Soapbox: A real Labour Day for a change By Abdel-Ghaffar Shokr This was a new kind of Labour Day. As the workers of Egypt gathered in Tahrir Square to mark May Day with chants and songs, there was a sense of confidence in the air. Finally, the most basic right of all workers, the right to form syndicates freely and without government interference, has been met. For decades, we were only allowed to have phoney trade unions, run by bosses who enjoyed big perks, cooperated with big business, and couldn't care less for the interests of the average workers. Now these bosses are fighting to keep the status quo, but it's already too late. In every factory, every workplace across the country, workers are organising themselves freely, creating their own trade unions, electing their leaders and writing the bylaws. One of the most recent labour organisations to be created is the Egyptian Federation for Independent Trade Unions, launched about a month ago. For once, the government is taking sides with labour. Ahmed Al-Boraai, the current minister of manpower, is therefore coming under relentless criticism by the old generation of union leaders, those who used to benefit from their association with the government and big business and who did little to protect labour rights. They are accusing Al-Boraai of carrying out imperialist and Zionist schemes to divide the labour movement in Egypt. Far from it, they are the ones who have kept labour down for so long. This is just the beginning. The independent unions are already discussing minimum wages and both the manpower and finance ministers say that the government is willing to consider a decent minimum wage. There are also plans to set the maximum wage at no more than 15 times the minimum wage. The privatisation programme, which led to the loss of many public sector jobs, has come to a halt. This, too, is good news for labour. And it will not be the last of the good news. * This week's Soapbox speaker is deputy director of the Arab Research Centre.
