CAIRO: More than 10,000 workers in Ghazl Al Mahala Company have renewed their sit-in last Sunday for half an hour and threatened to escalate the protest to an open scale strike on July 21, Mahmoud Al Attar, an activist in workers movement organizing the protest, told The Daily Star Egypt. Workers in Mahala Textile Company have been demanding a 25 percent raise to their monthly bonuses since last December. However, the company gave LE 50 to production workers, LE 37.5 to lower ranking workers and LE 25 to administrative employees. The numbers are significantly less than what the workers' hoped for. They even imposed conditions on us, to either take these bonuses, or take our annual leave and sabbaticals; it is either this or that, said the December 7 Movement For Change activist Al Attar. Police forces detained five workers who participated in the sit-in which took place from 3:30 to 4:00 pm, Khaled Ali, a volunteer lawyer and activist defending workers issues told The Daily Star Egypt. We have not taken a decision yet as to whether or when we would file suits to defend the detainees. Some workers do not want to clash with the government, Ali said. Al Attar alleged security forces have threatened to frame him with drug possession and conspiring to overthrow the government, two accusations he refuses outright.
