was always praised for producing Esco's finest textiles," recalls Gaber. "We were referred to as the university of textile production." Nor, argue the workers, is it the "bloated workforce" that caused the company's collapse into the red but a history of mismanagement and incompetence. The workforce has, at any rate, been trimmed down over the years. "The six Esco mills employed some 24,000 workers in 1980; they have been reduced to 3,500 by a combination of attrition, a hiring freeze since 1987 and five waves of early retirement packages, the last in 2000," writes Egyptian labour historian Joel Beinin. And this downsized work force is hardly overpaid. According to a recent American Chamber of Commerce study Egyptian textile workers are among the world's worst paid. Earning on average $110 a month their salaries are 92 per cent less than in Israel, 81 per cent less than in Turkey and 65 per cent less than in Tunisia. The Qalyoub plant's problems, say the workers, began six years ago when management seemed to lose interest in marketing. Sales plummeted, though production levels remained constant. The mill went on producing tonnes of useless fabric which was piled up in storage until it was sold at discounted prices that did not even cover production costs. "It was almost as if management was deliberately trying to bankrupt the company," says Salem. Prior to his appointment as CEO Abdallah Ezzeddin had begun to address the marketing problem with some success, say the workers, gearing production to demand. "He managed quite well for a while but it didn't last," recalls Salem. "As soon as he was appointed CEO he forgot all about marketing and we went back to square one." Similar incoherence characterised the sale of the plant. Valued at LE60 million in 1999, it was eventually sold to El-Deghri for LE4 million, following an LE 7 million refurbishment of equipment. The workers, in their capacity as owners of a 10 per cent equity stake in the plant are currently suing the government over the knockdown sale. "This kind of de-valuation of the public sector cannot just be brushed under the carpet," says Adel Zakarya of the Helwan-based Centre for Workers and Trade Union Services. "It has to be addressed."
