CAIRO: Thousands of workers are expected to take part in Egypt's first Labor Day celebrations after the revolution. During the last few years, Egypt has been considered by the International Labor Organization as one of the 25 countries with the worst labor conditions worldwide. Compared to its neighboring countries, the wages in Egypt are extremely low; it has therefore been labelled the ‘China of the Mediterranean.' Labor unions have been under tight state control for more than 50 years. However, Ahmed El-Borai, the new minister of manpower and immigration, announced last month that Egyptian workers have the right to establish independent labor unions. This paved the way for the establishment of the Egypt Federation for Independent Trade Unions which held its first press conference on Thursday. According to Al Ahram, it has now 12 syndicates and around 250,000 members. While the revolution promises new prospects for Egypt´s strong labour movement, the main challenges have yet to be resolved. One of the first goals of the the new Federation will be the dissolution of the General Federation of Trade Unions in Egypt. The old union has been closely related to the state and in the past generally obstructed strikes. Moreover, the head of the old union, Hussein Megawer, is accused of having taken part in the planning of the ‘Battle of Camel', the deadly attacks by NPD members against protesters on the third day of the revolution. The new Federation for Independent Trade Unions is now campaigning that the assets of the state-affiliated Union should be frozen and transferred to the strongest independent labor union. Moreover, they campaign that Egypt should be removed from the blacklist of the International Labor Conference in Genève. Egypt has been blacklisted in the past due to its repression of independent trade unions. Besides these institutional challenges, there are countless problems on the ground to be resolved. Millions of workers are suffering from the consequences of the privatization policy under Mubarak, Egyptian wages are still among the lowest in the Middle East and corruption prevails. One of the places that illustrate these events is Mahalla el-Kubra. Egypt's largest textile factory is based in the industrial city. In the past, it has been the breeding ground for working class activism. In the years preceding the revolution it had shown strikes of tens of thousands of workers. One of the workers in Mahalla expresses his frustration: “the company sucks the life out of people.” Another worker signals his hope: “Today I have this opportunity, because my son, my nephew, my cousin, my father, they are all in Midan Tahrir too. I am not different, I demand my rights too.” While the workers of Mahalla are on strike again, since the middle of April, the factory is surrounded by tanks and soldiers, threatening to intervene. In the past, the army has repeatedly threatened to dissolve protests for better labor conditions by shooting with life ammunition. Moreover, the Egyptian interim government attempted to introduce a law in order to criminalize strikes. This illustrates the persistent repression that workers are facing. Sunday's Labor Day takes place in an Egypt that has been fundamentally altered by the revolution, yet the Egyptian workers still have a long way to go. BM
