More than 600 workers from the Tanta Flax and Oils Company in Gharbiya Governorate continued their sit-in yesterday for the fifth consecutive day after the company's administration refused to distribute severance pay, breaching an agreement brokered by Minister of Manpower and Migration Aisha Abdel Hadi. Abdel Ilah el-Kahky, head of the Tanta Flax and Oils board of directors, said he did not intend to make the payments as he plans to make the company operative again and needs the workers to stay. Meanwhile, more than 400 nurses from the Tanta University hospitals protested for the fourth time in one month, calling for an increase in bonuses and allowances. The protest lasted more than three hours before security forces brought it to an end. Gharbiya Governor Abdel Hamid el-Shennawi and Tanta University President Abdel Fattah Sadaqa promised to introduce new work regulations on the condition that the nurses end their protest. Alaa Elish, head of the bakeries department at Gharbiya Governorate's Chamber of Commerce, started a hunger strike yesterday to protest what he described as "malicious reports" filed by the Food Supply Investigations Office against him. Elish was transported to Mahalla Public Hospital. Workers from Petrotrade Tanta have ended their protest after the governor intervened in their favor. Wael Allam, deputy of the manpower ministry, said that the workers ended their eight-day protest after the governor responded to their demands. In Daqahliya, approximately 1300 workers from the Mansoura and Talkha branches of Petrotrade suspended their sit-in until April, threatening to resume their protest if their demands aren't met. In Fayoum, four workers from the Fayoum Spinning Factory ended their hunger strike after 11 days of protests against attempts by the factory's administration to halt operations and force the workers into early retirement. In North Sinai, taxi drivers in Beer el-Abd went on strike to protest the imposition of large fines they said they have already paid. The strike affected movement into and out of the city. Finally, in Alexandria, representatives from different political movements--including the pro-democracy 6th April Youth Movement, the liberal Ghad Party, and the Nasserist Karama Party--protested for the second day against the arrest of Tareq Khedr, a member of the 6th April, after he gathered signatures on a pro-reform statement issued by the National Association for Change, the front established by Egypt's presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
